“The roads aren’t dangerous, drivers who don’t respect others’ lives are”: Anger and calls for road safety reform, education in “Wild West” Italy after teenage racing cyclist killed by overtaking motorist during training ride

Cyclists in Italy have demanded reform of the country’s road safety laws and better education for motorists, after a promising teenage cyclist was killed during a training ride on Friday, when she was hit by an overtaking driver.

19-year-old Sara Piffer, who was set to enter her second year with UCI Continental team Mendelspeck, was training with her brother in the northern Italian region of Trentino on Friday when she was fatally struck.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, an initial reconstruction of the incident, which took place on a straight road between Mezzocorona and Mezzolombardo, revealed that the driver was travelling in the opposite direction to Piffer, and collided with the 19-year-old while attempting to overtake another motorist.

It has been reported in the Italian press that the overtaking driver has claimed that he couldn’t see the two approaching cyclists due to the low sun.

Piffer was treated by paramedics at the scene and taken to hospital by helicopter, where it was confirmed that she died from her injuries. Her brother Christian, an amateur racer, suffered only minor injuries in the crash.

The 19-year-old’s tragic death came as she was preparing for her second season at UCI Continental level with Team Mendelspeck, after a promising 2024 which saw her pick up a victory at the GP Città di Corridonia, place second at the Cronoscalata Festa dell’Uva uphill time trial, and finish fifth in the young rider classification at the Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées.

She started the season by making her debut among the very best riders in the world in the Women’s World Tour races Strade Bianche and the Trofeo Alfredo Binda.

The previous year, Piffer was sixth and eighth in the Italian junior time trial and road race championships respectively, and was also touted as a future track racing prospect.

According to Mendelspeck team director Renato Pirrone, Piffer – who he described as a “fantastic, really motivated person” – had asked her parents for a year’s break from her academic studies to pursue a full-time racing career with the squad.

In May, the teenager dedicated her win at the GP Città di Corridonia to Matteo Lorenzi, a 17-year-old racing cyclist, also from Trento, who was killed earlier that month after being struck by a van driver during a training ride.

Paying tribute to their daughter in the Italian press ahead of her funeral on Monday, Piffer’s parents also highlighted the dangers currently faced by cyclists on Italy’s roads.

“They asked me to choose the clothes for my daughter’s funeral, I picked a cycling jersey she won last year,” her mother Marianna told La Repubblica.

“It has ‘winner’ on the front and she dedicated that success to Matteo Lorenzi, who was killed last year. Sara was always a winner for me, but she died in the arms of her brother.

“Before she went out training, I told her to be careful. She replied: ‘The others have to be careful around us cyclists, because they don't understand the risks they take’.”

 

 

 

 

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Echoing that same message, her father Lorenzo told Corriere della Sera: “She was a flower, a gift from God. I am grateful for having had her, I am only grateful for that. Sara was good at doing everything.

“She was always cautious and happy to be able to go to training with her brother, because they didn’t always manage to go together. She told me: ‘Dad, we are always careful, it’s the others who aren’t careful of us’. And unfortunately, that was the case.

Reflecting on Italy’s roads and the attitudes of drivers, Lorenzo continued: “It’s a Wild West now. I’d say we need more common sense. Unfortunately, they always realise it too late.

“Maybe to gain that minute they put other people’s lives at risk. I see things getting worse on the roads.”

Piffer’s brother Christian, who witnessed the crash, but escaped with minor injuries, added: “I heard a noise, I looked back, then ran to my sister but there was nothing I could do.

“At first I was angry with the driver, then I saw that they were scared and ashamed.”

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While Christian admitted some sympathy towards the driver in question, the immediate aftermath of Sara’s death has witnessed a swell of anger growing in Italy’s cycling community – in which the memories of the high-profile deaths of pro cyclists Michele Scarponi and Davide Rebellin still searingly fresh – directed at the dangerous actions of motorists and the apparent inability to tackle the country’s road safety problems.

