Bahrain Victorious, Tudor Pro Cycling and Intermarche-Circus-Wanty exit Tour of Switzerland after Gino Mader's death
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Updated 17/06/2023 at 11:07 GMT
There had been speculation over the remainder of the Tour of Switzerland after the death of Bahrain Victorious rider Gino Mader on Friday morning. His teammates elected to withdraw from Saturday and Sunday's stages, and they were joined by the Tudor Pro Cycling and Intermarche-Circus-Wanty teams, though there may be more withdrawals before the race restarts.
'Thanks for all the light you brought to the world Gino' - Bahrain-Victorious cross line as one
Bahrain Victorious are one of several times who have dropped out of the last two stages of the Tour of Switzerland after the death of Gino Mader.
Mader, a rider for Bahrain Victorious, crashed on Stage 5 and was taken to hospital on Thursday, but died the following morning.
That led to the sixth stage being neutralised, with the peloton riding the final 20 kilometres in memory of Mader, led by his Bahrain Victorious team-mates.
There had been speculation over the remainder of the race and Bahrain Victorious confirmed that they would withdraw, with two more teams - Tudor Pro Cycling and Intermarche-Circus-Wanty - making the same decision.
"Following the tragic loss of Gino Mader, Team Bahrain Victorious has taken the decision to withdraw from the Tour de Suisse," the team confirmed on Saturday morning.
Race organisers consulted with riders, teams, team staff and Mader’s family about whether to go ahead, and while the race will be completed as planned, several teams have now pulled out.
"After careful consideration and talking to both riders and staff, the team decided not to continue racing this year's Tour de Suisse. Under these difficult circumstances, we feel it is the human way to respect the feelings of our riders and pay respect to Gino," Tudor said in a statement.
Intermarche-Circus-Wanty confirmed: "Following the tragic accident of Gino Mader, and after discussing with our riders and staff, team Intermarche-Circus-Wanty has decided to withdraw from Tour de Suisse. Our priority is to respect our riders’ well-being. All our thoughts go to Gino’s family, friends and team-mates.”
The withdrawal means that there are 20 riders who will not take part in the seventh stage, 183.5km from Tübach to Weinfelden.
The general classification times will be taken from the top of the climb 18.8km from the finish, where racing will begin, and Sunday's time trial to Abtwil will be raced as normal.
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