Dutch cyclist Fabio Jakobsen was put into an induced coma after sustaining head and chest injuries in a crash on the final stretch of the Tour de Pologne race in southern Poland.
Sprinting for the win at the end of the event's opening stage, Jakobsen was sent flying into the side barriers after a collision with fellow Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen.
The 23-year-old Jakobsen, who races for the Deceuninck-Quick-Step team and has won two stages of the Vuelta a Espana in his promising career, was airlifted to a hospital in serious condition and was put into an induced coma.
Doctor Pawel Gruenpeter of the hospital in Sosnowiec said Jakobsen suffered injuries to the head and chest but that his condition was stable at the intensive care unit. Jakobsen will need surgery to his face and skull, Gruenpeter told state broadcaster TVP Sport.
"Fabio Jakobsen's situation is serious but at the moment he is stable," Deceuninck-Quick-Step later added in a statement.