According to the Italian government’s official statistics, 204 cyclists were killed on Italy’s roads in 2024, while 197 were killed in 2023.

Speaking to Tuttobiciweb, former Giro d’Italia winner and classics star Francesco Moser, who lives in the same village as the Piffer family, called on the government to “stop this massacre”.

“It’s unacceptable. There are far too many tragedies on the roads, far too many deaths. We’ve got to do something,” the former Hour Record holder said.

Meanwhile, Renato Beber, the president of the local Trentino branch of the Italian Cycling Federation, said in a statement: “We unite ourselves to the immense pain of her family and loved ones, and we can’t avoid addressing the authorities either: it’s necessary to take concrete steps for the safety of cyclists who out on the roads, dedicate themselves to their passion, and follow their dreams. It’s necessary to move from words to actions.”

“The roads are not dangerous,” Valerio Bianco, a press officer at RCS Sport, the organisers of the Giro d’Italia, said on social media. “Those who do not respect the rules, those who do not take into account the lives of others, are dangerous.

“Today it was Sara Piffer’s turn, hit at 19, tomorrow it will be someone else's turn. If we do not protect the weakest, it will always be worse.

“How many more times will we have to see photos of crumpled bikes on the side of the road? How many more times will we have to mourn young lives like Sara Piffer’s?

“But then we see the big laughs at the memes about cyclists who ‘get in the way’. The problem is always at the root.”

Local cyclist Martina Centomo added: “Sara Piffer was killed by a motorist, not a car. Let’s not remove blame and responsibility from those who once again have broken another life. There is really something wrong. More than reform of the Highway Code.

“Why does the Italian legal system not conform to the rest of Europe in protecting the most vulnerable? Why is there no education on road safety? Why is there no effective way to make drivers aware of the danger and possible consequences of their driving? This is all absurd.”

> “I only like cyclists when they get run over,” says controversial Italian politician and Giorgia Meloni supporter, as pro cyclist blasts “disgraceful” anti-cycling comments

This clear anger, directed at the apparent apathy shown towards the safety of cyclists by Italy’s ruling class, comes just months after controversial Italian politician and journalist Vittorio Feltri was roundly condemned by the cycling community after telling an event organised by his Il Giornale newspaper that “I only like cyclists when they get run over”.

The highly inflammatory comments came on what would have Michele Scarponi’s 45th birthday, and over seven years since the Giro d’Italia winner was killed while out on a training ride by a van driver who allegedly admitted to prosecutors that he had been watching a video on his mobile phone at the time of the fatal collision.

“Milan continues to develop for the better. With [Gabriele] Albertini as mayor, the city had a crazy development. But I believe that the city continues to improve,” Feltri, a prominent Berlusconi supporter who joined current prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party in 2021, told the event in September.

“The only thing that bothers me is that the roads are full of potholes and the bike paths. I only like cyclists when they get run over.”

The 81-year-old’s inflammatory comments were heavily criticised by Italy’s cyclists, including Tudor Pro Cycling team rider Matteo Trentin, a former European champion and stage winner at all three Grand Tours with three Tour de France stage wins, who has often been outspoken on road safety and dangerous driving.

“Dearest Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni,” Trentin wrote on social media in response to Feltri’s comments, “When you want, I invite you to go for a bike ride with this character from your party, who apparently still lives during the Industrial Revolution. You can also use the electric one, so it's more fun.”

Trentin’s intervention was welcomed by his fellow Italian cyclists, with one noting that describing Feltri’s comments as “disrespectful to those who have lost a loved one” while cycling is “an understatement”, and branding them as “insensitive and gratuitous malice”.

Just over two weeks after Feltri’s remarks sparked a backlash from Italy’s cyclist, the lorry driver who killed recently retired classics star Davide Rebellin in November 2022 – before fleeing the scene back to his home in Germany – was jailed for four years, one year less than the five-year term that prosecutors had sought.