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CYCLING

Gerolsteiner scraps cycling team amid doping scandals

German cycling team Gerolsteiner have withdrawn from all racing with immediate effect after the failed drugs test of Austrian rider Bernhard Kohl.

Published: 14 October 2008 21:33 CEST
Gerolsteiner scraps cycling team amid doping scandals

On Monday it was announced Kohl, the best climber at this year’s Tour de France and third overall, tested positive for the latest generation of the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin), named CERA.

Kohl is the second Gerolsteiner rider, and fourth from the Tour de France after Italians Riccardo Ricco and Leonardo Piepoli, to test positive for the drug along with Germany’s Stefan Schumacher.

Gerolsteiner’s sponsorship of the team was set to come to an end at the end of this year, but the German mineral water company have decided to withdraw from the peloton with immediate effect.

It means they will not race this weekend’s Tour of Lombardy (Giro di Lombardia), the final one-day classic of the season. “The team will stop racing with immediate effect in accordance with our code of conduct,” said a Gerolsteiner press release.

CYCLING

Swiss rider dies after fall into ravine on Tour of Switzerland

Swiss rider Gino Maeder has died from the injuries he sustained when he plunged into a ravine during a stage of the Tour of Switzerland, his team Bahrain-Victorious said on Friday.

Published: 16 June 2023 12:54 CEST
Swiss rider dies after fall into ravine on Tour of Switzerland

Maeder, 26, fell during a high-speed descent on the fifth stage between Fiesch and La Punt on Thursday, after an exhausting day marked by three ascents over 2,000 metres altitude.

He had been found “lifeless in the water” of a ravine below the road, “immediately resuscitated then transported to the hospital in Chur by air”, organisers said.

But the next day, “Gino lost his battle to recover from the serious injuries he sustained,” Bahrain-Victorious said in a statement.

“It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we must announce the passing of Gino Mäder,” his team wrote in a statement.

“On Friday June 16th, following a very serious fall during the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse, Gino lost his fight to recover from the serious injuries he had suffered. Our entire team is devastated by this tragic accident, and our thoughts and prayers are with Gino’s family and loved ones at this incredibly difficult time.”

“Despite the best efforts of the phenomenal staff at Chur hospital, Gino couldn’t make it through this, his final and biggest challenge, and at 11:30am we said goodbye to one of the shining lights of our team,” the team said in a statement.

Maeder had enjoyed a strong start to the season, finishing fifth in the Paris-Nice race.

American rider Magnus Sheffield also fell on the same descent from Albula, during the most difficult stage of the race with multiple climbs. The Ineos-Grenadiers rider was hospitalised with “bruises and concussion,” organisers said.

On Thursday, world champion Remco Evenepoel criticised the decision to compete on such a dangerous road.

“While a summit finish would have been perfectly possible, it wasn’t a good decision to let us finish down this dangerous descent,” the Belgian wrote on Twitter.

“As riders, we should also think about the risks we take going down a mountain.”

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