Tragedy in the penultimate stage of the Tour of Austria cycling race. The 25-year-old Norwegian professional cyclist Andrè Drege died during the descent from the Grossglockner. The stage from Sankt Johann to Kals in East Tyrol was won by the Italian Filippo Ganna. The award ceremony was cancelled due to the tragic event. The Italian Diego Ulissi leads the general classification.
Drege, born on May 4, 1999 in Alesund, Norway, had won the ‘South Aegean Tour’ and the ‘International Tour of Rhodes’ in Greece this season and was a rider for Team Coop-Repsol. According to an initial reconstruction, Drege fell during the most important stage of the Tour of Austria, the penultimate 151-kilometer stage from Sankt Johann to Kals.
The accident occurred in Heiligenblut on the descent from the Grossglockner, the highest mountain in Austria at 3,798 meters. At the finish line in Kals, victory after 4 hours and 9 minutes for the world time trial champion, the Italian Filippo Ganna (Ineos) who beat his compatriot and leader of the Tour of Austria, Diego Ulissi (Uae) in the sprint.
Drege is the third professional cyclist to lose his life in a race. On June 16 of last year, the Swiss Gino Mader, 26, lost his life during the ‘Tour de Suisse’, falling during the descent from the Albula Pass. The following July 22, Jacopo Venzo, 17, from Cartigliano in the Vicenza area, died in Linz hospital following the serious injuries sustained in a fall from the Mistelbacher Berg during the Junior Tour of Upper Austria.