Seeking to help the family of its fallen rider Wouter Weylandt, his Leopard Trek team has established a fund to provide monetary assistance to his pregnant partner Sophie in the difficult times ahead.
The Belgian rider crashed and passed away on the twisting, technical descent of the Passo del Bocco on Monday. Initial indications are that he may have clipped his pedal on the low concrete wall lining the side of the road, and been thrown from his bike. He suffered severe head injuries and despite immediate medical attention, was unable to be revived.
In a cruel coincidence, he had won the same third stage of the race one year before.
The riders in the Giro decided amongst themselves to compete yesterdays stage at a neutralised pace; each team led the peloton for ten kilometres, sharing the workload, with Weylandt’s Leopard Trek squad taking over closer to the line. They went across ahead of the peloton, alongside Wedylandt’s close friend, Tyler Farrar (Garmin Cervélo).
All prize money which was due to be paid out yesterday will go instead to his family; the same applies to the donations from the fund set up by his team.
“Yesterday we lost a great person and true friend - In these hard times we especially want to think of those who were closest to Wouter: his family,” it said.
“We have created a donation account to support them financially as much as we can. Everyone of you can donate to this account. All donations will go directly to Wouter's family.”
The details of the account are as follows:
Bank: Dexia Banque International a Luxembourg
Bank Address: 69, route d'Esch, L-2953 Luxembourg
Account Name: LEOPARD SA 'WOUTER WEYLANDT'
IBAN: LU93 0020 6100 0904 0500
BIC: BILLLULL
Recipient address: 1, rue Peternelchen, L-2370 Howald
In several days, there will also be an option to use Pay Pal.
The team decided late last night to head home, saying that it was unable to continue. “We have a lot of respect for the Giro d’Italia and for cycling, but we simply cannot continue racing given the circumstances,” said team captain Fabian Wegmann. “We are professional athletes, but we feel this is the right thing to do.”
Team management said that it completely understood the riders’ decision to leave the Giro.