The driver who killed 19-year-old Italian cyclist Sara Piffer received a two-year suspended sentence on Tuesday 07 April 2026, closing a case that has reignited Italy’s road safety debate.
The 72-year-old retired carpenter pleaded guilty to road homicide under a plea agreement, with the sentence conditionally suspended. His driving licence was also suspended for four years.
Piffer was killed on Friday 24 January 2025 while training on the Rotaliana plain in Trentino. Her brother Christian, riding alongside her, sustained only minor injuries. The driver, travelling in the opposite direction, overtook another vehicle and struck her head-on. She was airlifted to hospital but could not be saved.
Born in Palù di Giovo — the same village as former Giro d’Italia champion Francesco Moser — Piffer had begun her career as a gifted track racer, placing second at the Italian national junior championships in 2021 and 18th place at the UCI Junior Road World Championships in 2023. The next season brought her first U23 category win at GP Città di Corridonia, while also placing fifth in the young rider classification at the Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées. Her Team Mendelspeck director Renato Pirrone described her as a “fantastic person, really motivated,” who had taken a year away from academic studies to pursue a full-time racing career.
The driver never contacted the Piffer family after the crash — no apology, no expression of remorse. Despite that silence, father Lorenzo extended forgiveness, telling reporters: “If he wants, we are here.”
Lawyer Federico Balconi, representing the family and the Italian cycling federation, was far less forgiving of the outcome. He sharply criticised Italy’s road homicide laws, calling the result one with “no effective consequences for the killer” and demanding “decisive, uncompromising reform, as has been done in almost every other European country.”
In Sara’s memory, the Alps2Etna endurance ride will travel the length of Italy from Palù di Giovo to Reggio Calabria from 29 May 2026, raising funds for road safety and the Sara Piffer Foundation.
Photo Credit: sarapiffer.com
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