List of racing cyclists and pacemakers with a cycling-related death

The first documented deaths of competitive cyclists during competition or training date to the 1890s and early 1900s when the recently-invented safety bicycle made cycling more popular, both as a sport and as a mode of transport.[1] The athletes listed here were either professional cyclists, pacemakers, or well-known competitive amateurs who had a cycling-related death, mostly during a race or during training. Pacemakers are motorcyclists utilized in motor-paced racing, riding motorcycles in front of their cycling teammates to provide additional speed to those cyclists via the resulting slipstream.[2]

Safety has been a concern since cycling's early days. By 1929, at least 47 people had died while racing at velodromes – 33 cyclists and 14 pacemakers.[3][Note 1] Motor-paced cycling still exists in the modern era as keirin racing and derny racing. A number of professionals and competitive amateurs have been killed in accidents with motorized vehicles while training on public roads plus there is a growing number of cyclists who have died of heart attacks while cycling in a race or while training.[6] Some of these deaths affect cycle racing afterwards – the death of Andrey Kivilev in a crash during the 2003 Paris-Nice race caused the Union Cycliste Internationale to institute a mandatory helmet rule.

The dangers of the various sporting forms of cycling continue to be an issue,[7] including training on public roadways.[8] A survey of 2008 Olympics teams, however, indicated that cycling was not even in the top six most injury-prone sports during competition that year.[9] Racing cyclists who have died during a race or during training are remembered by cycling aficionados and the cycling press. Their personal effects are exhibited in museums,[10] their cemetery markers and tombstones are visited by fans, and as one commentator wrote: "Plaques, statues and shrines to cycling's fallen heroes are scattered all over Europe's mountain roads, turning any ride into a pilgrimage."[11]

Cyclists who died during a race or because of an accident that happened during a race

