CYCLING/News round-up: French cycling hope Fabrice Salanson died in his sleep on the eve of the Tour of Germany, which started yesterday with the riders in a state of shock.
Race director Roland Hofer said the promising 23-year-old Brioches La Boulangere rider was found in his hotel room in the eastern German city of Dresden yesterday morning. He had died between 2.30 a.m. and 4.0 a.m. local time.
It was not known what had caused his death, Hofer said. A post-mortem was to be carried out at the local hospital. Police and German state prosecutors were investigating. "Everything indicates that it was a natural death," tour organisers said in a statement.
Hofer said no medication of an illegal nature was found in the rider's room and the causes of death seemed to be natural.
Salanson's team withdrew from the race and returned to France. The 128 remaining riders in the seven-day race left Dresden after a minute's silence.
Salanson joined the Brioches team this year after riding with Bonjour from 2000 to 2002. He won two professional events, his most important victory being on the second stage of the Midi Libre in May 2002.
German Erik Zabel won a mass sprint to claim the opening stage over 184.1 km to Altenburg, which was marked by a 134-km solo ride by Dane Jorgen-Bo Petersen.
Ireland's Mark Scanlon recorded his best professional result to date when he finished the stage in fifth place as part of the main bunch. The Sligoman goes into today's second stage in seventh place overall.
