Hagens Berman Jayco cycling announced 19 year-old team rider Samuele Privitera died after crashing on a descent at the 61st Giro della Valle d’Aosta U23 race in Italy on Wednesday 16 July.

“It is with a very heavy heart that I share news no one in our community ever wanted to hear,” team General Manager Axel Merckx posted on Facebook. “Our rider, our teammate, and our dear friend, Samuele Privitera, has passed away following the race yesterday at Giro Val d’Aosta. Samuele was and always will be the life and personality of this team.”

“This team has always been a small family, and moments like this are unimaginable. He was irreplaceable. His joy, his spirit, his kindness, was always a bright light to whatever room or race that he was in at that moment. To lose him is devastating beyond words.”

“Personally, I am struggling to express the sadness I feel but I am deeply grateful for every moment we shared with him and for the joy he brought to our team every single day,” Merckx continued. “He loved the bike, he loved the camera, he loved to smile, he loved to laugh, but most of all he loved his family and his teammates.”

The crash happened on the first stage of the five-day race, when Privitera apparently lost control of his bike while exiting a curve and violently crashed into the iron guardrails of a house.

Fellow U23 racer Lorenzo Masciarelli witnessed the accident and told Corriere Della Sera news: “We were 30 km from the finish line when we were descending from Pontey. Privitera was on the left and passed me after the curve. I don’t know if he was too fast or because of a dip. His hands slipped from the handlebars and I saw him fall onto the frame tube. In that position, it’s difficult to regain control of the bike. I saw a terrible impact against the guardrails of the house and realized it wasn’t a normal fall. I don’t think he saw the bump.”

Emergency medics following the peloton immediately stopped to render life saving aid and transport Privitera to Parini Hospital in Aosta, where he succumbed to injuries.

After winning Stage 12 of the Tour de France on Thursday, Tadej Pogačar dedicated the victory to Privitera. “It was the first thing I read in the morning, and I was thinking in the last kilometre about him, and how tough this sport can be, and how much pain it can cause,” the 26 year-old world champion said.

Photo Credit: Hagens Berman Jayco

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