The Swiss rider from Bahrain-Victorious Gino Mader suffered a heavy fall on Thursday during the 5th stage of the Tour de Suisse and had to be hospitalized, his team announced on Twitter. The accident took place at km 197, in the descent towards the finish of the stage in La Punt, explained the organizers of the Tour in a separate press release, specifying that another rider, the American Magnus Sheffield, had dropped in the same place.
“The runner went off the road and fell into a ditch” where he was quickly taken care of by a medical team, Bahrain-Victorious said. Gino Mader, found “inert in the water”, was “immediately resuscitated and then transported to Chur hospital by air”, added the organization of the Tour de Suisse, specifying that “the seriousness of his injuries does not (had) not yet been established”.
Sheffield, for his part, “was conscious” and was taken to hospital with “bruises and a concussion”, the organizers said, stressing that the “circumstances of the accident will be clarified”. The Swiss climber, 26 years old and winner of a stage of the Tour of Italy in 2021, was 27th in the general classification after the 4th stage.
