<p>"Today, our teammate and friend Wouter Weylandt passed away after a crash on the third stage of the Giro d'Italia," said Leopard-Trek Manager Brian Nygaard.<br /><br />"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.<br /><br />"This is a difficult day for cycling and for our team, and we should all seek support and strength in the people close to us."<br /><br />Weylandt, 26, was left bloodied and unconscious and requiring a cardiac massage after a crash which occurred on the descent of the Bocco mountain pass around 25km from the finish line.<br /><br />Race officials later claimed his left pedal got stuck in a wall at the side of the road, forcing Weylandt to tumble around 20 metres to the ground below.<br /><br />He received emergency medical treatment by race doctors and was scheduled to be airlifted to hospital but had to wait as an emergency helicopter looked for a suitable landing spot.<br /><br />The head doctor on the race Dr Tredici said they had battled in vain to save Weylandt's life.<br /><br />"We were in the car behind the peloton. We arrived around 30 seconds after the accident but even then there was little we could have done. It was a very serious case," he said.<br /><br />"A few minutes later the ambulance with the CPR equipment arrived and we tried to bring him back to life."<br /><br />"His heart has stopped beating," announced Auro Bulbarelli, the head of sport for RAI television who first broke the tragic news.</p>.<p>Weylandt, who spent the bulk of his career with the Belgian team Quick Step after turning professional in 2006, won the third stage of the race last year, in Middelburg (Netherlands).<br /><br />He joined new Luxembourg outfit Leopard-Trek, the home of Australian Stuart O'Grady and the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank, at the start of the season.<br /><br />Weylandt is the first rider to die in a crash while racing since Kazakhstan's Andrei Kivilev succumbed to head injuries the morning after a crash on the second stage of Paris-Nice.<br />Kivilev's death, while the rider was travelling at a seemingly innocuous speed, signalled the introduction of the mandatory wearing of helmets in the professional peloton.<br /><br />Weylandt, who hailed from Ghent, is the first fatality on the Giro since 1986 when Emilio Ravasio crashed on the first stage and fell into a coma to die several days later.<br /><br />Although life and career-threatening crashes are a regular occurrence in cycling, the last fatality on the world's biggest race, the Tour de France, was over a decade ago.<br />On the race's 15th stage in 1995 Italy's Fabio Casartelli -- a member of Lance Armstrong's Motorola team -- died a few hours after sustaining injuries in a crash on the descent of the Portet d'Aspet in the Pyrenees.<br /><br />Following the tragedy race organisers cancelled the post-race ceremony in Rapallo, where Spaniard Angel Vicioso, of the Androni team, won the stage ahead of new race leader David Millar of Britain (Garmin). </p>
<p>"Today, our teammate and friend Wouter Weylandt passed away after a crash on the third stage of the Giro d'Italia," said Leopard-Trek Manager Brian Nygaard.<br /><br />"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.<br /><br />"This is a difficult day for cycling and for our team, and we should all seek support and strength in the people close to us."<br /><br />Weylandt, 26, was left bloodied and unconscious and requiring a cardiac massage after a crash which occurred on the descent of the Bocco mountain pass around 25km from the finish line.<br /><br />Race officials later claimed his left pedal got stuck in a wall at the side of the road, forcing Weylandt to tumble around 20 metres to the ground below.<br /><br />He received emergency medical treatment by race doctors and was scheduled to be airlifted to hospital but had to wait as an emergency helicopter looked for a suitable landing spot.<br /><br />The head doctor on the race Dr Tredici said they had battled in vain to save Weylandt's life.<br /><br />"We were in the car behind the peloton. We arrived around 30 seconds after the accident but even then there was little we could have done. It was a very serious case," he said.<br /><br />"A few minutes later the ambulance with the CPR equipment arrived and we tried to bring him back to life."<br /><br />"His heart has stopped beating," announced Auro Bulbarelli, the head of sport for RAI television who first broke the tragic news.</p>.<p>Weylandt, who spent the bulk of his career with the Belgian team Quick Step after turning professional in 2006, won the third stage of the race last year, in Middelburg (Netherlands).<br /><br />He joined new Luxembourg outfit Leopard-Trek, the home of Australian Stuart O'Grady and the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank, at the start of the season.<br /><br />Weylandt is the first rider to die in a crash while racing since Kazakhstan's Andrei Kivilev succumbed to head injuries the morning after a crash on the second stage of Paris-Nice.<br />Kivilev's death, while the rider was travelling at a seemingly innocuous speed, signalled the introduction of the mandatory wearing of helmets in the professional peloton.<br /><br />Weylandt, who hailed from Ghent, is the first fatality on the Giro since 1986 when Emilio Ravasio crashed on the first stage and fell into a coma to die several days later.<br /><br />Although life and career-threatening crashes are a regular occurrence in cycling, the last fatality on the world's biggest race, the Tour de France, was over a decade ago.<br />On the race's 15th stage in 1995 Italy's Fabio Casartelli -- a member of Lance Armstrong's Motorola team -- died a few hours after sustaining injuries in a crash on the descent of the Portet d'Aspet in the Pyrenees.<br /><br />Following the tragedy race organisers cancelled the post-race ceremony in Rapallo, where Spaniard Angel Vicioso, of the Androni team, won the stage ahead of new race leader David Millar of Britain (Garmin). </p>