Danish ex-cyclist Chris Anker Sorensen is killed by a car

Chris Anker Sorensen (Hammel, Denmark, 37 years old), lost his life on Saturday, hit by a car while riding a bicycle, which had been his way of making a living until very recently.

Apparently a

where it should have stopped.

Sorensen, who died in the Belgian town of Zeebrugge, had been a professional cyclist, was a teammate of Alberto Contador in the Saxo Bank and the Tinkoff, he won a stage of the Giro d'Italia in 2010 and the Combativity award in the 2012 Tour. He had started as a professional at CSC under Bjarne Riis in 2007 and extended his career until 2015. He played twelve grand laps during his career, with only one retirement, in the 2014 Giro. His best classification was twelfth place in the Vuelta a España in 2012. He was also the Danish road champion in 2015. He was a climber, who achieved his only victory in the Giro on a mountain day.

As a gregarious man, he was one of those in charge of leading their leaders on the rugged days.

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Sorensen went out for a bike ride on the roads of Flanders, where next week he was going to comment for Danish television on the Cycling World Cup to be held on the routes of the Belgian region, so closely linked to the sport of two wheels. According to the Danish channel TV2, he was "exploring the terrain to learn more about the race that he should comment on." The winner of the Tour, the Giro and the Vuelta, Alberto Contador, who also currently serves as a commentator for the Eurosport chain, was shocked through social networks. He published a message on twitter, in which he appears in a photograph with Anker Sorensen, during a career, sharing the colors of the Saxo Bank, in which he points out: “How unfair life can be”, and shows his condolences to the relatives of his former partner.

According to the Belgian police, the accident occurred on the section of the route between Havenrandweg and Zuid in Zeebrugge, located north of the city of Bruges, at a junction where there is a marked cycle lane. Fien Maddens, spokesman for the Bruges prosecutor's office, confirmed that a traffic inspector came to the scene on Saturday after the accident, which occurred at 1:00 p.m. Other than the driver of the car involved, there were no eyewitnesses.

The inspector is a technical expert who, among other things by means of measurements at the accident site and examining the vehicles involved, must try to find the cause of the accident.

Their initial findings indicate that the bicycle should have stopped to let the car pass, but it did not, and the motorized vehicle was unable to brake in time.

Saturday was a day of dry weather and good visibility.

According to the analyzes carried out, the driver of the car was in a state of

, but that he had not drunk or used drugs.

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