Tour de Suisse mourns the death of Gino Mäder

Yesterday's stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse ended with uncertainty about Gino Mäder's state of health after he suffered a spectacular crash on the descent of the last pass, Albulapass, which led to the finish line. Unfortunately, Bahrain-Victorious has just announced that the Swiss cyclist was unable to overcome the after-effects of the crash and finally passed away this morning.

Cycling once again takes a heavy toll on the figure of Gino Mäder

We often forget that cycling is a sport with a certain risk component. Riding at very high speeds, taking curves on mountain roads with the only bodywork of the cyclist's body and having to rely on machines weighing just 7 kg with the only link that holds them to the asphalt being thin tyres of little more than 2 cm in width.

Unfortunately, the road reminds us of this from time to time and, unfortunately, it has claimed a new victim in the form of Bahrain-Victorious rider Gino Mäder.

Yesterday's was undoubtedly the queen stage of the race and gave us a show worthy of the best days of cycling, with an imposing Juan Ayuso who, after having had a bad day the day before, launched a tough attack on the ascent to the last pass of the day, the colossal Albulapass, which was crowned just 10 km from the finish. In that last stretch, he gave us a hair-raising descent in which the television images that focused on the bike that followed him showed more than 100 km/h on a road, in any case, in perfect condition and with very wide curves.

However, we often overlook the race behind, that of the riders trying to minimize losses after giving in on the climb or the bunch playing with the calculator to save the control closure. Precisely one of those trying to get as far ahead as possible was Gino Mäder, looking to offer some support to his leader Pello Bilbao, 5th in the provisional general classification.

However, a mistake on a fast downhill was costly and in one of the curves he and Magnus Sheffield went off the road and both fell into a ravine. It didn't take long for assistance to arrive. The INEOS Grenadiers rider was found conscious with bruises and a minor concussion. The worst part was borne by Mäder, who was found unconscious having ended up in a stream in the ravine.

He was resuscitated on the spot and immediately transferred to hospital. In the evening, the latest news from Switzerland seemed reassuring, indicating that he was stable within gravity. However, a while ago, the death was announced in a communiqué issued by Bahrain-Victorious, which left the peloton participating in the Tour of Swizerland and the cycling world in general devastated.

Controversial downhill

After learning of the serious crashes, yesterday afternoon the controversy over the adequacy of placing stage finishes on the downhill was reignited. The most belligerent was Remco Evenepoel, who tweeted that it was not a good idea to place the finish after such a dangerous descent, while sending encouragement to Sheffield and Mäder.

However, he received a reply from Simon Geschke who explained that the downhill was not dangerous, that there were no tunnels, the road was in good condition, the curves had visibility, and that the danger was the risk taken by the cyclist himself. In any case, the debate continued among the fans this morning with opinions for and against this type of finish.