Fabio Casartelli

Fabio Casartelli (August 16, 1970 – July 18, 1995) was an Italian cyclist and an Olympic gold medalist, who died in a crash on the descent of the Col de Portet d'Aspet, France, during the 15th stage of the 1995 Tour de France.

He was born in Como, Italy.

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 in the 1992 Summer Olympics road race. He finished the 194km race in 4:35:21, a second ahead of Erik Dekker of the Netherlands and 3 ahead of Dainis Ozols of Latvia.

Amateur victories

1990

• Trofeo Sironi1991
• Monte Carlo-Alassio
• Gemeli Meda
• Coppa Casale
• GP Capodarco di Fermo
• Trofeo Cesab1992
• 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 race, came second in a stage of the Tour de Suisse 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 Clásica de Almería and third in the second stage of the Spanish Tour of Murcia. Casartelli was selected to represent his team for the 1995 Tour de France along with Alvaro Mejia, Frankie Andreu, Lance Armstrong, Steve Bauer, Kaspars Ozers, Andrea Peron, Steve Swart and Sean Yates.

Professional results

1993 - Team Ariostea

• Giro d'Italia: 107th overall
• Settimana Bergamasca: first stage 1
• Tour de Suisse: second stage 5, third stage 2
• Tour de France: last stage 121,1994 - Team ZG-Mobili Bottecchia
• Giro di Toscana: 15th overall1995 - Team Motorola
• Classica Costa del Almeria: sixth overall
• Tour de Suisse: second stage 1
• Tour of Murcia: third stage 7

Death

On July 18 during the fifteenth stage of the 1995 Tour de France, Fabio Casartelli and a few other riders crashed on the descent of the Col de Portet d'Aspet in the Pyrenees. Casartelli's head struck the concrete blocks along the roadway, causing heavy facial and head injuries and loss of consciousness. While being flown to a local hospital by helicopter, he stopped breathing and after numerous resuscitation attempts was declared dead. Many have claimed if Casartelli had been wearing a modern bicycle helmet his life might have been saved. However, 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.

His Motorola team continued the Tour de France, crossing the finish line of the next stage first, side by side. The peloton 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.

The Société du Tour de France and the Motorola team placed a memorial near where he crashed. The memorial is a sundial arranged so that the sun's shadow highlights three dates — his birth and death and the day he won his Olympic gold medal. The bicycle he was riding at the time of his fatal crash was placed in the chapel at the Madonna del Ghisallo, a church and museum to cyclists near his home.

References