In consultation with family
Tour de Suisse continues after the death of Gino Mäder
06/17/2023 02:03 am
The death of the Swiss professional cyclist Gino Mäder shocked the organizers and participants of the Tour de Suisse. In consultation with Mäder’s family, with drivers and the teams, the largest cycling tour in Switzerland should be continued. Mäder’s team drops out as announced.
After the death of the Swiss professional cyclist Gino Mäder, the Tour de Suisse is continued. The organizers announced this late Friday evening. At the end of an “emotional day and a very touching commemorative drive”, it was decided in consultation with the family that the tour would continue, according to a statement. The women’s tour will also continue. Mäder’s team Bahrain-Victorious will drop out of the race as announced.
On Thursday, the 26-year-old Mäder fell into a ravine at high speed on the last kilometers of the fifth stage on the descent from the Albula Pass to the destination of La Punt and had to be resuscitated. A day later, the seriously injured Swiss died in hospital. The sixth stage that was actually planned was cancelled, instead the pros remembered their colleagues on a commemorative drive.
“Today was the worst day of my life. But tomorrow is a new day and we have to take care of that as an organization,” explained tour director Olivier Senn. The decision to continue was also made after consultation with the drivers and the teams of the tour.
First fatality from a racing crash since 2019
Before the final act of the tour on Sunday between St. Gallen and Abtwil, the riders will tackle the 183.5 kilometer seventh stage between Tübach and Weinfelden on Saturday. The time measurement for the overall ranking takes place on the penultimate day of racing 18.8 kilometers before the finish. The stage win will be decided on the home stretch in Weinfelden.
Gino Mäder, who won a stage at the Giro d’Italia and the youngsters’ classification at the Vuelta in 2021, is the first professional cyclist since 2019 to die after a fall in a race. At the beginning of August 2019, the Belgian Bjorg Lambrecht fell during the Tour of Poland and died during an operation as a result of a liver rupture that he sustained in a collision with a concrete structure.