Lieuwe Westra was one of the best cyclists in the Netherlands for ten years. But while the Frisian often rode his bike over the highest peaks with ease, he fell into a deep valley after his career. He spent his last months in a garage on an industrial estate in Zwaagdijk-Oost. His life came to an end there on January 14, 2023, at the age of 40. A portrait of a driver who didn’t love himself enough.
2003 Milling
Almost twenty years before Lieuwe Westra’s death, a conversation took place on his mother Alie’s birthday in Molenend, Friesland, that determined the rest of his life. Family and friends believe that if Westra had not taken up the challenge to become a cyclist again on February 21, 2003, he would have ended much sooner. In his youth, Westra was a more than accomplished driver, but at the age of sixteen he chose a different path. He shaved his head and started working as a paver to buy cigarettes and beer. On weekends he went all out at house parties. The Thunderdome music couldn’t be loud enough for him. There was also no limit to the amount of drugs he took. Cocaine, ecstasy, hash, speed: as long as he got into a stupor. He once said that he took 25 pills in one evening.
On his mother’s birthday, there was little left of the cyclist: Westra weighed about a hundred kilos. Lieuwe’s brother Jan Hendrik was still a creditable cyclist in the amateur circuit, but Westra was not that impressed. “I can easily reach that level,” he said. To which Jan Hendrik’s then girlfriend replied: “Then do it, with your big mouth!” Instead of in his Golf, he has since ridden his racing bike across the Frisian countryside as fast as possible to the Afsluitdijk and back. And on good days he would tap Den Oever. Westra was a cyclist again.
2004 ‘t Zand
The Ronde van ‘t Zand was great after a year rd is training his first race as an amateur driver. Little has been preserved of Westra’s participation in the North Holland village. “His name is on the starting list,” says John Deutekom, chairman of the organizing committee and a well-known jury member in North Holland, after he has looked in the attic for the program booklets from those years. “But he does not appear in the results. I also took part in the competition for B-amateurs, but I can’t remember anything about Westra.” De Fries himself had no problem participating anonymously. He did not want to make his comeback public just yet. After half an hour he hit the brakes to flee back to Friesland via the Afsluitdijk.
2008 Marigny
“In 2008, Lieuwe and I rode the Duo Normand, a time trial for couples,” says Jos Pronk (40), his teammate and roommate that year at the Krolstone formation, an amateur team for drivers with ambitions to become professionals. “He told me to start, but while I was well into my fifties, he quickly went over sixty. I’ve never been so devastated. I rode in the lead a few times, but when he took over, we immediately went a few kilometers faster. Ultimately we came third in Marigny. He could drive incredibly fast, but at that time he usually did not cycle with his head. At the beginning of the race he often drove everyone away, so he was completely burned out at the end.”
Pronk and Westra shared the prizes at Krolstone that season. Westra earned a professional contract with Vacansoleil at the age of 25, but Pronk – the younger brother of former professional rider Matthé and the son of stayer world champion Matthé senior – could not be as hard on himself as his Frisian teammate. “Merijn Zeeman, our sports director that year, once said that I was the best rider he has ever worked with who never became a professional. I don’t see that as an insult; I just couldn’t put everything aside for it. For Lieuwe it was always all or nothing. He was a special boy. Incredibly sad what happened to him. When I heard from my good friend Theo Bos that he was not doing well, I sent him a message saying that he could always come to me for help, but I never received an answer.”
2012 Mende
Westra had succeeded in becoming a good professional, but he wanted more. Fast riding had always been a specialty of the Frisian, but his physique did not allow him to climb well. He was too chunky. While Robert Gesink weighs 70 kilos at 1.90 metres, the 1.85 meter long Westra weighed 74 kilos. A few kilos less makes a big difference and as a Vacansoleil driver he started losing weight in his characteristic maniacal way. He starved himself during training until he weighed only 69 kilos.
His life as a monk helped Westra and resulted in a bizarre success. Time trial rider Westra surprised everyone in the climb to Mende during the fifth stage of Paris-Nice. He defeated Alejandro Valverde and Bradley Wiggins thanks to exceptional acceleration. In the final time trial towards Col d’Èze, Westra only had to give in to Wiggins by two seconds, meaning he finished second in the final classification. The Frisian’s performance made an impression in the peloton, former colleague Laurens ten Dam remembers. “It was very motivating for me. If Lieuwe could do it, then I should be able to do it too.”
2014 Arenberg
Lars Boom won the ‘Roubaix’ stage of the Tour de France on July 9, 2014 in the pouring rain, but Lieuwe Westra was perhaps the strongest person on the bike. The ex-paver paved the way to the finish in Arenberg for his leader Vincenzo Nibali. Boom was the only one who rode over the crooked stones with a smile, the rest of the peloton looked like thunder. The stage was the end station for Tour favorite Chris Froome after a crash.
Westra successfully trailed the rest of the competition for the final classification. The only thing yellow jersey wearer Nibali could sometimes shout was ‘Lieuwe, piano’, Lieuwe, softer. Even for his leader he sometimes drove too fast. When he entered Paris he was part of the team that had won the Tour. He was finally at the place he aspired to be: the world top. The nickname The beast he did all the justice on two wheels.
2016 De Panne
A bicycle stood against Lieuwe Westra’s coffin during his funeral. The Specialized, with which he achieved his last major success; the overall victory in the Three Days of De Panne-Koksijde in 2016. It was one of Westra’s favorite races, full of wind, fans and, at the end, a not too long time trial.
A few months later, Westra rode the Tour of Belgium. In the third stage to Verviers, a massive crash was caused by two racing motorcycles. Belgian Stig Broeckx was so badly injured that he was kept in a coma for weeks. The driver suffered permanent brain damage, but recovered as best he could thanks to his unwavering optimism. However, Westra became anxious in the peloton, the results became fewer and fewer and he became increasingly unhappy. He lived in Monaco and was a great cyclist there, but when colleagues came by to train, the door remained closed. Westra preferred to lie in his bed.
At the end of 2016 he only had DNFs to his name: Did Not Finish . His generous commitment at Astana – 600,000 euros per year – was not extended. He signed a contract for 2017 with the Belgian Wanty-Groupe Goubert, but at the beginning of January Westra suddenly announced that he was permanently quitting cycling. Characteristic of that period was that he was inaccessible to everyone in the days after his self-announced retirement. The cyclist Westra had lost out to the depression.
2021 Benissa
In the sun, Westra seemed to have found happiness again. He married a blonde Australian, with whom he bought a cycling hotel in Benissa in southern Spain. But things definitely went in the wrong direction at Casa Ciclismo. Westra grabbed the bottle and was therefore no longer able to follow the guests he was accompanying on the racing bike. The dark thoughts did not disappear and he became more and more aggressive. During a training ride, Westra witnessed Amy Pieters’ heavy fall. He had such a hard time with himself because of that traumatic experience that his family decided to bring him back to the Netherlands.
Westra, however, did not allow any help. His family wanted him to be admitted, but he himself did not like it. The police even had to visit the parental home. He then fled from Friesland across the Afsluitdijk to Zwaagdijk-Oost, where he moved into the garage of a friend who did not ask any annoying questions. Drink and drugs were definitely back in Westra’s life.
2022 Zwaagdijk-Oost
After Laurens ten Dam heard from journalist and biographer Thomas Sijtsma that Lieuwe Westra lived on an industrial estate in West Friesland, he decided to go and visit his former colleague with a friend. “I knew Lieuwe from the peloton. I had never cycled a training ride with him before, but I thought it was only logical to help an ex-driver with whom I rode. Especially if he was nearby in North Holland.”
He had a nice conversation with Westra about the past and they ended the meeting with a hug. But Ten Dam also saw a man who had lost his way. He was wearing dirty clothes. “A day later I returned to bring him some clothes. When I arrived, Lieuwe was sitting on the ground weeding the weeds between the paving stones. A job from which he was visibly satisfied. He had cleaned up part of the street again. That was typical Lieuwe. He also had the same experience as a road builder or as a cyclist. Accomplishing a simple task well.”
The former driver also realized that he cannot help Westra further. “I have a garden shed behind my house, but he couldn’t have lived there. I would have liked to meet him again, but in all the hustle and bustle, that didn’t happen before he passed away.”
2023 Zwaagdijk-Oost
On Saturday, January 14, Lieuwe Westra was found lifeless in the driveway of the car garage. Resuscitation was of no avail. Where first the cyclist had left the race prematurely, the person and the body soon followed. During an investigation after his death, speed, ecstasy, crystal meth and sleeping pills were found, the family announced in June. They wanted all speculation to end. Westra had died of an overdose.
Lieuwe Westra had changed from a loved and respected speed racer to a homeless person who was destroyed by drink and drugs. The beast had transformed into a monster. A flawed monster, which should above all be remembered as The beast : the cyclist who lashed the peloton while laughing.