Tour de France
Mäder’s death affects Geschke: difficult to digest
Tackling his eleventh Tour de France: Simon Geschke. photo
© Jasper Jacobs/Belga/dpa
Last year, Simon Geschke rode in a mountain jersey for nine days. He cannot yet say whether he will launch another attack. Also because Corona threw him back.
A good two weeks after the death of professional cyclist Gino Mäder, the veteran is leaving Simon Geschke the tragedy is still close. “It doesn’t leave you cold, especially when you were there live at the Tour de Suisse. It’s a hard thing to digest when you talked to someone the day before,” said the 37-year-old before the start of the 110th Tour de France on Saturday in Bilbao of the German Press Agency.
In the middle of the month, the Swiss girl fell into a ravine on a frantic descent at the Tour de Suisse and later died in the hospital. At Geschke, therefore, caution is part of the descents. “You don’t hide it. You know that there is always a risk of falling. I’ve always driven carefully and with great concentration,” said the native of Berlin, who is about to take part in his eleventh tour.
“Risk will always remain”
When it comes to the safety debate in cycling, Geschke remains realistic. “Cycling is always dangerous. It’s fast, we don’t have a lot of crumple zones. People ride super fast on the descents, but also on the flat stages. A lot has already been done with the routing, but the risk will always be there. You can’t do cycling 100 percent safe,” says the Cofidis professional.
Last year, Geschke spent nine days on the tour in a mountain jersey. He cannot yet say whether there will be another attack on the dotted jersey. Also because there is still a question mark behind his tour form. It was only in the spring that Geschke was thrown back significantly by a corona disease. Unfortunately, that took a very, very long time. Geschke is fed up with Corona anyway, after all he was stuck in the quarantine hotel in Tokyo for days during the 2021 Olympic Games after a positive test.
He cannot say whether Geschke will tackle the tour again next year and fill the dozen. “I’m not on the tour to break any records. If this is the last, then so be it.”
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