Tour de France - Deaths

Deaths

See also: List of professional cyclists who died during a race

Cyclists who have died during the Tour de France:

  • 1910: French racer Adolphe Helière drowned at the French Riviera during a rest day.
  • 1935: Spanish racer Francisco Cepeda plunged down a ravine on the Col du Galibier.
  • 1967: 13 July, Stage 13: Tom Simpson died of heart failure during the ascent of Mont Ventoux. Amphetamines were found in Simpson's jersey and blood.
  • 1995: 18 July, Stage 15: Fabio Casartelli crashed at 88 km/h (55 mph) while descending the Col de Portet d'Aspet.

Another seven fatal accidents have occurred:

  • 1934: A motorcyclist giving a demonstration in the velodrome of La Roche Sur Yon, to entertain the crowd before the cyclists arrived, died after he crashed at high speed.
  • 1957: 14 July: Motorcycle rider Rene Wagter and passenger Alex Virot, a journalist for Radio Luxembourg, went off a mountain road near Ax-les-Thermes.
  • 1958: An official, Constant Wouters, died after an accident with sprinter André Darrigade at the Parc des Princes.
  • 1964: Twenty people died when a supply van hit a bridge in the Dordogne region, resulting in the highest tour-related death toll.
  • 2000: A 12-year-old from Ginasservis, known as Phillippe, was hit by a car in the Tour de France publicity caravan.
  • 2002: A seven-year-old boy, Melvin Pompele, died near Retjons after running in front of the caravan.
  • 2009: 18 July, Stage 14: A spectator in her 60s was struck and killed by a police motorcycle while crossing a road along the route near Wittelsheim.

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Famous quotes containing the word deaths:

    “On almost the incendiary eve
    Of deaths and entrances ...”
    —Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)

    “There is the guilt all soldiers feel for having broken the taboo against killing, a guilt as old as war itself. Add to this the soldier’s sense of shame for having fought in actions that resulted, indirectly or directly, in the deaths of civilians. Then pile on top of that an attitude of social opprobrium, an attitude that made the fighting man feel personally morally responsible for the war, and you get your proverbial walking time bomb.”
    —Philip Caputo (b. 1941)

    “Death is too much for men to bear, whereas women, who are practiced in bearing the deaths of men before their own and who are also practiced in bearing life, take death almost in stride. They go to meet death—that is, they attempt suicide—twice as often as men, though men are more “successful” because they use surer weapons, like guns.”
    —Roger Rosenblatt (b. 1940)