Two young European competitive cyclists die suddenly, another suffers heart attack at finish line in last two weeks

 

The Tour de France is the most prestigious and treacherous multi-stage bicycle race in the world. The first one took place in 1903, and spanned 19 days and 1,509 miles (2,428 kilometers). Tour de France 2022 runs from July 1 to July 24, 2022, and spans 2,068 miles (3,328 kilometers). Needless to say, only the most well-trained and conditioned human beings can compete in something like that. 

Surely there is a long list of cyclists who have collapsed and/or died during the 118-year history of this race (with interruptions during World War I and II). But that is not the case. 

Adolphe Hélière was the first recorded death at the Tour de France. The Frenchman died on July 14, 1910. Many accounts of the incident say he died from a jellyfish sting while swimming on a rest day after the sixth stage of the race. 

Francisco Cepeda was the second recorded death during the tour. The 29-year-old Spaniard crashed into a revine, and fractured his skull during the eighth stage of the tour on July 11, 1935. He died a short time later in a hospital. 

Tom Simpson was the most successful British cyclist in the 1960s. He was climbing 6,000-foot Mont Ventoux in southern France during Stage 13 of the 1967 tour on July 13, 1967. Mr. Simpson, 29, had already shown signs of extreme fatigue in previous stages. But he refused to quit the race. He started zig-zagging near the peak of the mountain, before suddenly collapsing. He was pronounced dead a short time later. A July 31, 1967 Daily Mail article reported that Mr. Simpson died from heat, amphetamines and alcohol. 

Fabio Casartelli won a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona at the age of 22. He was well on his way to a long, successful career in professional cycling. But Mr. Casartelli crashed during the 15th stage of the Tour de France on July 18, 1995, and suffer several skull fractures. He died later that day. 

The International Cycling Union finally made helmets mandatory after the death of Kazakh cyclist Andrei Kivilev at the Paris-Nice race on March 11, 2003. He crashed and suffered severe head trauma. Granted there are three major races in the cycling Grand Tour – Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. But in 108 Tour de France’s spanning 118 years, four riders have died during the event. Three of the five total deaths listed herein probably could have been prevented with helmets. Another death was caused by a venomous sea creature. Thus only one Tour de France death in over a century was someone collapsing on the course, during training, or shortly after a course. 

The Tour de France averages one death every 27 races, and none since 1995. 

AND IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS ...