The Tour de Pologne paid a moving tribute to Bjorg Lambrecht on Tuesday, with Lotto Soudal and then other teams taking turns on the front during the neutralised stage to remember the 22-year-old Belgian rider who died after a crash during stage 3. The day of mourning began on Tuesday morning when riders and teams gathered at the stage start of Jaworna for what became a 133-kilometre procession in his memory. All start ceremonies barring the sign-on in the small town in southern Poland were cancelled, with sombre music playing quietly in the sign-on area and the publicity hostesses dressed in black. Riders, many wearing black armbands, spent much of the pre-start time on their buses, before making their way through sideroads to the sign on. Team staff went about the standard last-minute preparations, in one of the few other semblances of normality on a stage that is anything but.ADVERTISEMENT In warm, clear weather, team management, directors and a number of riders made their way to the Lotto Soudal bus, parked at the end of the line of team vehicles about a kilometre from the start, to pay their condolences. Race director Czeslaw Lang, his lead car with black streamers attached to its antennae for the stage, stopped briefly by the bus to express his sympathy. Finally, as the non start-time approached, riders gathered under the inflatable start banner. Many removed their helmets and sunglasses as a sign of respect and mourning. Lambrecht´s six Lotto Soudal teammates were the last to arrive, making their way through the peloton in silence to move to the front of the bunch. Faced by a line of photographers and camera crews, some were close to tears as they removed their helmets and the massive emotional charge of the occasion began to tell. Then, shortly after a nearby church bell had struck twelve, there was a minute´s silence and the race slowly moved off. Show tribute to this great kid
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