Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt died today during the third stage of the prestigious Giro d'Italia bike race, nearly one year to the day after he won the same stage and popped champagne in celebration (photo above).

Weylandt, 26, is the first cyclist to die during the Giro d'Italia in 25 years, and the first to die in any prominent cycling race since 2003, when Kazakh cyclist Andrei Kivilev fell and died during the 2003 Paris-Nice.

Weylandt was in the middle of a steep descent during the race's third stage, a scenic 107-mile ride that stretches from Reggio Emilia to Rapallo, when he lost control and crashed.

This Google Street View embed give you an idea of the terrain Weylandt and the other world-class cyclists encountered today:

www.cyclingthealps.com/streetview/mad-grazie.html

The terrain starts getting steeper approximately 25 miles from the finish line. Weylandt was less than 13 miles from the end when he crashed. He suffered a skull fracture and other facial contusions, and paramedics attempted cardiac massage for 40 minutes before abandoning the effort to revive him.

Within minutes, gruesome videos of the accident started showing up on YouTube. Some show a motionless Weylandt laying on the pavement, unconscious and unresponsive, as paramedics cut off his helmet. Some of the videos have already been taken down, but others are still there. (WARNING: This content is graphic and some may find it disturbing.)

As news of Weylandt's death spread through the cycling world, prayers and condolences poured in from both those on the ground in Italy and members of the cycling community on Twitter and other social media.

And while these sorts of fatalities in competitive cycling are somewhat rare, they do occasionally happen, often with little to no warning. Weylandt was an experienced rider, and his helmet was still on his head when paramedics reached him, so it was there to cushion the crash.

Sad that it ultimately didn't save his life.

File photo: Marco Trovati/AP