PARIS (AFP) - Former world ski champion Luc Alphand has been seriously injured in a crash during a motorcycle rally in France, his agents said on Monday.

The 43-year-old Frenchman sustained injuries to his spine while competing in the Rand'Auvergne rally in central France on Sunday and will need to undergo an operation in Clermont Ferrand on Monday.

Alphand was the overall ski World Cup winner in 1997 and he converted to rallying after he retired from the slopes winning the Dakar Rally in 2006.