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| Wouter Weylandt 27.09.1984 - 09.05.2011. RIP. |
A monument placed in memory of Wouter Weylandt, the Belgian cyclist who was killed in a high-speed crash during this year's Giro d'Italia, was destroyed by vandals during the night of Thursday the 28th/Friday the 29th of July. Weylandt, who rode for Andy and Frank Schleck's LeopardTrek team, was 26 years of age when he died on May the 9th.
The Flemmish language De Standaard newspaper and De Wielersite website report that the stone was discovered by passers-by on Friday morning, the upright part lying on the ground in pieces and the bricks of the plinth scattered.
The monument also stood in commemoration of the lives of Dimitri De Fauw, who committed suicide in 2009 due to depression caused by a crash in which another cyclist was killed during the Six Days of Ghent race in 2006 and Frederiek Nolf who died of an apparent heart attack during the 2009 Tour of Qatar when he was aged just 21 years.
The local authority, City of Ghent, says that a complaint has been filed with the police who have begun an investigation and that the memorial will be repaired within the coming fortnight.
The best thing to do is probably not to give this any more publicity; surely that's all the vandals can have wanted.
ReplyDeleteI disagree - if it's publicised, someone may remember seeing something suspicious in the area and be able to provide the information police need to track down and prosecute whoever did it. Also, if nobody knows about it it'll be more difficult to raise the funds to repair the memorial.
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