Paying tribute to a friend

We held a moment of silence in honor of Wouter and every rider was wearing either a black armband or a ribbon. We agreed to finish the stage in peace, without attacking or sprinting. Each team took a 10km turn at the front, so it was fair. Eventually, the pace wasn’t so slow as we reached the average speed of 37km/h. The purpose of this stage was to pay tribute to Wouter. With several kilometers to go the guys of Leopard Trek along with Tyler Farrar of Garmin formed a line across the width of the road and crossed the finish line arm in arm. Tyler, who lived in the same town in Belgium as Weylandt, was a close friend of his and they often went out for a ride together. Tyler has abandoned Giro today. It was a sad stage and I wouldn’t want to go through anything like this ever again.