The tragic accident that killed future cycling star Bjorg Lambrecht

Bjorg Lambrecht was known as a very promising talent in the world of cycling, until a tragic incident in 2019 cost him his life. But what exactly happened? Let's take a look back at the career and life of the 22-year-old Belgian who was destined for much more. All career stats are from ProCylingStats, unless otherwise stated.

Lambrecht, born in 1997, started cycling at a very young age and already showed his enormous potential in the junior ranks. In 2015, he became Belgian national junior champion, a sign of things to come.

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In 2016, he started racing for the U23 category of Belgian team Lotto-Soudal and enjoyed great success, by winning a stage and the GC in the Tour de l'Isard (2016) and Liège–Bastogne–Liège U23 (2017). He was also runner-up in the Tour de l'Avenir, traditionally considered a race where new big talents emerge.

Lotto-Soudal believed in Lambrecht and saw him as a potential future team leader. He turned pro in 2018 and kept on performing well for the Belgian team.

At the end of May 2018, Lambrecht took his first professional victory in the Norwegian stage race Tour des Fjords, underlining his talent, and was named in Lotto-Soudal's Vuelta a España line-up.

At the end of September of the same year, he won the silver medal at the U23 World Championships, second only to Swiss professional rider Marc Hirschi. "We are definitely going to celebrate this tonight. The season is coming to an end and we have all worked hard for this," Lambrecht said after the race, per Cyclingsite.

In 2019, Lambrecht broke through on the pro circuit and made a name for himself to the general cycling public. He came close to winning a stage in the Tour of the Basque Country, and finished sixth and fourth respectively in the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne.

With these results, Lambrecht had shown that he had enormous potential in the Ardennes classics and that he was a great climber. With the right preparation and training, he could become Lotto-Soudal's future key man for the stage races.

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He also proved this in June 2019 by winning the youth classification in the Critérium du Dauphiné, one of the traditional stage races in preparation for the Tour de France.

Next came the Tour de Pologne for Lambrecht, a race that many will still remember, unfortunately for dramatic reasons.

On the third day of the Polish stage race, Lambrecht crashed heavily into a concrete culvert next to the road, per Belgian sports outlet Sporza.

"I saw how he lost control of his bike. He immediately dived into the ditch. Unfortunately, he hit that concrete culvert. He had no chance to dodge it," Polish rider Marek Rutkiewicz told after the incident, per Sporza.

Lambrecht was resuscitated after the crash, but died in the hospital, according to Sporza.

"The biggest tragedy possible that could happen to the family, friends and teammates of Bjorg has happened… Rest in peace Bjorg...," his team wrote on Twitter. The 4th stage of the Tour de Pologne was neutralised and a minute's silence was observed.

Shortly afterwards, Lotto-Soudal team doctor Maarten Meirhaeghe gave information on the cause of Lambrecht's death in a press statement: "Bjorg died from a big liver laceration which caused a massive internal hemorrhage. As a consequence, Bjorg suffered a cardiac arrest."

Lambrecht's death shocked the cycling community, and his team and cycling-mad Belgium in particular. He was buried in Knesselare, his home town, in the presence of many big names from cycling and beyond.

Lambrecht was only 22 years old when he died and had so much more to give to the sport of cycling. He will always be remembered as the great talent and future cycling star that he was.

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