Cyclists who died during a race

Name	Image	Competitive status	Date of death	Nationality	Location of death and additional information
Pierre Froget	—	Track cyclist	August 21, 1894	France	Crashed at the Velodrome in Vichy while tandem racing as a track cyclist. Died six days later at the age of 21, was the first death in a cycling accident on a French track.[12]
Bert Harris	—	Track cyclist (professional)	April 21, 1897	United Kingdom	While participating in a race at Aston on Easter Monday of 1897 Harris' cycle touched another rider and he was upset head-first onto the track's surface. Harris died a few days later, never having regained consciousness. Tens of thousands of mourners lined the streets of Leicester for his funeral procession.[13][14][15][16][17][18]
Oscar Aaronson [Note 3]	—	Track cyclist	December 22, 1900	Sweden	Injured during December 16, 1900 competitors' crash at the New York City/Madison Square Garden Six-Day Race.[19][20][21] Died on the 22nd from aftereffects of the crash, from exhaustion and pneumonia.[22]
Charles Kerff	—	Road cyclist	May 18, 1902	Belgium	Kerff crashed during the French cycling classic Marseille–Paris in which his brother Marcel also participated. He was taken to the hospital in Aix-en-Provence but died on arrival.[23]
Harry Elkes		Track cyclist	May 30, 1903	United States	Died in an accident at Charles River Track in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[24][25][26] Held the world record for "paced-cycle racing" during most of his career and just prior to his fatal accident had achieved a new 5 Miles World Record (going that distance in 6 minutes, 12 1/5 seconds)[24] as well as achieving world's records for 10 and 15 miles.[27] Major Taylor in his autobiography called Elkes "one of the greatest middle-distance riders that ever pedalled a bicycle."[28]
Alfred Görnemann		Track cyclist	October 11, 1903	German Empire	Collided with his pacemaker during an October 11, 1903 race on the Dresden track and died that evening. Görnemann was the 1902 amateur UCI Motor-paced World Championships champion (and a bronze medalist in the same competition when he turned professional in 1903),[29][30]
Jules Oreggia	—	Track cyclist	May 15, 1904	France	Died during a stayers race at the Marseille velodrome[31][32]
Pilack	—	Track cyclist, pacemaker	June 16, 1904	German Empire	Died at the track while acting as a pacemaker during a race[29][33]
Paul Dangla		Track cyclist	June 1904[Note 4]	France	Died from injuries he received in an accident on a track at Magdeburg, Germany. Dangla competed for France in the 1900 Summer Olympics in non-medal cycling events.[37] He was also the 1903 One-Hour World Paced Cycling Record-holder, having ridden 52.4 miles (84 km, 577 meters) in one hour.[36]
Karl Käser		Track cyclist	August 14, 1904	German Empire	Was killed during a paced race between himself and Thaddeus Robl at the Plauen track in Saxony, Germany. Was utilizing a 24-inch tire on a 22-inch wheel and in the moments before his fatal accident Käser had just pushed back his safety helmet.[38][Note 5][39][40][Note 6]
George Leander		Track cyclist	August 23, 1904	United States	Died as a result of injuries during a race at the Parc des Princes track (or velodrome) in Paris. Had been going 92 kmh/57 mph at the time.[26][40][41][42]
Jimmy Michael		Road & Track cyclist	November 1904	United Kingdom	Died November 20, 1904[43] as a result of the injuries he received in an accident at a Berlin track a year or two before[Note 7] where his skull was fractured.[33][44] It is thought that Michael probably had some kind of brain damage from the fall, as afterwards he suffered from severe headaches,[29] had partial paralysis of his face, and had lapses of memory. Michael was en route from the UK to the United States on the ocean steamer "Savoie". The night before he died Michael complained of feeling sick and nauseous, telling the ship's doctor that his symptoms were the result of the Berlin track accident.[43][46] Some sources state he died from alcoholic delirium tremens[47] or a brain hemorrhage.[3]
Charles Albert Brécy		Track cyclist	November 25, 1904	France	Crashed into his pacemaker's motorcycle when the engine failed, died eleven days later. The crash occurred during an attempt to break the Paced Hour Record (meaning how much distance could be achieved within an hour) at the Parc des Princes velodrome.[48][49][Note 8]
Hubert Sevenich		Track cyclist	May 7, 1905	German Empire	Died as a result of a collision with a pacing motorcycle during a race at the track in Brunswick, Germany[50][51][52]
Willy Schmitter		Track cyclist	September 18, 1905	German Empire	Suffered a skull fracture in an accident during the European Championship at the Leipzig track and died a few hours afterwards[53][54]
Gustav Freudenberg		Track cyclist	April 29, 1906	German Empire	Collided with a pacemaker's motorcycle and died at the track as a result of his injuries[55][56]
Richard Huhndorf		Track cyclist (amateur) & Stayer	July 22, 1906	German Empire	Fatally injured during a 100 km race, the Kleinen Golden Rad von Halle'[57][58]
Charles Péguy		Track cyclist, pacemaker	June 9, 1907	France	Died in a fatal accident on the Spandau Track in Berlin.[59][60]
Louis Mettling		Track cyclist	June 21, 1907	United States	Died in his sleep on June 21 as a result of an accident during a 50-mile pace-following race on the Dresden track June 9, 1907[61][62][63]
Josef Schwarzer		Pacemaker	August 30, 1907	German Empire	Düsseldorf track[64]
