Tour de Suisse cycling organizers say they will resume the multi-stage competition on Saturday, a day later a racer is dead from the injuries he suffered in a collision while descending the mountain at high speed.
The driver, Gino Mäder, a member of the Bahrain-Victorious team, announced on Saturday morning that they would be withdrawing from the race. Two other teams, Professional Tudor And Intermarché-Circus-Wantyalso said they had decided to leave the race.
The Bahrain-Victorious drivers, as well as the rest of the competitors, were informed of Mäder’s death on Friday morning – the day after he left the track and fell down a steep ravine. The drivers took part in a shortened memorial trip on Friday, replacing the day’s stage that was postponed.
But with the race, a key adjustment to the Tour de France next month, returning with the final two stages of competition this weekend, Bahrain-Victorious confirmed on social media Saturday morning that the team Theirs will not participate.
“Following the tragic loss of Gino Mäder,” the team said in a Twitter post, “Team Bahrain Victorious has made the decision to withdraw from the Tour de Suisse.”
The other two teams quickly followed suit. Both cited the health of the riders when deciding to give up. “In these difficult circumstances, we feel it’s human’s way of respecting the feelings of our drivers and showing respect to Gino,” the Tudor Pro statement said.
Race officials said late on Friday that they had made a decision to continue the race in consultation with the Mäder family, one of Switzerland’s best young drivers. A four-stage women’s event will begin Saturday as planned.
“After consultation with all concerned, we as management unanimously support this decision and are attempting to organize the final two stages of the men’s race in a context appropriate,” the tournament’s race director, Olivier Senn, said in a statement.
“Today is the worst day of my life,” Senn added in the statement. “But tomorrow is a new day, and that’s what we have to care about as an organization.”
Police are investigating the crash and officials are said to want to hear from any witnesses who may have seen and filmed the incident.
Mäder collided with an American driver, Magnus Sheffield, on Thursday near the end of the fifth stage of the weeklong race, which ended with a final plunge down the Albula Pass. The final stretch where the collision occurred, just after a downhill bend on an unprotected road with mountains to the left and a steep stretch just outside its right edge, was barely manned. when the racers pass.
Photographs of the area of the impact showed what appeared to be two wheel tracks leading to the edge of a sharp drop above where Mäder and Sheffield fell.
Mäder and Sheffield were treated at their resting place, near a sewer system down a long slope. Sheffield, who is said to have suffered a concussion, has cuts and bruises, appears to be able to walk back up the hill with assistance. Race officials said Mäder was revived at the scene after being found “motionless in the water”. After initial treatment, he was evacuated from the scene by helicopter.
At least one driver, reigning world champion Remco Evenepoel, thinks the track doesn’t need to be so dangerous.
“I hope that the final of today’s race is something to think about for both the bike organizers and us as riders,” said Evenepoel. say on Twitter after the accident but before Mäder’s serious condition became known. “It was not the right decision to let us finish this dangerous downhill stretch. As racers, we should also think about the risks we face when we go down the mountain.”
