Wouter Weylandt of Leopard-Trek killed today in the Giro

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Permalink Reply by Melanie K on May 9, 2011 at 12:36pm

Having trouble with the link on this one.

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Permalink Reply by dav on May 9, 2011 at 12:53pm

Just heard about this. Tragic.

 

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Permalink Reply by Melanie K on May 9, 2011 at 1:01pm

Very sad. Thank you for posting.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on May 9, 2011 at 1:25pm

Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt killed in Giro d'Italia crash

 

"Weylandt was in his fifth year as a professional cyclist, was looking forward to becoming the father of his first child, and was racing this season for the newly formed Luxembourg-based Leopard Trek team. His biggest wins were stage victories in the 2010 Giro d'Italia and the 2008 Tour of Spain. His team were due to decide whether to continue the race"

 

Very tragic indeed.

 

"Serious accidents are almost an everyday occurrence in cycling, but deaths are comparatively rare. Weylandt is the fourth cyclist to die during the Giro d'Italia and the first since 1986, but his was the first death in one of the major Tours since the fatal crash suffered by the Italian Olympic champion Fabio Casartelli on the descent of the Col du Portet d'Aspet in the 1995 Tour de France."

 

It does say a lot about the improvements to rider safety and emergency response, even though crashes are so common, deaths are so rare. 

 

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