Moritz Hübner		Track cyclist (amateur)	October 13, 1907	German Empire	During "Die Goldpokal", a 100 km stayers' race, Hübner fell to the track when his pacing motorcycle broke down, then was fatally injured when a succeeding cycle ran over his body.[65][66]
Gustav Schadebrodt		Track cyclist	October 22, 1907	German Empire	Died in a crash at the Brandenburg track with his brother Otto as pacemaker. The two Schadebrodt brothers were a team, Otto Schadebrodt the pacemaker riding a motorcycle in front and Gustav riding his bicycle behind.[67][68]
Ernst Wolf		Pacemaker	October 29, 1907	German Empire	While standing at the edge of the Dresden Track, Wolf was run over by a fellow pacemaker.[69]
Karel Verbist		Track cyclist	July 21, 1909	Belgium	Belgian National Stayers Champion in 1908 and 1909,[70][71] Verbist collided with his pacemaker's (Constant Ceurremans') motorcycle on the Bruxelles track.[72][73][70] Verbist is the subject of a macabre Flemish folk-poem... "Chareltje, Chareltje Verbist, hadt ge niet gereden op de pist(e), hadt ge niet gelegen in de kist."[74] which roughly translates to "Verbist, if you hadn't ridden your bike, you may not have ended up in a coffin."
Fritz Theile		Track cyclist	June 4, 1911	German Empire	Zehlendorf Velodrome[75]
Hans Bachmann	—	Pacemaker	1913	German Empire	Velodrome Hall[76]
Hans Lange	—	Track cyclist	1913	German Empire	Velodrome Hall[76]
August Kraft	—	Track cyclist	July 25, 1913	German Empire	Strasbourg, France[77]
Richard Scheuermann		Track cyclist	September 8, 1913	German Empire	Killed almost instantly during a 100-kilometer event on the Cologne track. Gus Lawson, Paul Guignard's pacemaker, lost control of his pacemaking motorcycle when the back tire blew out. Emil Meinhold, Scheuermann's pacemaker, then collided – at 50 mph on his motorcycle – straight into the wreckage.[78][79] Scheuermann and Lawson were both killed almost instantly. Meinhold was mistakenly reported in the newspapers of the day to have died (which error has been repeated in modern references[80]) but he recovered from his injuries and was involved in the cycling world for many years afterwards.[81][82]
Gus Lawson		Pacemaker	September 8, 1913	United States	Killed immediately in a multi bicycle–motorcycle accident on the Cologne track during a 100-kilometer event.[79] (See Richard Scheuermann 'Notes' above)
Max Hansen	—	Track cyclist	October 12, 1913	German Empire	Berlin Velodrome Stadium[76]
Piet van Nek Sr.[Note 9]		Track cyclist	April 14, 1914	Netherlands	Injured and died as a result of a tire blow-out on the Leipzig track during the inaugural Grote Oostprijs, a 100+ km race. van Nek's Amsterdam artistic gravesite marker is a well-known monument in Amsterdam.[83]
Willy Hamann	—	Track cyclist	July 21, 1914	German Empire	Treptow track. The accident occurred on July 15, Hamann died six days later in hospital.[84]
Max Bauer	—	Pacemaker	1917	German Empire	Treptow track[85]
Jacob Esser	—	Track cyclist	July 8, 1917	German Empire	Died shortly after an accident at the Düsseldorf Germany track that happened when one of his tires blew out[86][87]
Louis Darragon		Track cyclist	April 28, 1918	France	Died in a crash on the track of the Vélodrome d'Hiver Paris.[88]
Peter Günther		Track cyclist	October 7, 1918	German Empire	Günther died the day after an October 6 accident at a track in Düsseldorf. He was involved in a collision with his pacemaker's motorcycle after the motorcycle's rear tire burst.[89][90]
Hans Schneider	—	Track cyclist	January 1920	Weimar Republic	[91]
Emanuel Kudela		Track cyclist	September 22, 1920	Weimar Republic	Olympia track, Berlin[92]
Christian Oorlemans [Note 10]	—	Pacemaker	August 22, 1922	Netherlands	Died in an accident during a track race at Amsterdam's "Het Stadion". Thousands attended Oorlemans' funeral procession.[93][94]
Walter Ebert	—	Track cyclist	June 1, 1924	Weimar Republic	Magdeburg track[95]
Gustave Ganay		Track cyclist	August 23, 1926	France	Stayer. Died from a fall at the Parc des Princes.[96] The accident was immortalized by Ernest Hemingway in A Movable Feast with "where we saw that great rider Ganay fall and heard his skull crumple under the crash helmet as you crack an hard-boiled egg against a stone to peel it on a picnic."[97]
Franz Krupkat	—	Track cyclist	June 1, 1927	Weimar Republic	Leipzig track[98]
Ernst Feja	—	Track cyclist	June 1, 1927	Weimar Republic	Crashed while training on the concrete track at Oerlikon in Zurich[99][100]
Constant Ceurremans	—	Pacemaker	June 18, 1931	Belgium /  Netherlands	Died in an accident on the track at Cologne. Also involved in Karel (Charles) Verbist's fatal crash in 1909[73][5]
Werner Krüger		Pacemaker	July 21, 1931	Weimar Republic	Died after a fall on the Cologne-Riehl track during a stayer race, while riding as a pacemaker for Emil Thollembeek[101] Was a survivor of the 1909 Friedenau disaster.[5]
Georg Pawlack [Note 11]	—	Track cyclist	June 10, 1933	Nazi Germany	Run over by a pacemaker after his bicycle slipped on a rain-soaked track[102]
Georges Lemaire		Road cyclist	September 29, 1933	Belgium	Died in a crash during the Belgian club championship road race in Uccle, Belgium. Lemaire was the 1929 Belgian Road Race National Champion.[103][Note 12][104]
Emil Richli	—	Track cyclist	May 13, 1934	Switzerland	Track championships[105]
Francisco Cepeda	—	Road cyclist	July 14, 1935	Spain	Tour de France. "Fell down a ravine near Bourg-d'Oisans",[106] died while making the Col du Galibier descent.[107]
