Professional cyclist Gino Mäder died after a serious fall

Dhe professional cyclist Gino Mäder, who had a serious accident, died as a result of his fall at the Tour de Suisse. This was announced by his team Bahrain Victorious on Friday. “It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that we have to announce the death of Gino Mäder,” the statement said. The 26-year-old Swiss got off the road on Thursday on the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse on the descent from the Albula Pass to the destination of La Punt and fell into a ravine. “Mäder was not responsive, was revived on the spot and then transported by helicopter to the Chur hospital,” his team told Bahrain Victorious in the evening. The race doctor was quickly at the scene of the accident and immediately provided help.

“Despite all the efforts of the phenomenal staff at the Chur hospital, Gino did not manage to master this final and greatest challenge, at 11.30 we said goodbye to one of the bright heads of our team,” Bahrain Victorious wrote on Friday. “We are devastated by the loss of our exceptional driver, Gino Mäder. His talent, dedication and enthusiasm were an inspiration to all of us,” said team manager Milan Erzen. “Not only was he an extremely talented rider, but he was also a great person off the bike.” The team will “race in his honor and keep his memory on every road we ride.”

Current stage as a memory trip

However, the sixth stage of the Tour de Suisse planned for this Friday has been cancelled. The stage will not take place as planned, the tour organizers announced on Friday via the official live ticker. Instead, the field of riders will complete a commemorative ride over the last 30 kilometers of the planned sixth stage in memory of Mäder. Previously, the start of the stage had initially been “postponed indefinitely”. The Swiss news agency sda previously reported that, in consultation with Mäder’s team Bahrain-Victorious and his family, the tour organizers had decided to continue the race in principle. Mäder’s team announced that it would withdraw from the preparatory race for the Tour de France.

The world cycling association UCI reacted “devastated” to the news of the young rider’s death: “Our thoughts are with his family, his friends and everyone who has anything to do with Gino. He was a rising star in professional cycling.” After successes as a junior on the track, Mäder was on the way to becoming a strong round cyclist. In 2021 he won a stage each at the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de Suisse and finished fifth at the Vuelta a Espana.

Magnus Sheffield (21) from the Ineos Grenadiers team fell in the same place, but the American got off lightly. He suffered a concussion and bruises. Road World Champion Remco Evenepoel made serious allegations after the stage. “I hope that today’s stage finale is food for thought for both the organizers and ourselves as riders. A mountain finish would have been possible without any problems. So it wasn’t a good decision to let us end the stage with this dangerous descent,” the Belgian wrote on Twitter.

The Swiss professional cyclist Roland Thalmann, who passed the spot minutes after the accident, was shocked. “In a long bend I saw two wheels that no longer looked good. Looking around I saw two riders quite deep in the chasm next to the road. It wasn’t a pretty sight,” he said on Swiss television SFR.

Before the death became known, Rolf Aldag, sports director at the German professional team Bora-hansgrohe, suggested a round table in the safety discussion. You have to “reflect calmly: what makes sense? What is purposeful? How are we going to continue? Teams, organizers and athletes have to sit at one table. But we should take our time, fast, tabloid headlines have never helped anyone,” Aldag told SID on Friday.

The 54-year-old rejected the criticism from the paddock at the course and called for prudence. “After a fall like this, everyone involved is very emotional. Reacting from the first shock makes no sense at all,” said Aldag: “It damages the credibility of our sport.”