Former cyclist Lieuwe Westra dies at 40: “He has struggled with himself in recent years and lost”

Former Dutch cyclist Lieuwe Westraretired in 2017 due to depression, he died on Saturday at the age of 40, his biographer Thomas Sijtsma said in the past few hours.

“The former cyclist has been struggling with himself in recent years and has lost,” Sijtsma wrote on the social network Twitter without the cause of death of the athlete, known as The beast.

However, hours later Sijtsma himself clarified: “Before the ghost stories emerge: Lieuwe Westra has had a very bad time in recent months, but as far as we know, it is not a suicide.”

His family had informed via Facebook that Westra was found on Saturday afternoon at his company’s facilities in Zwaagdijk and although an attempt was made to revive him, it was impossible, according to Dutch media reports.

“Over the last few years Lieuwe had been going through difficult times. The end of his cycling career and pro life were difficult for him. We want to remember him as a cyclist, the Beast, in the happiest moments of his life,” they wrote.

Westra, who raced with the Vancansoleil DCM (2009-2013), Astana (2014-2016) and Wanty-Groupe Gobert teams, he was twice champion of the Dutch cycling time trial championship and won stages in 2012 at Paris-Nice, in the Tour of Catalonia and in the Dauphine in 2014, in which year he was part of the team of Tour de Astana winner Vincenzo Nibali, as well as in the Driedaagse of De Panne.

The cyclist ended his career in early 2017 after reportedly suffering from depression which, he explained months later in a television interview, prevented him from continuing to race.

Westra will be fired with little ceremony, according to the family, who have asked for their privacy to be respected.

His former Vancansoleil teammate Johnny Hogeerland expressed his sadness at his compatriot’s death on Twitter and regretted that he “couldn’t help more” in recent years.

Source: EFE