Three days after the end of the Cycling and Paracycling Road World Championships in Zurich, the Local Organizing Committee took stock of the event. It also spoke about the fatal accident.
In terms of public interest, the organizers are extremely pleased with the outcome. Despite the sometimes bad weather, 1.2 million people are said to have visited the event over the nine days of the competition. A total of 850,000 spectators had been expected.
Even during the week, around 30,000 people regularly watched the races. The highlight at the end of the World Championships last Sunday was the men's road race with an estimated 800,000 spectators along the route. Overall project manager Daniel Rupf spoke of a "great cycling spectacle". The World Championships also set new standards in terms of inclusion.
Putting pressure on the world federation
The title fights will forever be associated with the tragic accidental death of the young Swiss rider Muriel Furrer. The organizers did not provide any further information on the course of the accident. The investigation is in the hands of the public prosecutor's office. "We provide information and contacts and are the link to the UCI," said Olivier Senn, the sporting director of the World Championships.
Nevertheless, the organizers spoke about the accident. Senn confirmed that the race organizers did not have access to the riders' GPS data during the races. The topic of GPS tracking recently became a topic of conversation because the deceased was apparently left undiscovered at the scene of the accident for a long time after her fall.
GPS tracking as the "perfect solution"
Senn commented on the safety discussion: "There have definitely been too many deaths recently. We have informed the UCI that it is important to us that this discussion is intensified. We will put pressure on them to get things moving in this regard." In terms of safety, the aim is to learn from the accidents for the future, says Senn. "In retrospect, GPS tracking would have been a perfect solution."
