Swiss Cycling has been through two tragedies in the last year. First the death of Gino Mäder at the Tour de Suisse, the biggest WorldTour race in Switzerland, and now the death of Muriel Furrer, at its home World Championships. "You don’t ride a bike to die", David Lappartient, president of the UCI, said.
The 18-year-old crashed just kilometres away from her hometown of Egg, just to the south of Zürich, during the women's junior road race on Thursday. The event has understandably cast a pall over the World Championships, with the mood sombre, but the decision was taken to keep the races going, but with less celebration.
