- Accident: The Belgian cyclist Bjorg Lambrecht dies after a fall in the Tour de Poland
The Belgium that today cries the death of Bjorg Lambrecht (22 years old) is the same one that two days ago vibrated with the victory of Remco Evenepoel (19) in the San Sebastian Classic; the one that got excited in the Tour when contemplating the winning versatility of Wout Van Aert (24); the one that also in France discovered with joy that Jasper Philipsen (21) can already compete with the best sprinters in the world. Belgian cycling believed to have it all thanks to a unique generation of young runners and now concludes that nothing matters, because there is no victory more important than life and Lambrecht has lost it on the operating table of a hospital after hitting his head against a sewer during the third stage of the Tour de Poland. Damn cycling.
With Belgium the rest of the world cries for the tragic death of the young climber, an event that reminds, who can forget it, that cycling is one of the most dangerous sports in the world and that any fall can be the last. And the names of Fabio Casartelli , Andrei Kivilev , Wouter Weylandt , Manuel Sanroma , all of them deceased while competing come to mind. Or those of Michele Scarponi , Víctor Cabedo and the Otxoa brothers, who died while they were training. And that of so many anonymous fans who left their lives on the road enjoying their hobby, because death unites and equals professionals and amateurs as nothing else does. Lambrecht is the last of a long blacklist that, no matter how many security measures are taken, will continue to increase without remedy in the future. Everyone who gets on a bicycle knows that the risk exists and that it can lurk at any time. This is the damn cycling.
Maybe Lambrecht was not a well-known cyclist for the occasional fan of this sport, in which he approaches the television for the great events of the calendar, but he was a budding talent, a runner called to do great things in not too long. In the land of drug addicts, the Lotto-Soudal cyclist was the exception to the rule. A climber often and light, agonist by nature, one of those little birds that seems to dance with his bike when the road is steep and that he dreamed of one day being the protagonist of a great round trip.
Until the recent emergence of Evenepoel, Lambrecht was the great Belgian hope of greening those long-withered laurels. In a country that breathes cycling like no other, the drought in three-week tests has long since become unbearable. In the last 37 years, Belgium has only seen two of its children on the podium of a great lap, Bruyneel in the 1995 Tour and De Gendt in the 2012 Giro, both in the third drawer. Lambrecht, the most promising Belgian climber in decades, was called to try to liquidate such an ominous streak. Far away are exhibitions like those of 1977, in which Giro, Tour and Vuelta crowned three Belgian cyclists in unison.
It was not a crazy company for a boy who has been progressing steadily in recent years. In 2017, he became the first Belgian in history to climb the podium of the Tour del Porvenir, which was second behind Egan Bernal, was also second in the prestigious Aosta Valley Tour and won the Liege- Bastogne-Liege sub'23 and in the Carrera de la Paz sub'23. A youth record worthy of a throne cyclist who earned him the jump to a professional with just 20 years.
His 2018 already allowed to light a runner capable of making a living in the professional squad and not going unnoticed. It had a special shine, which only good climbers have. He won the Tour of the Fjords and, in his debut in a great lap, was fourth in the stage of the Tour with arrival in La Camperona. He finished his rookie year with second place in the U23 world championship, just behind Marc Hirschi , the Swiss who finished third on Saturday at the San Sebastian Classic.
Lambrecht had gone to the Tour de Poland to add kilometers in the legs thinking about the Tour of Spain, which he was going to go as head of ranks for the general of a Lotto-Soudal who does not know a 'top 10' in a great lap since Jurgen Van den Broeck was fourth in the Tour of 2012. Despite being only 22 years old, Lambrecht projected the feeling of being prepared for such a challenge after his good performances in one-week races and the potential shown in the Ardennes: 4th in the Brabanzone Arrow, 6th in the Amstel Gold Race and 4th in the Walloon Arrow.
Just a couple of months ago he had renewed with the Lotto-Soudal for the next two seasons, a team in which to continue growing without the pressure to achieve immediate results and without the need to wear out in favor of a leader. He must be the leader, the man who gave that white and red jersey luster on the high mountain, but he won't be able to do it. Damn cycling.
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