Site to be restored by city of Ghent
A memorial site built for deceased cyclists Wouter Weylandt, Dmitri De Fauw and Frederiek Nolf was found to be vandalized in the city of Ghent on Thursday evening.
Patrick Cosyn, the man who initiated the effort to make the memorial, told Sporza of his dismay at what had happened. “The police called me. I immediately took a look. It’s awful. Who does that…in any case, people without hearts. The memorial stone is broken in two.”
Cosyn has laid an official complaint with police who are said to be looking for the perpetrators. The memorial will be restored by the city of Ghent.
Belgian cyclist Weylandt died this year after crashing on a descent in the Giro d’Italia. Nolf passed away unexpectedly in his sleep at the Tour of Qatar in 2009 while De Fauw committed suicide in November of the same year. He was reportedly suffering from depression after he was involved in a crash in 2006 at the Ghent Six Day. Spanish cyclist Isaac Gálvez died as a result of their accidental tangle, and De Fauw took it to heart.