Father of cyclist Dario (22) dies along a course while he wanted to help him: “That last eye contact remains burned into my retina”

“Suddenly a photographer shouted that something serious had happened to my father.” Dario Van der Heyden (22) immediately put on the brakes and turned around in the leading group of the one-day race GP Affligem on Sunday. His father Willem (54), who came to cheer him on along the course, rode his mountain bike into a hole and hit his head against a lighting pole. He died the same evening. Dario is now telling his story for the first time. “It feels unreal that he will never send me a message again to ask if I slept well.”

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