Giulio Bartali	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	June 14, 1936	Italy	Brother and training partner of 1938 and 1948 Tour de France winner Gino Bartali. Giulio and Gino Bartali were participating in a regional championship race in Florence, the Targa Chiari, when a car drove onto the course and mowed Giulio down. He died two days later in hospital, never having regained consciousness.[108]
Len Johnson	—	Track and Road cyclist (amateur)	August 8, 1936	Australia	Melbourne to Sale Race. Johnson was riding on the Princes Highway, when he slowed due to a puncture and was hit by a truck laden with timber.[109]
Stefan Veger	—	Track cyclist	November 1936	Netherlands	Track Gent[110]
André Raynaud		Track cyclist	March 1937	France	A world champion stayer, Raynaud died during an Antwerp Sportpaleis track race.[73][111]
Adrien Buttafochi		Road cyclist	July 6, 1937	France	As he was descending the Col Esteret pass during the Grand Prix d'Antibes, Buttafocchi crashed into a wayward vehicle driving up the hill. He lingered in a coma for a few days before dying.[112][113]
Hefty Stuart	—	Road & Track cyclist	December 9, 1938	Australia	Riding in a motor pacing event, Walter "Hefty" Stuart's front tire blew out, causing him to fall and he was run over by a following pacing motorcycle. Stuart died in hospital two weeks later.[114]
Jean Alavoine		Road cyclist	July 18, 1943	France	Alavoine's professional career lasted from 1908 until 1925, he won 17 Tour de France stages along the way. In 1943 at the age of 55 he died during a veterans race in Argenteuil.[115][116][117]
Richard Depoorter	—	Road cyclist	June 16, 1948	Belgium	Crashed into a tunnel wall on a descent of the Sustenpas near Bern,[118] during the Tour of Switzerland, died onsite or shortly thereafter of his injuries.[119][120][121]
Léon Level		Road & Track cyclist	March 26, 1949	France	Fractured his skull in a crash and died at the Parc des Princes track in Paris.[122][123] Level was the winner of a stage in the 1936 Tour de France.[124]
Paul Chacque	—	Road & Track cyclist	September 1949	France	Died when he fractured his skull during a race at the "Parc des Princes" track in Paris[122]
Paul Kroll	—	Road, Track cyclist (professional)	November 8, 1949	Germany	Died in an accident during a Berlin 1000 laps race at the Funkturm track[125][Note 13]
Gerard van Beek		Road cyclist	March 15, 1951	Netherlands	Died of a fatal skull fracture suffered during the Berlin Six-Day race held in March[126][127][Note 14]
Camille Danguillaume		Road cyclist	June 26, 1951	France	Killed in collision with press motorcycle during Critérium International (Championship of France)[129][130][131]
Serse Coppi	—	Road cyclist (professional)	June 29, 1951	Italy	Crashed near the end of the 1951 Tour of Piedmont (aka "Tour du Piedmont" and "Giro del Piemonte") on June 28. Finished race but then died the next day.[132][133]
Rudi Mirke	—	Road cyclist (professional)	December 10, 1951	Germany	Berlin Six Day. Died after falling during the race.[134][Note 14]
Orfeo Ponsin	—	Road cyclist (professional)	May 20, 1952	Italy	Crashed in the fourth stage of the 1952 Giro d'Italia. Died in hospital that evening.[135][136]
Erich Metze	—	Road, Track cyclist	July 28, 1952[Note 15]	Germany	Metze suffered three skull fractures during his long career, which stretched from 1930 until 1952. The last one was fatal and occurred during a race on the Erfurt cycle track.[139][141]
Stan Ockers		Road cyclist (professional)	October 1, 1956	Belgium	1955 World Champion (Road Race) track race at the Sportpaleis Antwerp[142][143][Note 16]
Joaquín Polo	—	Road cyclist (professional)	August 4, 1958	Spain	Died of dehydration during the 1958 Tour of Portugal[106][145]
Raúl Motos	—	Road cyclist (professional)	August 4, 1958	Spain	Died of dehydration during the 1958 Tour of Portugal[106][145]
Russell Mockridge		Road cyclist (professional)	September 13, 1958	Australia	Tour of Gippsland.[146][147] Mockridge was an Olympic champion, having won two Olympic gold medals in one day at the Helsinki Games in 1952.[146]
Knud Enemark Jensen	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	September 1960	Denmark	1960 Summer Olympic Games. The first competitor's death to occur during the modern Olympic era, Jensen collapsed during a 100-kilometer team time trial, suffering a skull fracture and dying several hours later. Some commentators state that Jensen's autopsy revealed traces of drugs in his system but the Italian authorities' 1961 report stated that the official cause of death was heatstroke. A race-day temperature of 40 degrees Celsius/104 degrees Fahrenheit and Jensen's post-accident care (being kept in a "hot military tent"), could have been probable contributing factors.[148][149][150][151][152]
Alessandro Fantini	—	Road cyclist (professional)	May 5, 1961	Italy	Died after a crash at the end of the sixth stage of the 1961 Tour of Germany[153]
Tom Simpson		Road cyclist (professional)	July 13, 1967	United Kingdom	Fell unconscious from his bike on the ascent up Mont Ventoux during the Tour de France, after suffering heart issues, heatstroke, the aftereffects of taking amphetamine and other medical issues. He died shortly afterwards in hospital,[154] near where his famous memorial stands.[10] Simpson was the 1965 World Road Race Champion.[155][156][Note 17]
Valentín Uriona	—	Road cyclist (professional)	July 30, 1967	Spain	Spanish Championship[161][162]
José Samyn	—	Road cyclist (professional)	August 28, 1969	France	Zingem, Belgium[163]
