Crossing the line alongside the Leopard Trek team today showed that Tyler Farrar was considered as much a part of Wouter Weylandt’s life as those he has raced alongside for the past five months. In fact, Farrar has been friends with the Belgian for far longer, training and socialising with him and describing him in the past as his best friend.
The American sprinter was, unsurprisingly, deeply shocked at the tragic death of the 25 year old yesterday. He rode today’s neutralised stage, but said beforehand that he would not start stage five, deciding instead to head home and to deal with things away from the cocoon of the peloton.
He wrote an eloquent tribute on the Garmin-Cervélo site yesterday, and it is one worth reading.
“I am unbearably saddened by the loss of Wouter today. As many know, he was my friend, training partner, and in many ways, another brother to me. His death marks and irreparable change in my life but more importantly, in the lives of his family and most loved.
“Wouter was one of the kindest, funniest, and most admirable people I have ever had the opportunity to know and his death is a tragedy to his family, his friends, and to the sport as a whole. I can only convey my deepest of sympathies to everyone who cared about him as deeply as I did, especially his family, his friends, his team and his fans – we celebrate his life and morn his death in equal measure.
“Wouter was and is the soul of this sport we all love – an athlete who sacrificed himself for the better of many and a champion who celebrated each glory as a victory for his family, his team, and his friends and fans.
“I will remember him always, and will always strive to do him proud, as he has always done for the sport and people he loves.”
Farrar and others can take a small consolation from the fact that the autopsy report has said that the rider didn’t suffer at all. Weylandt "died instantly" said Dr. Armando Mannucci, according to Ansa. He carried out the two and a half hour investigation.
He suffered head injuries in the crash, which occurred on the descent of the Passo del Bocco.
Following today’s neutralised stage, the race continues tomorrow with a 191 kilometre stage to Orvieto.