Belgian cyclist, teammates with Remco Evenepoel at amateur level, dies after being hit by truck driver

Jonas Bresseleers, a 24-year-old Belgian cyclist who was once in the same amateur team as Remco Evenepoel, has died in a fatal collision with a truck driver.

Bresseleers was riding his bike in Meer, a village in the Antwerp province of Belgium, on Thursday evening. As he approached the intersection at Maxburgdreef from Tolberg, he was hit by a truck driver coming from the direction of Blauwputten and suffered fatal injuries to the head.

A police officer who arrived at the scene said that the truck driver stopped and tried to resuscitate Bresseleers and performed first aid. However, the impact of the collision meant that he had died on the spot. Flemish website HLN reports that the 29-year-old truck driver’s breath and drug tests returned negative.

Bresseleers used to ride for Belgian club Dijlespurters VV Mechelen since 2022, but he was amongst the crop of talented young Belgian riders who came through the ranks in Acrog-Pauwels Sauzen-Balen team, now known as Acrog-Tormans.

Five years ago, Bresseleers was involved in another crash that cost the life of his teammate and friend, 19-year-old Stef Loos, when around 30 riders were sent the wrong way in the Grand Prix Alfred Gadenne, and a van driver collided with Loos, Bresseleers and another cyclist.

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Tolberg and Maxburgdreef intersection, Meer, Belgium

Bresseleers’s former team Acrog-Tormans wrote on Facebook: “Jonas rode for our club and was involved in the serious accident 5 years ago in which his teammate Stef Loos lost his life. Jonas was also hurt then.

“Words are inadequate for this untold drama. The entire Acrog-Tormans team wishes the relatives much strength, courage and strength to bear this loss.”

Acrog-Tormans’ chairman Jef Robert also spoke about the young cyclist: “Jonas was a quiet, good boy, but someone who was never afraid to do work for others. That ensured that he was a good fit in the group.

Talking about the deaths of both Bresseleers and Loos, he added: “The two indeed got along very well. Both were part of the strong class that also included Remco Evenepoel.

“It is difficult to understand that they are reunited almost exactly five years later. Heaven already has a peloton of young cyclists. Which once again points to the dangers of the otherwise beautiful sport.”

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Bresseleers was supposed to start the 60th edition of the Zuidkempense Pijl-GP Wilfried Peeters today, and to commemorate his passing, Robert, who’s also the organiser of the race, confirmed that a minute of silence would be observed.

Just a few days ago, a lorry driver accused of hitting and killing retired pro cyclist Davide Rebellin in Italy in November 2022, before fleeing the scene of the fatal crash, was rejected a plea bargain that would have seen his sentence halved. The verdict was welcomed as a pleasant surprise by Rebellin’s family, who asserted that they “do not want revenge, but justice” for the classics star.