Radamés Treviño	—	Road and Track cyclist (professional)	April 12, 1970	Mexico	Crashed during a regional race between Pachuca and Mexico City.[164]
Jean-Pierre Monseré		Road cyclist (professional)	March 15, 1971	Belgium	1970 World Champion. Grand Prix de Retie.[165][166][Note 18][167]
Manuel Galera[Note 19]		Road cyclist (professional)	February 14, 1972	Spain	Tour of Andalusia[168][169]
Graeme Jose	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	June 23, 1973	Australia	While taking part in a race in Feldkirch Austria, he ran into the rear of a parked tray-topped lorry and was killed.[170]
Juan Manuel Santisteban[Note 20]		Road cyclist (professional)	May 21, 1976	Spain	Giro d'Italia. Died as a result of injuries when his head struck a crash barrier.[107][136]
Karl Kaminski		Road, Track cyclist	October 8, 1978	East Germany	Leipzig[171]
Joaquim Agostinho		Road cyclist (professional)	May 10, 1984	Portugal	During the Tour of Algarve.[172] Died ten days after colliding with a dog which had run onto the race-course.[173]
Emilio Ravasio	—	Road cyclist (professional)	May 28, 1986	Italy	Giro d'Italia[136]
Vicente Mata	—	Road cyclist (professional)	February 17, 1987	Spain	Trofeo Luis Puig.[174] Died after colliding with a car during race.
Michel Goffin	—	Road cyclist (professional)	February 27, 1987	Belgium	Tour du Haut-Var in Marseilles France.[175][176] Goffin crashed and, after spending six days in a coma, died from his injuries.[174]
Connie Meijer	—	Road cyclist	August 17, 1988	Netherlands	Died during a criterium in the Netherlands[177]
Fabio Casartelli		Road cyclist (professional)	July 18, 1995	Italy	Tour de France.[178][179][180] Casartelli was the reigning Olympic Champion at the time of his crash and subsequent death.[174]
José Antonio Espinosa [Note 21]	—	Road cyclist (professional)	November 1996	Spain	Criterium at Fuenlabrada[106][181][Note 22]
Manuel Sanroma	—	Road cyclist (professional)	June 19, 1999	Spain	Had a major crash 1 km from the end of a stage in the Volta a Catalunya and died at a nearby hospital[182][183]
Saúl Morales[Note 23]	—	Road cyclist (professional)	February 28, 2000	Spain	Hit by truck during the 2000 Tour of Argentina[184][185]
Nicole Reinhart	—	Road, Track cyclist (professional)	September 17, 2000	United States	Reinhart was a two-time U.S. National Track bicycle racing champion. Died as a result of a single-bike crash when she hit a tree during the 2000 BMC Tour event in Arlington/Boston.[186][106][187]
Andrey Kivilev	—	Road cyclist (professional)	March 12, 2003	Kazakhstan	Crashed during the 2003 Paris–Nice and died the next morning. Kivilev was not wearing a helmet.[188][189] After his death, the wearing of helmets became compulsory in all official UCI races.[190]
Brett Malin	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	June 17, 2003	United States	Killed instantly when struck by a tractor-trailer truck during a relay section of the ultramarathon Race Across America. Malin was struck by the truck as he started to go back to his support vehicle.[191][192]
Garrett Lemire	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	March 15, 2003	United States	During the second stage of the Tucson Bicycle Classic, Lemire died in a head-on collision with a car while trying to avoid an earlier crash of three other cyclists.[193][194]
Juan Barrero	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	June 11, 2004	Colombia	Crashed during a stage of the Vuelta a Colombia ("Tour of Colombia") on a high-speed descent early on in the stage. Barrero died in hospital shortly thereafter.[195]
Tim Pauwels	—	Cyclo-cross (professional)	September 26, 2004	Belgium	Passed out during an early-season cyclo-cross race in Erpe-Mere, Belgium and crashed. Some sources say that Pauwels' heart had stopped before the crash.[196][197]
Alessio Galletti	—	Road cyclist (professional)	June 15, 2005	Italy	Died of a heart attack 15 km from the finish line of the Subida al Naranco[189][198][199]
Bob Breedlove	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	June 25, 2005	United States	Killed when his bike collided with a pickup truck outside Trinidad, Colorado, during the 2005 ultramarathon Race Across America, a 3052-mile transcontinental race.[191]
Isaac Gálvez	—	Road cyclist (professional)	November 26, 2006	Spain	Six Days of Ghent. Galvez died after coming into contact with Dimitri De Fauw and then crashing into a track railing.[200][201]
Bruno Neves	—	Road cyclist (professional)	May 11, 2008	Portugal	Classica de Amarante.[202] Neves' collapse from heart failure caused him to crash during the race.[203][204][205]
Thomas Casarotto	—	Road cyclist (professional)	September 10, 2010	Italy	During the Giro del Friuli Venezia Giulia[206] at Pesariis,[207] Casarotto hit the wing mirror of a SUV parked on the course[207] and then crashed. He died September 15, 2010, of head injuries and trauma.[208]
Wouter Weylandt		Road cyclist (professional) Leopard Trek	May 9, 2011	Belgium	Fatal Crash on the Passo del Bocco during the third stage of the 2011 Giro d'Italia[209]
Shamus Liptrot	—	Track cyclist (amateur)	May 10, 2011	Australia	Died in May 2011 from multiple injuries suffered in what commentators called a "horrific crash"[210] during the Men's C Grade scratch track race[211] at the 2007 Devonport (Tasmania) Christmas Carnival Series.[212]
Wouter Dewilde	—	Road cyclist	March 1, 2013	Belgium	Dewilde was involved in a fatal accident during a regional event for elite racing cyclists without a contract, Brugge (West-Vlaanderen), Belgium[213][214]
