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CYCLING

Saxo Bank ends elite cycling sponsorship

After eight years, Denmark's Saxo Bank will end its sponsorship of a cycling team that features Alberto Contador and Peter Sagan.

Published: 16 October 2015 07:00 CEST
Saxo Bank ends elite cycling sponsorship
Peter Sagan leads the Tinkoff-Saxo team during the Men's Team Time Trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia. Photo: Bryn Lennon/AFP/Scanpix
Two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador's elite cycling team Tinkoff-Saxo has lost its sponsor Saxo Bank, as the Danish online traders announced they would sever ties on Thursday.
 
The team also features the crowd pleasing superstar Peter Sagan, who is the  world road race champion, but with the firing of Danish team manager Bjarne Riis in March, fears Saxo Bank would end its sponsorship developed into reality.
 
“It has been a privilege working with the team over the past eight seasons and we are extremely proud of the numerous successes we have achieved together during this time,” co-chief executives Lars Seier Christensen and Kim Fournais said in a statement.
 
“We would like to thank both the current team as well as the heroes from the past, from Bjarne Riis over Alberto Contador, Peter Sagan, the Schleck Brothers, Fabian Cancellara, Carlos Sastre to Matti Breschel, Chris Anker Sørensen and all the other riders,” they added.
 
Riis won the 1996 Tour de France as a rider but would later admit to having doped during his career, including the year he won the Grand Boucle.
 
The squad, whose history can be traced back to 1998 with with the creation of Team Home-Jack and Jones, was sold by Riis to Russian millionaire Oleg Tinkov in December 2013.
 
Tinkov recently said he was willing to sell the team for the right price.

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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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