[CR][beverlyhillsspokesmen] Kivilev dies of head injuries (fwd)

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From: <b.b.simon@att.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 15:54:32 +0000
Subject: [CR][beverlyhillsspokesmen] Kivilev dies of head injuries (fwd)

my condolences. burl simon l.a. ---------------------- Forwarded Message: --------------------- From: Tom Kravitz <tom@mediapage.com> To: beverlyhillsspokesmen@yahoogroups.com Subject: [beverlyhillsspokesmen] Kivilev dies of head injuries Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 07:26:28 -0800

Kivilev dies of head injuries

By VeloNews Interactive wire services Copyright AFP2003

This report filed March 12, 2003

Kazakh rider Andrei Kivilev died at a hospital in Le Puy-En-Velay, France, Wednesday from head injuries sustained in a crash in the second stage of Paris-Nice on Tuesday, his Cofidis team said.

Kivilev's team doctor, who treated the 29-year-old rider at the scene of Tuesday's crash, was among those calling for the wearing of helmets to become law - as it currently is in Belgium.

The death of Kivilev means that the peloton will, following a moment of silence at the start of the third stage, not engage in any real racing as a mark of respect for the soft-spoken Kazakh, whose talent shone through when he came fourth in the 2001 Tour de France.

<javascript:void window.open('/view_full.php?image=/images/news/3584.3824.f.jpg', 'ViewFull', 'height=640,width=437,toolbar=no');>1e6e05e3.jpg Program Note: Because of the death of Andrei Kivilev, today's stage of Paris-Nice is being run as a memorial to the fallen rider. We will, therefore, not carry live coverage of today's stage

Kivilev is the first member of the European peloton to be killed in a race since Spain's Manuel Sanroma who crashed in the Tour of Catalonia in 1999.

In 1995 the 1992 Olympic champion Fabio Casartelli of Italy was killed in the Tour de France - and the following day the peloton, led by his teammate Lance Armstrong, rolled slowly through the day's stage in tribute to him.

Kivilev, who leaves behind a young wife and son, was not wearing a helmet when he fell around 40 kilometers from the finish line in the company of two other riders, his Polish team-mate Marek Rutkiewicz and German Volker Ordowski.

It is believed he simply touched wheels and lost control of his bike before landing on the ground, with his face and forehead taking the full impact.

He lapsed into coma, which doctors later sustained with drugs in order to minimize changes in blood pressure. Surgeons battled in vain throughout the night to reduce the swelling of his brain before he died at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

Cofidis team doctor Jean-Jacques Menuet said wearing a helmet would have almost certainly have saved Kivilev's life.

"The injury Andrei sustained on his skull is located at a point that would have been protected by a helmet," said Meunet. "Riders are free to wear a helmet or not, even though as doctors we would all like to see that becomes obligatory."

Cycling's ruling body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) attempted to make wearing helmets obligatory in 1991, although the peloton reacted angrily staging a protest during that year's edition of Paris-Nice. Eventually a compromise was reached whereby riders would wear helmets depending on weather and race conditions.

Kivilev was recruited by Cofidis in 2001 as a contender for the larger, three-week stage races. He lived up to expectations finishing fourth in the Tour de France that year. This year, however, he'd said his goal was to help his British teammate David Millar improve on his performance in the Tour.

Paris-Nice, which the Cofidis team will continue to race in his honor, finishes on Sunday. <

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