Gino Mader RIP Tour de Suisse 2023

[SwissVan]

Terrible tragedy in this years TdS which highlights the dangers these racers regularly face

 

https://bahraincyclingteam.com/statement-regarding-gino-mader/

https://www.20min.ch/video/weisse-taube-statt-startschuss-tour-etappe-startet-emotional-964009579254

 

 

Edited June 17, 2023 by SwissVan

[betaboy]

Shocking… but checkout Zana in the Tour of Slovenia! He also went flying off the road, almost got a horse! It’s a dangerous sport and that’s the thrill of watching it… staying upright is all part of the game. 

[J Wakefield]

We came around the corber on the descent just after it unfortunately happened. It was not good. 

[SwissVan]

1 hour ago, J Wakefield said:

We came around the corber on the descent just after it unfortunately happened. It was not good. 

Can well imagine how it must have felt

TBH it’s a risk of the sport and testimony to the riders skills and bravery that we the spectating public take for granted

Good article on it on BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/65935386
 

Shock but little surprise

The huge sense of shock in the peloton and on the team buses at the race was clear, with a figure at one of the biggest teams saying there had been "a lot of tears" and that their riders were "distraught".

So it was shocking, yes. But there also appears to be little surprise that cycling has lost a huge talent to the pressures of competition on the road - where the gap between what different riders are willing to risk means the rewards when it comes to gaining time can be big. 

Jonathan Vaughters, the boss of American team EF Education-EasyPost, said bike racing is an "inherently and incredibly dangerous sport" which involves "such high speeds and such little protection".

It is 12 years since the sport lost a rider in similar circumstances at such a high level, when Belgium's Wouter Weylandt died in a crash descending at speed during the 2011 Giro d'Italia.

Since then there have been more deaths of professional cyclists, many, but not all, on public roads during training sessions.

In addition, in 2018 the Netherlands' Michael Goolearts suffered a cardiac arrest at Paris-Roubaix and in 2019 Belgium's Bjorg Lambrecht crashed while riding in the peloton during the Tour of Poland. He landed in a ditch and hit a concrete culvert, subsequently dying from his injuries in hospital. 

And the number of severe injuries caused in crashes that, mercifully, riders have survived are too numerous to mention.

They include the massive injuries sustained by Fabio Jakobsen in his horrendous crash in Poland in 2020.

Then there are also the numerous concussions suffered by riders, of which we still know so little of the mid- to long-term effects.

[Robbie Stewart]

Also the massive off that Chris Froome suffered during a practice ride before stage four of the Tour de Dauphiné. The sport is dangerous, and the injuries linger. Sad to read about Gino Mäder. That is really tragic.

[SwissVan]

If you ever get the chance to wander around amongst the riders before or after a stage, just look closely at the riders knees and elbows….. they are all full of scabs and scars

 

[Wannabe]

What a tragedy.

RIP Gino.