Steamboat Springs – A 67-year-old man from Missouri died during Ride the Rockies on Monday after falling and sustaining a head injury on the descent of Tennessee Pass.

His name has not been released, as his wife, who also was riding in the 412-mile bicycle tour, was trying to notify their children and other family members Monday afternoon, the event’s tour director, Chandler Smith, said.

The crash happened on U.S. Highway 24 in Eagle County on a leg from Buena Vista to Edwards.

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The fall was not witnessed as his wife pedaled ahead of him, Smith said.

One of 55 medics riding in the tour was the first to find the injured man and began to help before other medics and support arrived, Smith said.

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He was rushed to Vail Valley Medical Center by ambulance.

Smith said this was the couple’s first time participating in Ride the Rockies.

Smith said it was the first fatality in his four years as tour director.

“We have had some pretty significant accidents, but this is the first fatality,” he said.

In 2006, 65-year-old Diane Woolwine, of Boulder, was killed when she was hit by a motor home on U.S. Highway 50 in Salida after she veered off the tour’s official route.

“We go to great lengths to make it as safe as possible, and we have a lot of medical care out there,” Smith said.

Ride the Rockies began Sunday in Crested Butte and concludes Friday in Georgetown, by way of Steamboat Springs and Granby.

The ride is in its 26th year, with more than 2,000 riders from 46 states and 10 countries.