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CYCLING

Inflatable bicycle helmet doubles sales in Denmark

It might look like many Danes are wearing a cross between a scarf and a belt around their necks this summer, but the accessory increasing numbers of cyclists across the country are taking to is in fact an inflatable helmet.

Inflatable bicycle helmet doubles sales in Denmark
Photo: Jonas Ingerstedt/Hövding/Creative Commons

One supplier in Copenhagen is seeing sales of the Hövding inflatable helmets amount to half a million kroner each month, newspaper BT reported in July.

The helmets, which resemble outsize collars around the wearer’s neck, are activated by powerful movements, inflating to form large inflatable bags around the head, thereby protecting against potential falls.

The success of the innovation has since been further confirmed, with the Swedish company’s results for the second quarter of 2018 showing sales in Denmark to have doubled, Swedish media Dagens Industri reports.

The company’s turnover for the quarter reached 25.2 million Swedish kronor.

17,000 helmets were sold during the quarter, an increase of 102 percent, according to the report.

“June was a particularly good month with 7,605 helmets sold,” Hövding CEO Frederik Carling said.

The helmets cost around 2,000 kroner and cannot be re-used after being activated.

The Danish Traffic Safety Council (Rådet For Sikker Trafik) told BT in July that it did not wish to comment on the inflatable helmet from Hövding, but was positive about the apparent increased number of bicycle helmet wearers.

Hövding’s airbag helmet became an approved and certified product in the EU in 2013. Studies have suggested that inflatable helmets may offer better protection than traditional versions in some cases.

READ ALSO: Danes want to make bicycle helmets the law

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.

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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