America's Chloe Dygert suffered a nasty crash as she was defending her time-trial title at the cycling world championships at Imola on Thursday.
The 23-year-old was half way through the course and had clocked the fastest time at that stage when she lost her balance and plunged down a bank.
The race was won by Anne van der Breggen of the Netherlands.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA