Fortunately, Piqueras and the other riders survived what could have been a fatal incident when a seven-bike pile up on the opening lap of the Moto2 race brought out the red flags.

Piqueras, who was having a solid race in his rookie Moto2 season, took the main force of the impact as Alberto Ferrandez's bike shot out of control at Turn 11 and crashed into a whole group of slowing riders in the braking zone.

Thankfully, he is in stable condition at the Dell Seton Medical Center in Texas, though he has suffered injuries which could potentially rule him out for a large part of the coming season.

"This has been a Grand Prix Sunday we weren't expecting. We were making steady progress all weekend, starting from the front row, but everything changes in one corner. Now it's time to accept the break and recover fully to come back stronger and with the same enthusiasm as day one." Reads the Spaniard's caption.

He then detailed his injuries and plan for recovery, stating that he intends to return to action as soon as possible:

"A fractured femur and ankle was something we hadn't planned for this season, but we'll work on this recovery every day to get back soon."

"Thank you all so much for the messages of support, to the entire medical team at the circuit, to Dell Seton Hospital, and to my whole team for their care and tireless work. We'll be back soon."

Piqueras isn't the first rider in the paddock to suffer a broken femur this year, either. Gresini's Fermin Aldeguer had the same injury after a training crash, and has looked extremely impressive since returning in just the second round of the year in Brazil.

Following a collision between Roberts and Holgado at the opening corner, an incident involving Filip Salac, David Alonso, Sergio Garcia, Dani Munoz, Colin Veijer, Ferrandez and Piqueras at turn 11 left race direction with no option but to red flag the race. Watch the incident here.