Riders in Tour of Cali honor fellow cyclist

Riders in this years Tour of California will be wearing wrist bands to honor fellow cyclist Wouter Weylandt.  Weylandt was a rider for Pro team Leopard Trek.  His life tragically ended after a crash in stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia.

Stage 4 of the Giro was neutralized in memorial, with riders completing the stage as a group, Leopard Trek leading across the finish.

Also joining Leopard Trek at the front of the peloton was Tyler Farrar, friend of training partner of Weylandt.  Farrar opted not to complete the Giro after Stage 4 in an understandable move to mourn the loss of his friend.

The move of the Amgen Tour of California to mid-May as caused many of the top riders in pro cycling to opt out of the Giro in favor of the California event – especially those teams with large US title sponsors.  Among them is Team Radio Shack.

Levi Leipheimer mentioned the effort on his twitter feed by saying:

All riders, team staff & race staff will be joining @leopardtrek in wearing these at AToC. We will not forget! http://t.co/iSZYlnI