Marco Haller was left with carbon-fibre fragments in a wound in his left leg after a crash during E3 Harelbeke on Friday saw a large number of riders tangled up.

The Katusha-Alpecin rider was forced to abandon the race after the incident. Several riders’ bikes were snapped in half as a result of the crash, and evidently a snapped tube or component made contact with Haller’s leg.

Katusha-Alpecin posted a video on Instagram of Haller talking after the incident as he sat in the team car for treatment. Shards of carbon-fibre were clearly visible on his leg.

The crash happened with around 108km left to go in the 206.1km race in Belgium.

Riders were thrown into ditches at the roadside, with some ending up in a field. It was unclear what had caused the crash.

Even the strongest riders sometimes need to leave the race. Carbon in left leg @mhaller91 after huge crash in @e3_harelbeke Some healing and cleaning work to do. colours. . . . #TeamKatushaAlpecin #raceasafamily #racetowin #instacycling #outsideisfree @canyon @alpecincycling

A post shared by Team KATUSHA ALPECIN (@katushacycling) on Mar 23, 2018 at 7:52am PDT

“I’m okay, I hope all the other riders are also okay,” said Haller.

“I just have to say I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many broken bikes, there must have been 100,000 Euros gone.”