 Armstrong pictured at the start of Monday's first stage in Spain
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Cycling legend Lance Armstrong has been taken to hospital after crashing in a rider pile-up on the first stage of Spain's Vuelta Castilla y Leon.
The multiple Tour de France winner was caught up in an incident about 12 miles from the finish in Baltanas.
A spokesman for Armstrong's Astana team said he appeared to have hurt his collarbone or shoulder.
The 37-year-old American was being treated in hospital in Palencia and has withdrawn from the five-day race.
Television images showed the 37-year-old falling heavily, and then clutching his arm sitting on the grass.
Armstrong retired in 2005 after winning the Tour de France a record seven times but announced his return last September, saying he wanted to raise cancer awareness.
A survivor of testicular cancer, he plans to compete in this year's Tour de France after ending a three-and-a-half year retirement at the Tour Down Under in Australia in January.
His return to the sport has sparked rumours of friction between him and team-mate Alberto Contador of Spain over who will be chosen to lead the Astana's team's challenge in the Tour de France.
The Vuelta Castilla y Leon was the first time the two had raced alongside each other.
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