'You become aware of how fragile a person is and how dangerous the sport is' says sprinter
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Andre Greipel (Arkea-Samsic)(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
André Greipel (Arkéa Samsic)(Image credit: Getty Images)
Andre Greipel moves through the gears(Image credit: Thomas Maheux)
Andre Greipel leads his Arkea-Samsic teammates(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Andre Greipel wins the opening stage of the 2018 Tour of Britain(Image credit: Getty Images)
André Greipel (Arkéa-Samsic) says that he'll now see cycling "in a different way" following the death last week of his former teammate Bjorg Lambrecht, who crashed on stage 3 of the Tour de Pologne.
Greipel said the death of the 22-year-old Belgian reiterated just how dangerous professional cycling can be, reported HLN.be, with the 37-year-old German sprinter speaking at a press conference ahead of the Deutschland Tour, which starts later this month.
"You certainly think about the sport in a different way," said Greipel. "You become aware of how fragile a person is, and how dangerous the sport is. I can't forget that, and from now on I'll take a different course. I just hope that something like this doesn't happen again."
Lambrecht was Greipel's teammate during the 2018 season at Lotto Soudal, before the veteran German sprinter made a move to French Pro Continental team Arkéa-Samsic for this year. Greipel was one of the pallbearers when Lambrecht was laid to rest in his hometown of Knesselare on Tuesday.
"When you lose a former, young teammate like Bjorg, that's anything but beautiful," added Greipel. "However, we should also not forget how beautiful cycling can be."
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