Equipment failure caused fatal crash of Norwegian top talent Drege
A black day Saturday in the Tour of Austria as 25-year-old Norwegian André Drege lost his life after falling on the descent of the Grossglockner.
The pro rider of the continental team Team Coop - Repsol was part of the leading group in the race at the time of his fall. And now it turns out that equipment failure was at the root of the fatal crash. This was announced by Jaka Primozic, the only witness to the fall.
The Slovenian was riding behind Drege on the descent and saw the tragedy happen. The 25-year-old rider, who rides for Team Hrinkow Advarics, reacted heavily to the Norwegian's death.
In a witness statement to Austrian police, Primozic gave more information about the accident. "Jaka saw that there were problems with the rear wheel of Drege's bike," Andreas Lidner of the Austrian police told Norwegian VG.
"Then something white came out of the tyre," Lidner possibly referring to the sealant (a kind of milky substance) that squirts out of tubeless tyres when they go flat. Drege then fell off his bike, Primožič informed police. The speed at this point was between eighty and a hundred kilometres per hour, according to the witness. Lindner: "Everything happened within seconds."
(SR for Tagtik/Picture by Loken via Wikimedia Commons licensed under CC BY_SA 4_0)
