Sara Piffer, an Italian racer with Continental crew Mendelspeck, has died throughout a coaching experience on Friday morning within the northern Trentino area of her nation when she was reportedly hit by the driving force of a automobile. She was 19.
Piffer was coaching on a minor highway between the localities of Mezzocorona and Mezzolombardo when the incident occurred. Attempts had been made to avoid wasting her life on the spot and she or he was subsequently evacuated by a hospital helicopter, however it was to no avail.
Her brother, an novice racer who was out coaching together with her was additionally caught up within the crash however solely suffered minor accidents, in keeping with stories within the Italian press.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, an preliminary reconstruction of the incident signifies it occurred when one automotive, travelling in the other way to Piffer, was overtaking one other automobile and collided together with her.
At the time of the incident, Piffer was racing for a Continental squad, Mendelspeck for a second season.
Amongst her high ends in 2024 was a victory within the U23 Giornata Nazionale Rosa – GP Città di Corridonia – Trofeo Impresa Edile Fiorelli race, a second place within the Cronoscalata Festa dell’Uva uphill time trial and a fourth place in a crew time trial occasion within the Italian Nationals.
Back in 2023, she positioned sixth within the Italian National Championships junior time trial and eighth within the junior highway race. According to Tuttobiciweb, Piffer was additionally a gifted observe racer, inserting second within the Madison within the Italian Nationals in 2021.
In an interview with Tuttobiciweb, crew director Renato Pirrone described Piffer as a “unbelievable individual, actually motivated,” who had requested her mother and father for a yr out from research to see how she might progress as a full-time racer.
“She was a really proficient individual, he added, “however now we’re left with the ache of what might have been, and will not ever come to go.”
On the Facebook web page of the Trentino department of the Italian Cycling Federation, native president Renato Beber added “It is with immense anguish and amazement that we realized the dramatic information of a brand new younger sufferer on the roads of the Trentino area. After Matteo Lorenzi,” – the 17-year-old, additionally from Trento who died in a coaching visitors incident when he was struck by a van final May, and to whom Piffer devoted her win in GP Città di Corridonia final yr, in keeping with Tuttobiciweb – “who additionally disappeared in a coaching accident, now we should mourn Sara Piffer.”
“We unite ourselves to the immense ache of her household and family members, and we will not keep away from addressing the authorities both: it is necessary to take concrete steps for the protection of cyclists who out on the roads, dedicate themselves to their ardour and comply with their goals. It’s vital to maneuver from phrases to actions.”