Following the death of young Swiss rider Muriel Furrer, the World Championships OC is calling for an "intensive discussion" with the world federation regarding safety in cycling. The 18-year-old's fatal crash will always be associated with the World Cycling Championships in Zurich, says overall project manager Daniel Rupf.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The investigation into the fatal accident of cycling hopeful Muriel Furrer is in full swing.
- On Wednesday, the local World Cycling Championships OC takes stock of the World Championships in Zurich.
- The World Cycling Championships will forever be associated with Muriel Furrer, say the organizers.
- They are also calling for an "intensive discussion" with the world federation regarding safety in cycling.
It is not easy to draw a first balance, says World Cycling Championship overall project manager Daniel Rupf at a media conference on Wednesday. "Once again, we would like to send our condolences to Muriel's family and all her friends. Zurich 2024 will forever be closely associated with Muriel," said Rupf.
"When we saw the weather situation, we sent more people to this descent"
The organizers did not want to comment on the course of the accident, as they told the media on Wednesday. Regarding the safety concept, Olivier Senn, Head of Sport, said: "The safety of the races and the routes were at the highest level. However, it goes without saying that the public prosecutor's office and the Zurich cantonal police will be assessing the safety of these races, among other things."
Regarding the section of the course where Furrer crashed, Senn continued: "We sent extra people to this descent in the morning when we saw the weather conditions. I don't think more people could have achieved more - but without knowing the details. I think we did what we could do."
For such cases, there is a so-called Bad Weather Protocol from the world federation. "Either the teams, the athletes, the organization or the UCI can invoke this. A decision is then made as to whether and how the race will be held." In this case, the protocol was not invoked by either side. There had also been no negative feedback on this descent in the run-up to the race or after the inspections.
"We will put a lot of pressure on the world federation"
Senn went on to explain that safety in cycling was a fundamental discussion that absolutely had to be held with the world federation. "There will hopefully be an intensive discussion about what needs to change in cycling. There have been too many deaths. There needs to be a discussion with the world federation."
Senn also clarifies that the race organizers did not have access to the athletes' GPS trackers. "There are no guidelines from the world federation regarding GPS tracking. In retrospect, GPS tracking would of course have been a perfect solution."
The World Cycling Championships organization now wants to lobby the UCI for this. "We have already said that it is very important to us to have these discussions. At the end of the day, the world governing body has its hand on the regulations. We will put a lot of pressure on them to get things moving."
