Following Wouter Weylandt’s tragic death in the Giro, Leopard-Trek have set up a fund for his family which you may wish to give to.

Leopard Trek fund

There is also a t-shirt you can buy with all profits going to the fund.

you mean trek dont have a life insurance policy on their riders?
or they dont automatically self-insure to support riders partners?

I have nothing against people donating for a good cause, but I had assumed, on hearing the news, that the team would have put in place something for his wife and his unborn child as a matter of course and comfort to her at such a tragic time.

An admirable move, particularly as he was a pro and so riding was his job.

But we need to think about other riders killed when racing – think of Gareth Rhys Evans who was killed testing on the A1. I suspect the criminal injuries compensation commission paid out very little….

you mean trek dont have a life insurance policy on their riders?
or they dont automatically self-insure to support riders partners?

I’ve no idea. I just wanted to do a little to help.

not directed at you mjb.

I cant see facebook, so have no idea of the rationale behind the donation request. Just think it’s pretty odd that either he or his team havent funded a life/critical illness policy to cover such events.

Or are pro racers self employed and ride under “licence” to a team?

i imagine they’re effectively self employed.

The rider (at that level) is employed by the team, the team are required by the UCI to have at least travel and 3rd Party insurance although whether any of them require the rider to have personal insurance is a different matter. the rider will also be covered by his home Federation and most riders at that level will have full personal accident/life insurance cover, either through the Home Federation or through another insurance policy.

And there’s the unwritten rule that, in the thankfully very rare cases when a rider dies during a pro race, the following days prize fund (which can amount to thousands of euros) gets donated to the next of kin.

not directed at you mjb.

No offence taken.

I would guess that the stars of a team would have high levels of cover both for the team and families.

I doubt the domestiques have much in place.

For info the wording on the Facebook page is as follows:

Yesterday we lost a great person and true friend – In these hard times we especially want to think of those who were closest to Wouter: his family.

We have created a donation account (see below) to support them financially as much as we can. Everyone of you can donate to this account. All donations will go directly to Wouter’s family.