Swiss prosecutors have found no evidence of third-party involvement or criminal wrongdoing in the fatal crash of 18-year-old Swiss rider Murier Furrer at the 2024 Road World Championship in Zurich.
Following an extensive investigation, the Zurich public prosecutor’s office confirmed it was unable to establish that other riders, race officials, or organisers bore any responsibility for the incident.
They also ruled that there was no indication of a criminally relevant breach of duty in relation to course safety or the emergency response. A discontinuation order has been issued, although it is not yet legally binding.
Furrer crashed during a descent in the junior women’s race in September 2024, leaving the course and falling into a wooded area out of sight of race officials. This occurred at around 11:04am, but she was not found until 12:26pm.
As there was no GPS tracking of the riders, she was only reported missing after the race had finished.
She was found about 85 minutes after the crash. Once she was found, emergency services arrived within minutes and began administering first aid before she was airlifted to the hospital.
Furrer had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and died the following day. The circumstances have continued to draw criticism from across the cycling community.
Cycling YouTuber Benji Naesen said on X: “Muriel Furrer was only discovered 85 (!) minutes after her crash at the World Championships in Zurich.
“The public prosecutor has closed its investigation and concluded there was no criminally relevant breach of duty from the organisers, but I refuse to accept that the sport could not have been better prepared for accidents like this.
“GPS tracking as a topic has been on the table for years, and it required an athlete dying for the UCI to kick into action. That is objectively a failure on their part.”
Petite Cyclist added, “It likely wasn’t a crime, in the normal sense, but you are right, there is NO reason for this to happen. There should be a way to track them! They don’t even have the basic trackers you get at an event? I mean, not the best quality, but something!”
Category Café also commented, saying, “This was most likely an avoidable tragedy. Sad that the UCI has yet to implement GPS trackers for all cyclists. Could this cut down on sticky bottle incidents as well?”
In response, the UCI has accelerated plans to roll out GPS-based rider tracking. In a letter sent on March 13, 2026, UCI president David Lappartient said the technology “will need to become mandatory and phased in across event classes,” while stopping short of mandating a single system.
Instead, teams and organisers will be allowed to work with providers of their choice, provided the systems meet UCI requirements. Stakeholders have until April 30 to submit proposals.
GPS tracking has already been trialled at several events, including the World Championships in Kigali using a system developed with Swiss Timing, and at the women’s Tour de Romandie. However, in the women’s Tour de Romandie, five teams were disqualified for refusing to use the devices.
This dispute has since eased, and teams will soon be allowed to choose their own GPS tracker provider as long as it meets certain requirements. They will have until April 30 to submit a proposal.
In a letter to the teams, obtained by Sporza, UCI President David Lappartient said that GPS tracking “will need to become mandatory and phased in across event classes. The UCI does not seek to impose a specific system, and priority shall be given to a system that allows for open access to providing such services.
“Stakeholders can work on the development of a system or tool with the provider of their choice.”
The CEO of Velon, Graham Bartlett, welcomes the UCI plans, saying “Velon offers a custom-made dashboard with real-time positions and provides warnings if a rider deviates from the course or stands still for too long,” they state. “We focus on a cost-effective and reliable solution.”
1 thought on “Investigation into Muriel Furrer’s death finds no wrongdoing, but sparks claims it took “an athlete dying for the UCI to kick into action” on GPS tracking”
Hi Megan, you’ve misspelled Muriel’s name in your opening paragraph. Apart from that this is a very good report particularly with the photos you’ve sourced which show she was a talented and capable rider. A great loss to cycling, and her friends and family.
The Zurich prosecutor’s office are wrong to find there was no criminal lack of duty of care imo. On any fast section of quiet wooded roads there must be race marshalls or observers present to watch for any crashes into undergrowth. Even on a lengthy course as this was there will be few sections where there are no people around and thick vegetation. Surely organisers should have had those sections observed because they are easily identifiable areas of high risk to lone riders. A pair of marshall’s with radios could cover lengthy sections of road by counting solo riders in and out. Easily done yet was not done.