Alberto Contador, former pro rider and current co-owner of the Eolo Cometa team, crashed so hard at the Vuelta a España event in China that he needed stitches to his eyebrow, cheek and lip.

The Spaniard, who retired from racing in 2017, was participating in the group ride of the new Vuelta event Desafío China by La Vuelta in Beijing, but could not avoid the crash in front of him.

The accident sent the 40-year-old crashing hard into the road surface, taking the brunt of the impact through his face. His face had several cuts, from which blood flowed, leaving him in a state of disrepair.

Contador suffered a gash over his left eye and a cut on his left cheekbone and took to Instagram after Sunday's crash to reassure fans that he was fine after the crash. He said the injuries were not as bad as they appeared and that he had stitches in several places.

"Hi everyone. I crashed today at Desafio China in La Vuelta. There was a crash right in front of me and I tried to jump over the rider in front of me but it was impossible."

"I send you this video to show you how calm I was. Despite the video, fortunately it is not as bad as it looks. I only got a few stitches on my eyebrow, cheek, and lip. I'm going to keep going."

He further thanked fellow former pros Joaquim Rodriguez and Pedro Delgado for their help in the aftermath of the crash.

Since retiring, Contador, a seven-time Grand Tour winner, has worked as a critic and analyst for Eurosport and has grown from his Fundación Contador amateur team to a professional team-level Giro d'Italia stage winning team, Eolo- Kometa team, which has grown from his Fundación Contador amateur team to a professional-level Giro d'Italia stage-winning team.

He also runs Aurum, the bicycle brand used by Eolo-Kometa, which in July 2020 broke the world record for "climbing Everest," summiting 8,848 meters in 7 hours, 27 minutes, and 20 seconds. Last December, he underwent surgery to remove 100 lipomas (non-cancerous tumors).