Gino Mäder

Gino Mäder was a Swiss cyclist who competed in the road race at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but died tragically during the 2023 Tour de Suisse due to a fall while descending the Albulapass. Born in the canton of St. Gallen, east of Zürich, near Bodensee, his coach for years was Michele Bartoli.

Competing for the Velo Club Mendrisio, one of the best Swiss youth teams, Mäder turned pro in 2019 with the South African team Dimension Data. At the junior level he won a world silver medal in the team pursuit and a European silver medal in the omnium. At Innsbruck in 2018 he was fourth in the U-23 World Championship road race.

Mäder’s best year was 2021. At the age of 24 he won the sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia in Ascoli Piceno after a 138 km breakaway in the rain, resisting the return of Egan Bernal, later winner of the Giro. Mäder’s other victory that year came at the Tour de Suisse in the eighth stage in Andermatt. He finished fifth overall at the Vuelta à Espana 2021 where he was the best young rider and where he donated one Euro to an association for each rider who finished behind him in each stage and 10 Euros for each athlete behind him in the overall standings for a total exceeding 4000 euros. Mäder was an animal lover who was a strict vegetarian and was very attentive to environmental issues.