Pablo Lastras came up few meters short for the victory in the 3rd stage of the 2011 Giro d'Italia, a day that nevertheless went overshadowed by the tragic death from Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt (LEO) after suffering a crash in the final part of the stage.

Despite the attempts from the race’s medical services to get him recovered, the rider passed away minutes after the stage went to its end. The riders did not know the status of his colleague and were noticed of it at the finish. Pablo Lastras, who attacked into the final climb along with Millar / Le Mevel (GRM) and Moreno (KAT) did not get news of the accident until coming in 3rd place through the finish, a result that has no importance after the dramatic loss of his mate: “I knew him, he was a guy I was in touch with, a rider with a great future, fast, just like Rojas, and who loved what he was doing. It’s a pity. It’s time to do something to dignify this work. That’s something that we expected and I had talked of it with some journalists back in the morning. There were so many difficult turns in the race and we didn’t find even a single signal or a yellow flag marking them. I don’t know where he crash occurred or even if it had anything to do, but any security measure was absent on the road today.”