Lance Armstrong hospitalised after crash

LANCE Armstrong has been taken to hospital after crashing out on stage one of the Castilla y Leon in Spain.

CRASHED OUT: Lance Armstrong, pictured with Astana colleague and newly-appoinrted team leader Alberto Contador, may miss the Giro d'Italia after a fall in Spain (Getty Images)

Astana team-mate Levi Leipheimer claims he could have suffered a broken collarbone after the incident, which happened on a section of narrow roads just over 20km from the end of the 170km stage.

Armstrong - who will fly to the US to undergo surgery - is certain to miss the forthcoming spring classics and will be a major doubt for the forthcoming Giro d'Italia and possibly the Tour de France later this year.

"I think for the Tour it's a very big problem," he said on leaving hospital.

"The collarbone is broken, and I have a little bit of road-rash abrasions. I've never had this happen before; it's pretty painful. I feel really miserable."

He later told readers of his Twitter feed: "I'm alive! Broken clavicle (right). Hurts like hell for now. Surgery in a couple of days."

However, Astana team leader Johan Bruyneel was more optimistic about Armstrong's chances of another comeback.

"It's a fracture without complications and it should be a fast recovery," he said.

The seven-times Tour de France winner is returning to cycling this year after a three-year break and finished well behind British winner Mark Cavendish in Saturday's Milan-San Remo race.

Spain's Joaquin Sobrino Martinez won the first stage of the five-day race. The 24th Vuelta a Castilla y León continues Tuesday with a 28.2km individual time trial on a rolling course in Palencia but the lack of its biggest star will be the major talking point.