Junior Heffernan	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	March 3, 2013	Ireland	Died after collision with a car during the Severn Bridge Road Race in Gloucestershire[215]
Marcelo Graces	—	Road cyclist	March 31, 2013	Uruguay	Graces was involved in a fatal accident during last stage of Vuelta Ciclista del Uruguay after collision with a motorcycle during the time trial final stage of the race[216]
Jeanné Nell	—	Track cyclist	February 11, 2014	RSA	Died in Cape Town, South Africa, during a keirin race[217]
Annefleur Kalvenhaar	—	Mountainbiker	August 23, 2014	Netherlands	Died in Grenoble, France, due to an accident during a UCI World Cup XCE race in Méribel, France[218]
Will Olson	—	Enduro/Mountainbike (amateur)	August 2, 2015	USA	Died in Crested Butte during an Enduro World Series race[219]
Antoine Demoitié		Road cyclist (professional) Wanty–Groupe Gobert	March 27, 2016	Belgium	Died in hospital in Lille, due to injuries sustained in an accident during the Gent-Wevelgem race. Having been one of a group of cyclists who fell as the race went through Sainte-Marie-Cappel, he was struck by a motorbike accompanying the race.[220]
Daan Myngheer		Road cyclist (professional) Roubaix–Métropole Européenne de Lille	March 28, 2016	Belgium	Died in hospital two days after suffering a heart attack during first stage of Criterium International[221][222]
Randall Fox	—	Road cyclist (collegiate cyclist)	March 29, 2016	USA	Died following a crash during a collegiate road race. Lost control of his bike on a descent and collided with a guardrail.[223][224]
Gijs Verdick	—	Road cyclist (professional) Cyclingteam Jo Piels	May 9, 2016	Netherlands	Died a week after suffering two heart attacks at the Under-23 Carpathian Couriers Race in Poland.[225]
Diego Andrés Suta Robayo	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	August 30, 2016	Colombia	Crashed and suffered fatal head injuries while descending the Alto de Daza just 12 km into the 162 km stage 2 of the Vuelta de la Juventud[226]
Bahman Golbarnezhad		Road cyclist Iranian Paralympic	September 17, 2016	Iran	2016 Summer Paralympics. Had a head injury after colliding with a rock midway through the C4 road race of the Paralympics. Subsequently suffered cardiac arrest and died on the way to hospital.[227][228]
Dejan Marić	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	September 25, 2016	Serbia	Died during the Wuyi Mountain cycling race in southeast China's Fujian province[229][230]
Eslam Nasser Zaki	—	Road, Track cyclist	March 20, 2017	Egypt	Suffered a fatal heart attack while riding in the omnium event at the African Continental Track Championships at the Cyril Geoghegan Velodrome in Durban, South Africa.[231] He was a member of the Bahraini VIB Bikes road race team.
Mike Hall		Road endurance cyclist	March 31, 2017	United Kingdom	Died after being struck by a car on the outskirts of Canberra, Australia. He was in second place in a 3,300-mile race, the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, which was subsequently cancelled.[232]
Chad Young		Road cyclist (professional) Axeon–Hagens Berman	April 28, 2017	United States	Received severe head injuries in a fall on a descent during the final stage of the Tour of the Gila into Pinos Altos, New Mexico and died in hospital in Tucson five days later.[233][234]
Casey Saunders	—	Road cyclist (professional)	June 25, 2017	United States	Died after crashing in the Pro-1-2 criterium at Tour of Kansas City[235]
Ray Dare	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	July 19, 2017	United Kingdom	Died after being rear-ended by a vehicle on the A41 near Aylesbury while attempting a 10 mile national record for his age (91) in a time trial.[236]
Mathieu Riebel	—	Road cyclist (professional) Shell Pacific team	October 20, 2017	France	Died instantly in a collision on the descent of the Col de La Pirogue during Stage 9 of the Tour de Nouvelle-Calédonie[237]
Michael Goolaerts		Road cyclist (professional) Vérandas Willems–Crelan	April 8, 2018	Belgium	During the Paris–Roubaix classic, Goolaerts suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest on the third cobbled sector at Saint-Python, after 109 km of racing. He was resuscitated by paramedics and transferred by helicopter to CHRU-Hospital in Lille, although he died later that day.[238]
Stef Loos	—	Road cyclist (professional) Acrog-Pauwelssauzen-Balen team	March 18, 2019	Belgium	Died after colliding with a van on the Mémorial Alfred Gadenne after a group of three riders took the wrong turning at a junction[239]
Robbert de Greef		Road cyclist (professional) Alecto Cycling Team	April 25, 2019	Netherlands	Suffered cardiac arrest during the Omloop van de Braakman race[240]
Kristen J Oswald	—	Ironman competitor	July 28, 2019	United States	Killed when bike collided with truck during Ironman 70.3 competition near Dayton Ohio[241]
Bjorg Lambrecht		Road cyclist (professional) Lotto–Soudal	August 5, 2019	Belgium	Crashed into a concrete culvert during stage three of the 2019 Tour de Pologne. He was taken to a hospital by ambulance and died during surgery.[242]
Giovanni Iannelli	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	October 7, 2019	Italy	Died on 7 October 2019 from injuries sustained in a fall in the Circuito Molinese on 5 October[243]
Niels De Vriendt	—	Road cyclist (amateur)	July 4, 2020	Belgium	Died during a race, probably due to a heart attack. It was the first competition after cancelled events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[244]

