Fabio Casartelli (16 August 1970 – 18 July 1995) was an Italian

cyclist Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

and an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold medalist. He was killed in a crash on the descent of the Col de Portet d'Aspet,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, during the 15th stage of the

1995 Tour de France The 1995 Tour de France was the 82nd Tour de France, taking place from 1 to 23 July. It was Miguel Indurain's fifth and final victory in the Tour. On the fifteenth stage Italian rider Fabio Casartelli died after an accident on the Col de Portet ...

Amateur career

Fabio Casartelli showed great promise as an amateur. He had many important wins and placings between 1990 and 1992, climaxing in winning a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

road race. He finished the 194 km race in 4:35:21, a second ahead of Erik Dekker of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and 3 ahead of

Dainis Ozols Dainis Ozols (born 11 September 1966) is a former professional cyclist from Latvia. In the 1992 Summer Olympics he won a bronze medal in the 194 km road race, finishing in 4:32:24, 3 seconds behind Erik Dekker of the Netherlands and 4 se ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

Amateur victories

;1990 *Trofeo Sironi ;1991 *Monte Carlo-Alassio *Gemeli Meda *Coppa Casale *GP Capodarco di Fermo *Trofeo Cesab ;1992 * Olympic flag

Olympic Road Race Championship *Monte Carlo-Alassio *GP Diano Marina *Coppa Cigogna *Trophia de Mare

Professional career

Casartelli began his professional career in 1993 with the Ariostea team. He won a stage in the

Settimana Bergamasca The Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda ( en, Lombardic Cycling Week) is an Italian cycle road race. In 2007, the race was organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions ...

race, came second in a stage of the

Tour de Suisse The Tour de Suisse ( en, Tour of Switzerland) is an annual road cycling stage race. Raced over eight days, the event covers two weekends in June, and along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is considered a proving ground for the Tour de France ...

and finished the Giro d'Italia. In 1994 he moved to ZG-Mobili. For his third professional year, he moved to Team Motorola. He placed sixth in the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Clásica de Almería The Clásica de Almería ( en, Classic of Almería) is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in February or March in Almería, Spain, starting and finishing in Almería itself. Established in 1986, the race was run as an amateur event in i ...

and third in the second stage of the Spanish

Tour of Murcia The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia ( en, Tour of Murcia) is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia, Spain. The first four editions were reserved to amateurs. Originally the race was held in early March and consisted of five stages. However, due ...

. Casartelli was selected to represent his team for the 1995 Tour de France along with Alvaro Mejia,

Frankie Andreu Francisco "Frankie" Andreu (born September 26, 1966) is an American former professional cyclist whose career highlights include riding as team captain of the U.S. Postal Service cycling team in 1998, 1999 and 2000. During his career, he won a n ...

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 Tour de ...

Steve Bauer Steven Todd Bauer, MSM (born June 12, 1959) is a retired professional road bicycle racer from Canada. He won the first Olympic medal in road cycling for Canada and until 2022 he was the only Canadian to win an individual stage of the Tour de Fr ...

Kaspars Ozers Kaspars Ozers (born 15 September 1968, in Tukums) is a former Latvian professional cyclist who had a brief professional career during the 1990s. He took part in the Tour de France twice, as a teammate of Lance Armstrong. In 1995 one of his teammat ...

, Andrea Peron, Steve Swart and

Sean Yates Sean Yates (born 18 May 1960) is an English former professional cyclist and directeur sportif. Career Yates competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics, finishing sixth in the 4,000m individual pursuit. As an amateur in 1980, he won the British 25-mi ...

Professional results

;1993 - Team Ariostea *Giro d'Italia: 107th overall *Settimana Bergamasca: first stage 1 *Tour de Suisse: second stage 5, third stage 2 ;1994 - Team ZG-Mobili Bottecchia *Giro di Toscana: 15th overall ;1995 - Team Motorola *Classica Costa del Almeria: sixth overall *Tour de Suisse: second stage 1 *Tour of Murcia: third stage 7

Death

On 18 July, during the fifteenth stage of the

, Casartelli and a few other riders crashed on the descent of the Col de Portet d'Aspet mountain pass in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

. Casartelli's head struck the concrete blocks along the roadway, causing severe head injuries and loss of consciousness. Doctors arrived within ten seconds. Wallechinsky, David (2004). ''The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics'',

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

: Sport Classic Books. While being flown to a local hospital by helicopter, Casartelli stopped breathing and after numerous resuscitation attempts he was declared dead. It has been argued that Casartelli would have survived if he had been wearing a

bicycle helmet A bicycle helmet is a type of helmet designed to attenuate impacts to the head of a cyclist in falls while minimizing side effects such as interference with peripheral vision. There is ongoing scientific research into the degree of protection ...

.Majendie, Matt
''Tour tragedy 10 years on''.
BBC.co.uk. 18 July 2005. Gerard Porte, the Tour's senior doctor, claimed that protection was academic since the fatal blow was to an area of Casartelli's head that would not have been covered by a helmet. However Michel Disteldorf, the French doctor who examined Casartelli's body on behalf of the coroner in

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. It is the capital of Bigorre and of the Hautes-Pyrénées. It has been a commune since 1790. It was known as ''Turba ...

, where the rider was flown by helicopter after he crashed, told the ''Sunday Times'' that the point of impact was on the top of the skull, and that had Casartelli been wearing a hard helmet "some injuries could have been avoided".Weekes, Richard
''The hard truth behind a waste of life''.
Sunday Times 23 July 1995. His Motorola team continued the Tour de France, crossing the finish line of the next stage first, side by side in Pau. The

peloton In a road bicycle race, the peloton (from French, originally meaning 'platoon') is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close ( drafting or slipstreaming) to (particularly behind) other riders. The reductio ...

followed behind, riding slowly. The Société du Tour de France awarded the stage prizes as normal, and the riders donated all the money won that day to a fund established for his family. The Tour later matched that amount, and thousands of individuals contributed to the fund. Stèle Fabio Casartelli 01

Three days after the accident Fabio Casartelli's teammate

dedicated his stage win in Limoges to Casartelli by pointing at the sky as he rode over the finish line. The Société du Tour de France and the Motorola team placed a memorial near where he crashed, situated at co-ordinates (42.940, 0.819). The memorial is a

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

arranged such that the sun's shadow highlights three dates — his birth and death and 2 August, the day he won his

Olympic gold medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

. The bicycle he was riding at the time of his fatal crash was placed in the chapel at the

Madonna del Ghisallo Madonna del Ghisallo is a hill in Magreglio, close to Lake Como in Italy. It is named after an alleged Marian apparition. According to the legend, the Medieval count Ghisallo was travelling by the hamlet of Magréglio when he was attacked by ba ...

, a church and museum to cyclists near his home. In 1997, the

young rider classification in the Tour de France The young rider classification is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, that started in 1975 Tour de France, 1975. Excluding the years 1989 Tour de France, 1989 to 1999 Tour de France, 1999, the leader of the young rider classification we ...

was renamed "Souvenir Fabio Casartelli" in his honour.

References

External links

Tour de France 1995: Crash of Fabio Casartelli
(Warning - some scenes in this video may cause distress). {{DEFAULTSORT:Casartelli, Fabio 1970 births 1995 deaths Italian male cyclists Olympic cyclists of Italy Olympic gold medalists for Italy Cyclists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Cyclists who died while racing Sport deaths in France Olympic medalists in cycling Filmed deaths in sports Sportspeople from Como Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Cyclists from the Province of Como