Vincenzo Nibali has paid tribute to his late teammate Lieuwe Westra, who died on Sunday at the age of 40. Westra was a part of Nibali’s guard on the 2014 Tour de France, most notably shepherding him across the cobbles on the race-defining stage to Arenberg in the opening week.
“Lieuwe was a great lad, he lived for the bike,” Nibali wrote in a column in Monday’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (opens in new tab).
“He didn’t speak very much, but he knew exactly how to move in the bunch. And in team meetings, I can remember how happy he was whenever he was given the task of going in the break.”
During his time at Astana, Westra joked that he understood only one Italian word: ‘piano‘, the calming instruction repeated over and again by his leader Nibali.
“Not speaking the same language wasn’t a big problem, we understood one another,” wrote Nibali. “On the ‘famous’ cobbled stage of the Tour de France, where I gained on all my GC rivals, his help was vital, first by being in the break and then by pulling for me. He was crucial, it was a real pleasure to have him on the team.”
Nibali learned of Westra’s death on Sunday morning from their former Astana teammate Enrico Gasparotto, now a directeur sportif at Bora-Hansgrohe.
“I hadn’t heard from him in the last years, but his death has filled my heart with sadness. A lot of sadness,” Nibali wrote.
The Italian’s words were echoed by Westra’s compatriot and former Vacansoleil teammate Jonny Hoogerland. In an interview with Wielerflits (opens in new tab), Hoogerland recalled how Westra helped him take possession of the king of the mountains jersey at the 2011 Tour and how he set up his Dutch national title win two years later, as well as paying tribute to his friend’s human qualities.
“Lieuwe was too good, he was always there for everyone. He achieved very nice things for himself, but he was extremely able to sacrifice himself for others,” said Hoogerland, who had last attempted to contact Westra last month.
“He fell into depression. A lot of people always wanted to help him, but he was actually beyond help. It’s very sad to see such a top athlete, someone who can be so hard on himself, end up utterly alone. No one could really get in touch with him anymore,” Hoogerland said.
“At Christmas I sent him another message, ‘Happy Christmas, Lieuwe’, but there was no response. It’s very sad that it ended this way.”
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