Cyclist dies in the Giro d'Italia.
Belgian Wouter Weylandt did not survive a serious accident 25 kilometers from the end of the third stage of the race.
247 – Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt, 26, of the Leopard-Trek team, died after suffering a serious accident on a descent about 25 km from the finish line of the third stage of the Giro d'Italia. Weylandt hit his head hard against the ground when he fell and immediately lost consciousness. Race doctors tried for about 40 minutes to perform CPR on the athlete, who took a long time to be removed from the scene. A helicopter had difficulty landing and taking him to the nearest hospital.
“Weylandt was the victim of a fall that we are trying to reconstruct. We arrived quickly and he was already unconscious. His condition was already very advanced; we tried to resuscitate him for 40 minutes, but there was nothing we could do,” said Dr. Giovanni Tredici. Weylandt's widow is expecting the couple's first child.
Television images showed the young man lying unconscious on the sidewalk, surrounded by a pool of blood. "He suffered a head injury and had serious facial wounds," added Tredici. Italian and Belgian media reported that the cyclist hit the wall with his right pedal on a narrow stretch of road and was thrown 20 meters. He is the fourth fatality of the Giro d'Italia, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary.
Weylandt was the standout rider for the Leopard-Trek team last year, winning the first stage of the Middelburg race in the Netherlands. In 2007, the sprinter achieved his first major victories: a stage win in the Tour de Benelux and the Eneco Tour. His resume includes 12 wins, including one in the Giro d'Italia and another in the Vuelta a España in 2010. At Quick Step, he was always in the shadow of his compatriot and cycling idol Tom Boonen. After seven years with director Patrick Lefevere, this season he aimed to take a leap in quality with the team led by Luxembourg brothers Franck and Andy Schleck.
“The descent was a technical issue, the asphalt was good,” said Davide Vigano, one of Weylandt’s teammates. “I didn’t know what had happened during the race. I’m speechless.” Vigano posted a photo of Weylandt on his website with a statement: “Today, our teammate and friend Wouter Weylandt passed away after an accident on the third stage of the Giro d’Italia.”
The race organizers canceled the awards ceremony because of the accident. Spanish cyclist Angel Vicioso won Monday's 173-kilometer stage between Reggio Emilia and Rapallo, while Briton David Millar leads the overall classification.
Leopard-Trek's technical director, Brian Nygaard, stated that the other team riders would meet to decide whether they wanted to continue in the Giro d'Italia. The race ends on May 29th in Milan.