In the Swiss descent where professional cyclist Gino Mäder crashed last week, John Talen (58) once saw his life flash by. Born and raised in Meppel, the former professional survived the fall, but struggled with the consequences for a long time.
No, John Talen doesn’t know if it was exactly the same corner. But that it was the same descent, there is no doubt about that, according to him. In 1987, the former professional cyclist crashed heavily during the Tour of Switzerland in the descent of the Albula Pass. He missed a turn and flew into the ravine. The Drent was in the hospital of the nearby town of Chur for no less than ten days, before being returned to the Netherlands by plane. The damage: a concussion, seven crooked cervical vertebrae and numerous ‘japs’ in his head.
A wet towel
“I remember very little about the fall itself,” says Talen now. “For example, how deep did I fall into the ravine? I really can’t say it. I still have a clear image until a few seconds before the fall, then I lose everything. For example, I remember when I was in a group of discharged people. It was a nice, fast descent. Normally I was one of the faster descenders, so I rode on the left side of the road to keep some of my teammates out of the wind. Partly because of this I lost the overview in a double hairpin bend. There was a left turn that I had not seen coming.”
What Talen still vaguely remembers is that his team manager Peter Post stood at the edge of his hospital bed at the end of that unfortunate afternoon. “We talked briefly. I don’t remember what was said. Furthermore, I spent most of the day with the pillow over my head, because I couldn’t bear the daylight. And on the plane home I also seem to have done strange things. I suddenly took a pen from a flight attendant, or something. He gave me a wet towel a little later, after which I regained some consciousness. Fortunately, things got better after that.”
Once home, the recovery took longer than hoped. Where Talen thought he would get back on his bike after three weeks, on closer inspection his cycling season could be cut short. Especially the concussion and the damaged cervical vertebrae left their mark for months. No wonder, according to the former team time trial world champion (1986) they went down at over 100 kilometers per hour when he flew into the ravine. “When the wind is favorable, you quickly reach such speeds. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like you’re going that fast and you don’t realize you’ve already passed the 100 mark.”
Terrible
The memories of the accident 36 years ago came to mind again when Talen sat in front of the TV on Thursday, watching the activities of his son-in-law Wilco Kelderman. The Jumbo-Visma rider started the descent of the Albula Pass ahead of Gino Mäder, the Swiss who, together with Magnus Sheffield, went off the road and fell many meters into the ravine. Mäder lay motionless in the water and was resuscitated on the spot for minutes, but succumbed to his injuries in hospital. Sheffield was ‘only’ left with a concussion.
“Terrible,” says Talen, somewhat defeated. “I have not seen the fall myself and do not want to see it again. I immediately noticed that, just like me at the time, they now also had the wind at their backs. Then it will soon be very hard. You could already see them zooming in on the odometer of a motorcyclist who went downhill at more than 100 kilometers per hour. Think about it: if you ride in a group where you are kept out of the wind behind someone, you go even faster than a loner who has more air resistance. And no, then you don’t stop immediately when braking, you know.”
Kelderman, who soon wants to help his teammate Jonas Vingegaard to the overall victory in the Tour de France, was aware of the history of his father-in-law on the flanks of the Albula Pass, according to Talen. “But we did not talk about it in the run-up to the Tour of Switzerland,” Talen emphasizes. “No, I’m not going to warn him about that. First of all, I don’t remember exactly which bend it was. Second, I want to leave him in his own focus. He also has capable people around him who go through the ins and outs of a course with him.”
Fat on the bones
There have been calls for a longer time to make the race safer, but after the death of Mäder – the latest on a long list of riders who died during a race – the call became louder and louder. Cycling journalist and professional cyclist Thijs Zonneveld is one of the champions in the Netherlands. A good thing, says Talen. He is in favor of a system that monitors where a relatively high number of accidents occur or where the risk of this is significant. “In that case you have to ask yourself strongly whether you should not even switch to an alternative.”
From Saturday 1 July, when the Tour starts in Bilbao, Spain, Talen will again regularly take place in front of the TV at home in Spijkenisse. Although, in their own words, that will not always go very well. “Everyone is always so stressed during the Tour. I don’t think there are always so many falls for nothing.”
He doesn’t say it in so many words, but Talen holds his heart for son-in-law Wilco, who is not exactly a blank slate when it comes to injuries. “Those climbers have no fat on their bones. If they fall, they often break something.”