On Sunday's opening day of the week-long UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia, riders from the Tinkoff-Saxo squad were racing in the team time trial at 40 mph when two of them touched wheels and crashed hard.

For the two cyclists, Michael Valgren and Michael Rogers, it was brutal.

They landed heavily on the road before rolling 0nto the grass:

The two would get up and continue racing but only after coming to grips with what had happened, and losing enough time to be out of any chance at a medal:

The team said it was disappointed, naturally, but happy that neither rider broke any bones or was more seriously injured.

Images posted on Instagram showed some gnarly road rash:

Watch the full clip below, via Universal Sports:

Get more info about this week's cycling's road world championships here.

And here's how to watch the races live and for free.

SEE ALSO: One of the biggest and best weeks in bicycle racing is headed to the US for only the second time ever

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