One year on from Swiss rider Murriel Furrer's tragic death following a crash at the World Championships, the UCI has decided to retire the race number she wore during the junior road race in Zurich.
In tribute to Furrer, no rider will wear 84 in Saturday's junior women's road race in Kigali, Rwanda, and it will no longer be assigned at future women's junior road races at Worlds.
"The death of Muriel Furrer, a promising young rider with a bright future ahead of her, during our UCI Road and Para-cycling Road World Championships last year cast a shadow of mourning over the event and the entire cycling community," said recently re-elected UCI President David Lappartient in a release.
"One year later to the day, our thoughts are still with her, her loved ones, and her Federation, Swiss Cycling. To pay tribute to Muriel, the UCI has decided that the race number she wore during the event will no longer be assigned in the Women Junior road race at the UCI World Championships for road cycling."
Furrer was 18 years old when she died, having been airlifted to Zurich University Hospital after crashing off the course into trees, sustaining a serious head injury, and not being found by race officials or medical services for around 90 minutes near Kusnacht.
Her death plunged the cycling world into sadness and sparked an outpouring of emotion for the remainder of the Zurich Worlds and beyond, but it also left a number of questions unanswered by the UCI, notably on rider safety.
In the wake of her tragic death, the UCI also confirmed before the World Championships in Rwanda that all riders in all categories will be equipped with a GPS tracking device, enabling full monitoring of rider positions and speeds and helping to locate riders if they crash and are not seen by race officials.
This came after a test of GPS tracking devices at the Tour de Romandie Féminin, and despite that test's complications, it faced no pushback from national federations at Worlds. Its implementation will hopefully avoid a repeat of the unfortunate events which led to Furrer's death a year ago on September 27.
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