Just over two years after Gino Mäder's fatal crash at the Tour de Suisse, a rider who was just behind Mäder in that awful moment rode to a Tour de Suisse stage win on Tuesday. Quinn Simmons of Lidl-Trek dedicated his victory on stage 3 of this year's race to Mäder, who died on June 16, 2023.
"I really wanted to win yesterday on the anniversary that we lost Gino," Simmons said after the stage. "I'm doing it a day late, but now I can pay a bit of tribute to him."
In an interview with Velo last year, Simmons said that he had been behind Mäder and Magnus Sheffield on stage 5 of the 2023 Tour de Suisse when both riders crashed on a descent. Mäder fell some 30 meters into a ravine. Medical personnel performed CPR on him at the scene and he was airlifted to a hospital, where he died the following day.
"After the Tour de Suisse, I flew home and I was pretty convinced I was never going to race a bike again," Simmons told Velo. "Just with the crash there, and seeing what happened."
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