Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 19, 1995 TAG: 9507190057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAUTERETS, FRANCE LENGTH: Medium
Fabio Casartelli of Italy died Tuesday after crashing at high speed on a mountain pass. The 24-year-old rider for the Motorola team was one of several riders who failed to negotiate a steep curve during the descent from the Col de Portet d'Aspet in the Pyrenees.
With the riders traveling nearly 55 mph, Casartelli, a teammate of 1995 Tour DuPont champion Lance Armstrong, appeared to hit a concrete block on the side of the road and fell heavily onto the pavement.
``It was a fairly fast descent,'' said French rider Francois Simon, who was behind Casartelli. ``At a certain point, there was a longer curve than the others. Casartelli couldn't make the turn. I think it was his back wheel which hit the side, and he flew in the air.''
Television replays showed Casartelli lying on his right side in a fetal position, a stream of blood pouring from his head. Unconscious, he was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Tarbes, where he was pronounced dead 30 minutes later.
``I arrived 10 seconds after the fall,'' said Gerard Porte, chief medical officer of the Tour. ``I could tell it was a serious injury. Casartelli had cuts that were bleeding badly. We did everything in the best conditions and as fast as we could. But he had very serious cuts, and when there's such heavy bleeding you know it was very powerful impact.''
Race director Jean-Marie Leblanc announced the death of Casartelli on the Tour's official radio.
``Casartelli had three cardiac arrests in the helicopter,'' he said. ``It's terrible for the Motorola team, for Italian cycling and for the Tour de France.''
There were two previous deaths in the Tour de France. In 1967, British world champion Tom Simpson collapsed during a mountain climb on an extremely hot day. In 1935, Francesco Cepeda of Spain was killed when he fell into a ravine.
Tuesday's incident crash about 18.5 miles into the 15th stage, a 128-mile ride from St.Girons to Cauteret.
Also injured were Germany's Dirk Baldinger of the Polti team and Italy's Dante Rezze of the AKI team. They were taken to the hospital in Saint-Gaudens, where doctors said Rezze had a thigh injury and Baldinger had a fractured hip.
Casartelli was not wearing a protective helmet, which is sure to reopen debate over whether headgear should be mandatory.
```It's an issue that will come to the forefront again,'' said Alfredo Martini, head of the Italian national cycling team. ``It's time to deal with this issue seriously.''
Casartelli, who was married and had a 4-month-old son, was the Olympic champion in the road race at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
In his first pro season in 1993 with Ariostea, he won a stage in the Settimana Bergamasca and had three second-place finishes in stages of the Tour of Switzerland.
``We raced together with Ariostea,'' said Bjarne Riis of Denmark, currently third in the standings. ``It's very sad. I knew him very well and he was a very nice young man.''
The following year Casartelli raced with the Italian team GB-MG but a knee injury followed by corrective surgery kept him from competing much of the season.
Tuesday's stage was won by Richard Virenque of France. He took the lead early in the day and held a one minute, 17-second advantage at the end over Italy's Claudio Chiappucci. Miguel Indurain, seeking his fifth consecutive Tour victory, made a move at the end of the stage to finish sixth, about 2:34 behind, with Switzerland's Alex Zulle right behind.
Indurain led by 2 minutes, 46 seconds in the overall standings over Zulle. (Results in Scoreboard. B3)
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB