Today is a very bad day for cycling. As if we're not hit with enough bad news stories concerning cycling these days, this one is truly tragic. On stage 3 of the Giro today, while descending off a mountain, a young superstar of cycling, from cycling mad Belgium, lost his life when he crashed at a high rate of speed. Wouter Weylandt, 26, riding for Leopard-TREK, has left us. He died doing what he loved. Ironicly, 1 year ago he won stage 3 of the same race, which was probably the greatest highlight of his racing career. His girlfriend is expecting their baby in September, and today is the day after Mother's Day. I can just imagine how proud his Belgian Mom was to be able to say the reason my son isn't with me on Mother's day is because he's racing in one of the biggest races in the world and he won this stage last year.
Just look at the charisma this guy had. Not everyone can walk around with that kind of self assuredness. He was best friend and training partner to American, Tyler Farrar who lives in Belgium during the racing season. I can only imagine what he's going through. I don't even know any of these guys, but I've been sick to my stomach all day.
The sport we love is that dangerous. You can be riding along 1 second with the wind in your face and a big smile, and in an instant you can be hurt badly, mamed or paralyzed, or in rare instances even killed. To a large extent it's only as dangerous as you make it, but things that are out of our control can still happen.
I have a lot of friends making trips to Italy and France this spring/summer to ride these roads we all dream about. Please be carefull everyone.
RIP Wouter
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