Cyclists who died during training

The following athletes died while individually training for competitions or during scheduled breaks while participating in a professional race. The only incident of multiple deaths from a team involved Néstor Mora, Augusto Triana, and Hernán Patiño from Team Postobon in 1995. The death rates for cyclists, in general, differ from country to country depending on how popular cycling is. A 2015 study of European Union cyclists' deaths, for instance, showed that in the Netherlands almost 25% of road deaths were cyclists while Greece had less than 5%.[8][Note 24]

1900 to 1989

Cyclists who died during training

Name	Image	Competitive status	Date of death	Nationality	Location of death and additional information
Archie McEachern	—	Track cyclist	May 13, 1902	Canada	Coliseum Cycling Track, Atlantic City, New Jersey.[245] McEachern, a former middle distance Canadian National Champion, was also winner of the 1901 New York Madison Square Garden Six-Day Bicycle Race (the first Canadian to do so). In May 1902 he was participating in a practice run prior to the Atlantic City velodrome's official opening that was being paced by a tandem motorcycle (driven by his two trainers Bobby Thompson and Alfred Boake). Riding closely to the pace vehicle, McEachern was fatally injured when the bike's drive chain broke and he died within minutes.[246][247] Canadian Cyclist placed him 9th on their list of Top 25 Canadian Cyclists of the Century in 1999[246] and Journal of Sport History (Volume 1–2, published 1974) stated that he "was one of Canada's most famous professional cyclists" of his day.[248]
Breton	—	Track cyclist	August 1902	Unknown	Parc des Princes track. Killed when he steered his bicycle away from another cyclist and into the path of a 14-horsepower motorcycle being driven at 50 mph by Marius Thé. The track management allowed motorcyclists and racing bicyclists (called "flyers") to train at the same time.[249]
Edouard Taylor [Note 25]	—	Track cyclist	1903[26]	France[Note 26]	Died at Aubervilliers, France in 1903. In 1899 he held a National (Stayers) Championship of France. In 1900 he was 3rd at the European Championships, 2nd at the World Championships, and also beat Henry Elkes by 300 metres in a 50-mile race.[251] In his last year of competition - 1902 - he placed 3rd at the World Stayers Championship.[250][252]
Hugh McLean	—	Track cyclist	September 5, 1909	United States	Revere, Massachusetts cycling track. Died as a result of a training accident earlier in the month at the cycling track in Revere, Massachusetts.[253][254] McLean was a champion middle distance cyclist[253] who had placed 2nd in the 1899 World Championship (Track/Stayers) and 1st with Floyd Krebs at the 1907 Boston Six Days.[254]
Adolphe Hélière		Road cyclist	1910	France	Drowned while swimming during a rest day of the 1910 Tour de France[255]
Franz Suter		Road cyclist	June 1, 1914	Switzerland	Struck by a train while training with his brother Paul near Courbevoie, France[256][257]
Floyd MacFarland		Track cyclist	April 17, 1915	United States	Stabbed to death with a screwdriver during practice at the Newark Velodrome.1900 and 1908 Six-Day Race Winner (Madison Square Garden).[88][258]
Ottavio Bottecchia		Road cyclist	June 14, 1927	Italy	1924 and 1925 Tour de France Winner,[259] Found by the side of the road with bruises and serious skull fracture. The cause has remained a mystery – various theories have included a solo-crash/serious fall or an assault by unknown Fascists.[260][261]
Gustave Lejour	—	Track cyclist	1928	Unknown	Died while training on the Frankfurt (Germany) track[262]

1990 to 2000

Cyclists who died during training

Name	Image	Competitive status	Date of death	Nationality	Location of death and additional information
Antonio Martín	—	Road cyclist	February 11, 1994	Spain	Killed by a truck while training near Madrid[263][Note 24]
Néstor Mora	—	Road cyclist	February 21, 1995	Colombia	Three members of Team Postobon were killed almost immediately while group training when a truck collided with another vehicle, sending the second vehicle careening into the group of cyclists.[264][265]
Augusto Triana	—	Road cyclist	February 21, 1995	Colombia	Three members of Team Postobon were killed almost immediately while group training when a truck collided with another vehicle, sending the second vehicle careening into the group of cyclists.[264][265]
Hernán Patiño	—	Road cyclist	February 21, 1995	Colombia	Three members of Team Postobon were killed almost immediately while group training when a truck collided with another vehicle, sending the second vehicle careening into the group of cyclists[264][265]
Anders Nilsson	—	Road cyclist professional	June 21, 2000	Sweden	Died immediately when hit by a speeding car during bicycle training, the driver left the scene. National team member in triathlon.[266]

2001 to 2009

Cyclists who died during training

Name	Image	Competitive status	Date of death	Nationality	Location of death and additional information
Ricardo Otxoa	—	Road cyclist professional	February 15, 2001	Spain	Hit by a car during a training session together with his brother Javier (who survived but suffered serious brain injuries). The Circuito de Getxo was renamed the Memorial Ricardo Otxoa in his honor.[267]
Luke Harrop	—	Road cyclist professional	January 13, 2002	Australia	Struck by a stolen car driven by an unlicensed driver who was out on bail at the time and who also fled the scene. Gold Coast, Brisbane, Australia during a training ride. Having severe head trauma, former champion triathlete Harrop died a day after the accident. In 2003, Australia's Gold Coast Triathlon was renamed in Harrop's memory as the Gold Coast Triathlon – Luke Harrop Memorial.[268][269][270][271][272]
David Martin	—	Road cyclist amateur	November 4, 2002	United States	Hit by a drunk driver during training[106][273]
Haruko Fujinaka	—	Mountainbike downhiller (pro)	May 17, 2003	Japan	Crashed and died during a practice run for the opening round of the 2003 NORBA National Championship Series at Big Bear Lake, California[274]
Lauri Aus	—	Mountainbike downhiller (pro)	July 20, 2003	Estonia	Hit by a truck driven by a drunk driver while training for the Estonian MTB (Mountain Biking) Championship[275][276]
Graham Bufton	—	Road cyclist	July 20, 2003	United Kingdom	Hit by a car while cycling on a country road. Bufton was a former British national junior road race champion and had also won three national veterans' cyclo-cross championships.[277][278]
Amy Gillett	—	Road cyclist	July 18, 2005	Australia	Head-on collision with a car in Germany (while training with her squad for the Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen which had been scheduled for the next day)[279]
Frederiek Nolf		Road cyclist	February 5, 2009	Belgium	Died in his sleep of a heart attack during the 2009 Tour of Qatar[280]
Zinaida Stahurskaya	—	Road cyclist	June 25, 2009	Belarus	Struck and killed by a speeding car while training for the Belarus national championship on a public road. She was the 2003 world cycling champion and had competed at three different Olympics.[281][282]

