The Lotto Soudal team confirmed on Monday that promising young Belgian cyclist Bjorg Lambrecht has died in hospital in the Polish city of Rybnik following a crash during stage 3 of the Tour of Poland race. He was 22 years of age.

"The biggest tragedy possible that could happen to the family, friends and teammates of Bjorg has happened ... Rest in peace Bjorg," the team tweeted.

The team gave no further details.

The crash occurred around 30 kilometers (19 miles) into the race, according to the news agency Agence France-Presse, which cited Polish news website Onet. 

Lambrecht joined the Lotto-Soudal team in 2018 and re-signed for two more years in June.

He had had a run of good results during one-day classics earlier in the year, and was named most promising youngster in the June tour of the Dauphine, a preparatory event of the Tour de France.

Tributes and grief

Other professional cyclists voiced their great sadness at the news of Lambrecht's death.

German Pascal Ackermann, who won stage 3 after Fabio Jakobsen was disqualified for the victory for an irregular sprint heading into the finish line, said he was "devastated to hear today's tragic news" and expressed his "deepest condolences" to Lambrecht's family, friends and team.

The world road race champion in 2018, Alejandro Valverde of Spain, said on Twitter that he was "deeply sorry for the loss of Bjorg Lambrecht, a cyclist who had demonstrated a lot in a few years."

tj/msh (AFP, AP)

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