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TOUR DE ROMANDIE

CYCLING

Rivals test Froome’s Romandie tour bid

Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana will be looking to prevent Britain's Chris Froome from making it three wins in a row at the Tour de Romandie cycling race in Western Switzerland, which begins on Tuesday.

Published: 28 April 2015 10:24 CEST
Rivals test Froome's Romandie tour bid
Chris Froome is aiming to win in Switzerland again. Photo: AFP

Team Sky star Froome, winner in each of the last two years after his team-mate Bradley Wiggins's victory in 2012, is hoping victory in the six-stage race will set him up for a crack at the Tour de France, which he previously won in 2013.
   
However, Astana's Nibali, the Italian reigning Tour de France champion, in particular appears as a dangerous threat to Froome, who must shake off the effects of a crash late in last week's Fleche-Wallonne one-day classic in
Belgium in time for the opening 19.2-kilometre team time-trial on Tuesday.
   
Nibali is wary of the threat posed by Quintana and Froome.
   
"Quintana raced the Ardennes classics in support of (Alejandro) Valverde, but he's here in Romandie with a fresh team and we know he can be a protagonist in the mountains.
   
"Froome had some bad luck at Fleche Wallonne with the crashes, so his strength may not be among the top this week – but you know he is a great champion who has won here before, so let's not say he won't be any less than
last year."
   
Sky and the other competing teams will see that stage as something of a rehearsal for the ninth stage of this year's Tour de France, a 28-kilometre team time-trial in Brittany on July 12th.
   
The decisive stage, and one which could suit Nibali or Quintana, could come on Saturday, when the ride of more than 160 kilometres from Fribourg to Champex-Lac features three climbs and a mountain-top finish.
   
Quintana lines up after drama back home in Colombia where his parents were robbed of 504.000 pesos ($200) in a hold-up at their shop in a village 200 kilometres from Bogota.

Police told AFP they had arrested the suspects, members of a local gang.

Stages
   
Tuesday: 1st stage Vallée de Joux – Juraparc, 19.2 km (team time-trial)
   
Wednesday: 2nd stage Apples – Morges, 168.1 km
   
Thursday: 3rd stage Moutier – Porrentruy, 172.5 km
   
Friday: 4th stage La Neuveville – Fribourg, 169.8 km
   
Saturday: 5th stage Fribourg – Champex-Lac, 162.7 km
   
Sunday: 6th stage Lausanne, 17.3 km (individual time-trial)

Leading riders
   
Jean-Christophe Peraud (FRA/AG2R La Mondiale), Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ), Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/Astana), Tony Martin (GER/Etixx-QuickStep), Julien Alaphilippe (FRA/Etixx-QuickStep), Rui Costa (POR/Lampre), Nairo Quintana
(COL/Movistar), Ryder Hesjedal (CAN/Cannondale Garmin), Chris Froome (GBR/Sky), Geraint Thomas (GBR/Sky)

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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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