The party turned into drama. Despite the cancellation of the Ironman and 70.3 competitions by prefectural decree on Friday due to the orange heat warning, many amateur triathletes decided to organize a โwildโ ride this Sunday, June 28, morning, outside of any organization.
Sad exit. According to our information, the 42-year-old man died in the town of Bouillon, a hilltop village in the outback of Nice. Emergency services arrived at the scene just before midday and tried in vain to resuscitate the man in cardiopulmonary arrest.
The victim, who was originally registered for one of the canceled events, was traveling alone on the bike route and collided with a motorcycle while turning into oncoming traffic. Because the event was cancelled, the roads were not closed to traffic. The motorcyclist was not injured.
โHe was driving at high speed downhill.โ
โA cyclist in his forties died today in the city of Bouillon,โ the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes confirmed in a press release. He was traveling at high speed on a downhill stretch and apparently veered off course when he hit a motorcyclist traveling in the opposite direction. ยป
โThe deceased was registered at an Ironman event prohibited by prefectural regulation and was traveling on a section of road that was part of the route of the prohibited event.โ
The investigation was opened by a company of the Nice gendarmerie under the direction of the Grasse prosecutorโs office.
While Ironman has been banned by authorities, some triathletes have expressed their desire to complete the distance on planned routes in โfull autonomyโ, like specialist Jeremy Diger.
Dubbed IronโPinpon and followed by several thousand people on social media, he announced his desire to stage an event with a 6.20am departure to Ponchetts Beach and a hearty menu of 1.9km of swimming, 90km of cycling and 21.1km of running. Passion is stronger than reasonโฆ and prohibition.
The prefecture warned against this Ironman โwithout supervision and assistance.โ
According to Nice Matin, thousands of amateur athletes responded to the call. The atmosphere was described as โalmost family-likeโ. โWe respect this decision,โ says a participant from Switzerland, as quoted by the Nice newspaper. Big Ironman, I can understand. But with 70.3 I have more problems. We train for this all year long. Between registration, bike transportation, hotelโฆ we incurred a lot of expenses. Weโre here, we could use this. ยป
On Saturday, the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes warned triathletes against any attempt to complete an โIronman without supervision or assistance.โ
โAll participants are reminded that any violation of this prohibition will be subject to a fine,โ the press release said. First of all, it should be recalled that since the routes are not safe, any attempt to complete the initial test routes carries a significant risk to the safety of offenders and puts other users at risk (โฆ) We call for individual and collective responsibility to keep everyone safe and not to unnecessarily request security and emergency services. โA terrible warning message.