A Swiss bicycle racer who crashed on a fast descent during the Tour de Suisse died on Friday, one day after he and another competitor tumbled into a ravine in the Swiss Alps.
The rider, Gino Mäder of Switzerland, was transported to the hospital after the crash on Thursday but died of his injuries on Friday morning, his team, Bahrain-Victorious, said in a statement.
Friday’s stage was canceled after race organizers informed the other teams and the race’s other riders of the death of Mäder, 26, about 30 minutes before it had been scheduled to start. The tour, an important prep race for next month’s Tour de France, is scheduled to continue through Sunday.
Some riders were in tears after hearing the news with the rest of the competitors. Race organizers said the peloton would ride together for part of Friday’s scheduled route in tribute to Mäder. The race is expected to resume on Saturday.
Mäder crashed along with an American rider, Magnus Sheffield, on Stage 5 of the weeklong race, a day that ends with a final descent down the Albula Pass, in the Swiss Alps. The final section where the crash took place, down an unprotected mountain road with mountains to its left and a steep drop-off just beyond its right edge, was largely empty when the riders passed through it.
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“Gino Mäder lay motionless in the water,” race organizers said in a statement after the crash. “He was immediately resuscitated and then transported to Chur hospital by air ambulance.”
Mäder and Sheffield apparently fell off their bikes and then tumbled down an embankment, according to another rider in the race.
“After a long curve, two bikes were lying on the side of the road, which didn’t look nice,” the cyclist Roland Thalmann told the Swiss broadcaster SRF. “When I looked back, I saw that two riders were quite far down.”
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