A year on from his tragic death at Gent-Wevelgem, Antoine Demoitié was remembered with a minute of silence in Deinze ahead of the 2017 edition of the race. His Wanty-Groupe Gobert teammates stood on the front row of the peloton, their heads bowed, as cycling marked a doleful anniversary.
“It’s a sad anniversary. It was a black day for the team and for cycling in general,” Wanty-Groupe Gobert manager Jean-François Bourlart said. “Today is a complicated day.”
On the corresponding morning a year ago, Demoitié set out from Deinze wearing number 192, filled with enthusiasm. The 25-year-old was in his first season at Pro Continental level and had made an immediate impact. In his first WorldTour race at E3 Harelbeke, two days earlier, he had entered the day’s early break, remaining on the front deep into the race. At Gent-Wevelgem, he was eager to gain a result of his own.
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Demoitié’s race ended when he crashed with four other riders at Sainte-Marie-Cappel, across the border in France, with 115 kilometres remaining. As he lay on the ground, he was struck by a following motorbike. He was taken to hospital in Lille, where he died shortly after midnight.
Twelve months on, the number 192 has been retired from the Gent-Wevelgem peloton as a mark of respect, and the official start list shows a blank space between Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (191) and Yoann Offredo (193) in the Wanty-Groupe Gobert line-up.
“We speak about it, we often speak about it on the team and among the riders,” said Bourlart. “We don’t have many of the same riders from last year in the team this year, but everybody was touched and affected by it, on the team and in cycling in general.”
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