Minute's silence held at World Championships road race to honour memory of Muriel Furrer
'It's about going out and showing we are racing for Muriel' - says Swiss team
A minute's silence was held at the start of the women's World Championships road race on Saturday to honour the memory of Swiss junior rider Muriel Furrer.
Furrer died on Friday after suffering major injuries in a crash during the junior road race on Thursday.
After consultation with Furrer's family, the UCI and the local organising committee confirmed that remaining races would go ahead.
On Saturday morning in the town of Uster, moments before the start of the elite women's road race, riders and public stood in silent tribute to Furrer.
The six-strong Swiss women's team were present on the front line of the peloton, with their arms around each others' shoulders as they faced racing in the toughest of circumstances.
"With this moment of silence we would like to remember the young, cheerful, always humble and extremely positive Muriel," the race speaker said to the crowd and assembled riders in English and German.
"It's a really special feeling, it's a really difficult situation for all of us, we just try to make the best out of it," Swiss racer Noemi Rüegg told Eurosport.
"It's a home Worlds, we worked hard for this, we are trying to do our best and we will race with Muriel in our hearts and we will see how it goes."
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"We can't talk about results, it's just about going out and showing we are racing for Muriel and I think the result will be secondary today."
"It can go both ways, we've never been in such a situation and it's ok that whatever happens can happen. We cannot be too hard on ourselves today."
The commemoration at Uster was not the only tribute being paid to Furrer on Saturday morning in Switzerland, with flags flying at half-mast in the finish area of the road race.
Meanwhile in the Para-Cycling Road World Championships, which are running concurrently in Zurich, Swiss rider Franziska Matile-Dorig pointed to the sky and to a black armband she was wearing as she crossed the line and claimed silver in the women's C4 category road race.
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
- Stephen FarrandHead of News