2010 to 2020

Cyclists who died during training

Name	Image	Competitive status	Date of death	Nationality	Location of death and additional information
Jure Robič		Road cyclist	September 24, 2010	Slovenia	Died in a head-on collision with a car while descending on a narrow mountain forest road in Plavški Rovt near Jesenice, Slovenia. Robič won RAAM five times and was renowned for pushing himself to extreme mental breakdown during endurance races.[283]
Carla Swart	—	Road cyclist	January 19, 2011	South Africa	Turned into the path of an oncoming truck in a bid to retrieve her cycling computer that she had just lost. Swart was a professional who had previously won nineteen individual and team cycling titles spanning four different variations of biking (cyclo-cross, mountain bike, road, and track) while on the Lees–McRae College cycling team. [284]
Carly Hibberd	—	Road cyclist	July 6, 2011	Australia	Hit by a car while training in Italy[285]
Victor Cabedo		Road cyclist	September 19, 2012	Spain	Died during a training ride after colliding with a vehicle[286][287]
Iñaki Lejarreta		Mountain biker	December 12, 2012	Spain	Killed in a training accident when his cycle was struck by a car[288][289]
Burry Stander		Mountain biker	January 1, 2013	South Africa	Died during a training ride after colliding with a vehicle[290]
Amy Dombroski		Cyclo-cross	October 3, 2013	United States	Hit by a truck while training in Belgium[291]
Kristof Goddaert		Road cyclist	October 18, 2014	Belgium	Killed during a training ride in Antwerp when he fell from his bike and was struck by a bus[292]
Claudio Clarindo	—	Road cyclist	January 25, 2016	Brazil	Struck by an automobile whose driver had fallen asleep, Clarindo died almost immediately after being hit. Clarindo was ranked 12th in the world ultra-distance rankings the year before his death.[293]
Ellen Watters	—	Road cyclist	December 23, 2016	Canada	Died following a collision involving her bicycle and an automobile during a training ride in Sussex, New Brunswick[294]
Michele Scarponi		Road cyclist	April 22, 2017	Italy	Died after being hit by a truck, while on a training ride in Filottrano. Winner of the 2011 Giro d'Italia.[295]
Jason Lowndes		Road cyclist	December 22, 2017	Australia	Struck by a car while training near Bendigo, Australia[296]
Alistair Eexkman	—	Triathlete/Duathlete	August 20, 2018	United States	Died after colliding with a line bus on a post-race recovery ride in Weyer, Austria at 2:10 pm local time, the day after racing Powerman Austria, placing 6th. Winner of the 2017 Powerman Duathlon in Panama.[297][298][299]
Ben Sonntag	—	Mountain cyclist	March 4, 2020	United States	Struck by a pickup truck while training near Durango, Colorado. Sonntag was a world-class athlete in multiple sports, including being a professional mountain cyclist. He had previously won elite world championships in winter triathlon, was an All-American in cross-country skiing for the University of Alaska Anchorage, and had won three individual national collegiate cycling titles while at Fort Lewis College in Durango – two collegiate cross-country bike national titles and a championship in short-track.[300][301]
Jan Riedmann	—	Road cyclist	August 2, 2020	Germany	A member of Team Auto Eder Bayern, the Under-19 team of Bora–Hansgrohe. Struck by a car while training with teammates near Sugenheim in Bavaria.[302]

2021 to present

Cyclists who died during training

Name	Image	Competitive status	Date of death	Nationality	Location of death and additional information
Daniel Pedraza Castillo	—	Road cyclist	January 25, 2021	Colombia	Hit by a public transportation bus that had reversed to pick up a passenger on the side of the road while Pedraza Castillo was doing time trial work.[303]
Gwen Inglis	—	Road cyclist	May 16, 2021	USA	Inglis was the 2019 US Masters road race champion in the 45-49 age group and a member of the Back Swift-Cycleton Cycling Team. She was hit by an apparently impaired driver whose car veered into the bike lane while Inglis was on a training ride.[304]
Adrián Babič	-	Road cyclist	May 26, 2021	Slovakia	Babič was the champion and the vice-champion of Slovakia in the individual time trial in the under-23 category, Slovakia's junior champion in winter triathlon, and the winner of the Slovak World Cycling Cup of 2019. Competed at the 2018 World Championships. Babič was struck by a vehicle while training[305]

See also

• Bicycle racing
• Madonna del Ghisallo
• Ghost bike
• Ride of Silence
• List of doping cases in cycling

Notes

References