Belgium's Wouter Weyland (R) pedals along with his Leopard-Trek teammates during the first stage of the Giro d'Italia Saturday. Weylandt died after falling at high speed during a descent about 20 kilometers from the finish of the third stage of the Giro from Reggio Emilia to Rapallo Monday. (AP) MILAN: Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt was killed Monday in a high-speed downhill crash during the third stage of the Giro d'Italia, the first fatality at the Italian race in 25 years. Weylandt fell during a descent about 20 kilometers from the finish in Rapallo, 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.” The Leopard-Trek rider's body was covered by a sheet and taken by ambulance about an hour after the accident. “The descent was a technical one, the asphalt was smooth,” said Davide Vigano, one of Weylandt's teammates. “I wasn't told about what had happened during the race. I'm lost for words.” The rider's team put a picture of a smiling Weylandt on its website with a statement “on behalf of the entire Leopard Trek team.” “Today, our teammate and friend Wouter Weylandt passed away after a crash on the 3rd stage of the Giro d'Italia,” the statement said. “The team is left in a state of shock and sadness and we send all our thoughts and deepest condolences to the family and friends of Wouter..” Race organizers canceled the prize ceremony because of the crash. Spanish rider Angel Vicioso won Monday's stage, a 173-km ride from Reggio Emilia to Rapallo, while David Millar of Britain took the pink jersey as overall leader. Leopard-Trek team manager Brian Nygaard said the rest of the team's riders would meet to decide whether they wanted to continue in the Giro, which finishes May 29 in Milan. Last year, on May 10, 2010, Weylandt won the third stage of the Giro on its final day in the Netherlands. His other main tour stage victory came in the 2008 Spanish Vuelta when he won the 17th stage from Zamora to Valladolid. 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. In March 2003, Kazakh rider Andrei Kivilev died after he fell from his bike and fractured his skull while not wearing a helmet during the Paris-Nice stage race. The International Cycling Union subsequently made the wearing of hard helmets compulsory.
