The late Muriel Furrer was remembered with a minute of silence before the start of the elite women’s road race at the World Championships, and her tragic death was on the minds of each and every one of the participants on a rain-soaked afternoon in Zurich.
Minutes after defending her rainbow jersey with a thunderous sprint, Lotte Kopecky was ushered into a tent near the podium for her flash interview. The Belgian was asked to describe her immediate feelings on crossing the line, but her first thoughts were instead for Furrer, who died on Friday after her crash in the previous day’s junior women’s road race.
"It was kind of disbelief, but first of all I want give my condolences to the family of Muriel," Kopecky said. "The minute of silence at the start, seeing the Swiss riders crying, it’s something you just don’t want to see. I think it’s very hard for them."
Asked if her world title was dedicated to the late Furrer, a Swiss international in road, cyclocross and mountain bike, Kopecky nodded: "Yes, you can say that."
Kopecky’s words were echoed by Noemi Rüegg, the best-placed of the home nation’s riders in 11th. Before the start, Rüegg and her five Swiss teammates had stood arm in arm on the front row of the peloton during a minute’s silence for the 18-year-old. "We will race with Muriel in our hearts, and we will see how it goes," Rüegg had said before facing into 154km of racing in miserably wet and cold weather.
Despite the conditions and the muted atmosphere that now colours these World Championships, the home riders were still cheered heartily by the crowds that lined the roadside. In a macabre but understandable way, the afternoon of racing provided a few hours of distraction from the tragedy that had occurred on these very roads.
"The mood on the Zürichberg was great. I tried to enjoy it and was able to soak up everything," said Rüegg, even if the shouts of encouragement and her own strong performance were only a temporary respite from the prevailing mood.
"I wouldn’t have believed last year that I could achieve something like that,” Rüegg said. “But they were two very difficult days. I thought of Muriel during the race. Ultimately, it was just nice to reach the finish line and hug my family."
Although Kopecky claimed the rainbow jersey, Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) was arguably the day’s outstanding performer, with her aggression on the final lap almost carrying her to the world title.
Even after she had been reeled back in by favourite Demi Vollering (Netherlands), Longo Borghini summoned up the strength to sprint to third place. It was her fifth bronze medal in a road race at a global championship, after the 2012 and 2020 Worlds and the 2016 and 2020 Olympics.
In the press room afterwards, Longo Borghini talked reporters through her tactics in considerable detail, but she also eloquently explained the apparent paradox of competing to win a bike race while mourning the tragic loss of a young life.
"I think there was not one person in the peloton today who wasn’t thinking about yesterday and who wasn’t thinking about the young woman who passed away,” Longo Borghini said. "But in the end, when we are racing, we focus on the racing. Maybe sometimes that’s not correct, and maybe we should think more about our health and our life. But when we are athletes, we are focused on performance."
"At the start today, everybody was very aware of the tragic loss. But as soon as the race was on, we focused on the race, and we raced. I think racing today was also a way to celebrate her life, the fact that she was a cyclist, that she had dreams and she had goals, and that unluckily she passed away doing what she loved."
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