Cyclist injured in a massive crash seconds after winning a race

Olympic silver medallist Lizzie Armitstead of Britain won stage one of the highly ranked Aviva Women's Tour on Wednesday afternoon in the UK - then crashed hard at speed a moment after the crossing the finish line, VeloNews reported.

She and a handful of other riders went down hard, and Armitstead looked to be the worst off.

It appears that Armitstead, who rides for the Boels-Dolmans team, crashed into the finish-line photographers.

In the video it appears that Armitstead won the group sprint, raised her arms in a victory salute, lost her line, and then grabbed her handlebars in an effort to regain control of her bike.

A Telegraph reporter at the race, Tom Cary, tweeted that Armitstead had hit photographers:

Cary also reported that Armitstead lay on a stretcher for half and hour before being taken by ambulance to the hospital. He tweeted that Armitstead was being given oxygen and put in a neck brace.

The Telegraph said that the photographers were in their correct positions after the finish line, per the governing body UCI's rules. The paper also said:

"Armitstead, 26, initially appeared to move her arms and hands before being administered with oxygen and placed in a neck brace. Her shoes were removed, as was one of her socks."

You can watch the crash in the video below as well as here on ITV.com:

The stage took riders from Bury St. Edmunds to Aldeburgh. The five-stage race finishes June 21 in Hemel Hempstead.

British Cycling tweeted to convey to the rider its best wishes:

We'll update this post as we learn more.