Pierre Dumas - Death of Tom Simpson

Death of Tom Simpson

Dumas took a stroll at dawn near his hotel, the Noaille at Cannebière, where he met other race followers on the day of Simpson's death.
"If the riders take something today, we'll have a death on our hands," he said.

Dumas was responsible for the wellbeing of riders in the race but had no control over their preparation, over their teams, or over the drug tests themselves. He was aware of that on the eve of Simpson's death on 13 July 1967.

The historian Pierre Chany wrote:

Three kilometres from the summit, in a landscape of stone, where the mountain becomes most arid, the Briton began to wobble. The drama was imminent and it came a kilometre further on. Simpson climbed in slow motion, his face blank, his head tilted towards his right shoulder in his familiar manner. He was at the end of his strength. He fell a first time. Spectators went to him, putting him back in the saddle and pushing him. He went another 300m, helped by unknown arms, then fell again. This time, nobody tried to pull him upright: he had lost consciousness.

Dumas took over team officials' attempts at saving Simpson. Simpson was not breathing even in an oxygen mask. He, his deputy and a nurse, took turns massaging his heart and giving mouth-to-mouth. Dumas refused to sign a burial certificate and a poisons expert was commissioned to conduct an autopsy. Alec Taylor said: "His death jolted parents, coaches, trainers, race organisers, showing them what was happening in the world of sport and in cycle racing particularly was reaching dangerous proportions."