Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt died Monday after a high-speed downhill crash during the third stage of the race.
RCS Sport spokeswoman Maria Paola Vercesi told The Associated Press that the 26-year-old Weylandt died, but she did not provide any further details. RCS Sport organizes the Giro d’Italia. "We lost a great teammate and a true friend today," Leopard-Trek said on Twitter. "Our thoughts are with Wouter’s family and friends."
Weylandt fell at high speed during a descent about 20 kilometers (12.4-miles) from the finish in northern Italy and lay motionless and bleeding heavily on the roadside before paramedics cut off his helmet and tried to resuscitate him.
"We arrived immediately as we were behind his group," Giro doctor Giovanni Tredici said. "He was unconscious with a fracture of the skull base and facial damage. After 40 minutes of cardiac massage we had to suspend the resuscitation because there was nothing more we could do.
"Weylandt was the victim of a fall and we are still trying to reconstruct the dynamics of what happened. We tried immediately but he was already unconscious, his condition was already compromised."
The Leopard-Trek rider’s body was covered by a sheet and taken by ambulance about an hour after the accident. "Things like this shouldn’t happen. Absolutely sick to the stomach," British cyclist Mark Cavendish said on Twitter. "My thoughts are with his family. RIP Wouter Weylandt."
Monday’s third stage was a 173-kilometer (107-mile) ride from Reggio Emilia to Rapallo. Last year, on May 10, 2010, Weylandt won the third stage of the Giro on its final day in the Netherlands.
Weylandt was the first rider killed in a crash in one of cycling’s three main tours since Italian rider Fabio Casartelli died during the 1995 Tour de France.
At the Giro, Weylandt is the fourth cyclist to die during the race and the first in 25 years. Orfeo Ponsin died in 1952, Juan Manuel Santisteban in 1976 and Emilio Ravasio in 1986.
