A tragic and definitely too long list of cyclists who have lost their lives during races. A list we are forced to update with the name of Samuele Privitera, just 20 years old, who died yesterday after a fall in the inaugural stage of the Giro della Valle d'Aosta.

It's practically impossible to say who was the first rider on this long list, as in pioneering times so much happened and chronicles often reported little or nothing about road races, so much so that the first reports concern deaths that occurred inside velodromes, such as those of the Frenchman Paul Dangla and the American George Lander in 1904. At the Velodrome d'Hiver, Luigi Dragoncello, a Frenchman of clear Italian origin, dies in 1918 after falling due to the sudden breaking of a pedal. In 1923, the German Adolf Huschke loses his life during the Rund um Berlin and three years later, in 1926, a tire burst causes the fall and death of Frenchman Gustave Ganay at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

And then in the first half of the 1930s, the Frenchman Aubert Winsingues, the Belgian Georges Iemarie, the Swiss Emi Richli, the Spaniard Josep Nicolau up to another Spaniard, Francisco Cepeda who on July 14, 1935 fell on the descent of Lautaret during the seventh stage of the Tour de France and holds the sad record of being the first rider to lose his life on the roads of the Tour de France and a grand tour in general.

Before the outbreak of World War II, the tragic disappearances of the Frenchman André Raynaud, run over by a motorcycle during a middle-distance race, and his compatriot Adrien Buttafuochi, hit by a car going in the opposite direction while descending the Esterel during the GP d'Antibes, are noted.

In 1948, the Belgian Richard Depoorter lost his life on June 16th by crashing into a tunnel wall during the Tour of Switzerland. The following year, cycling said goodbye to the Frenchmen Leon Livello and Paul Choque and the German Paul Krolle, in 1950 to another Frenchman Camille Danguillaume run over by a motorcycle during the national championship.

On June 29, 1951, a few hours after a fall in the Giro del Piemonte, Serse Coppi lost his life.

On May 20, 1952, the first victim in the history of the Giro d'Italia: Orfeo Ponsin died after hitting a tree during a descent near Bracciano, during the fourth stage from Siena to Rome. On October 1, 1956, Belgian champion Stan Ockers died after a violent fall on the track of the sports hall in Antwerp.

Mourning also at the Rome 1960 Olympics: on August 26 during the 100 km team race, the Dane Knud Enemark Jensen, a victim of heat stroke, fell and went into a coma to die shortly after.

On May 5, 1961, the Abruzzese rider Alessandro Fantini died in the Tour of Germany, falling in the sprint of the sixth stage. That of July 13, 1967 is one of the most sadly famous deaths in cycling history: on Mont Ventoux, during the 13th stage of the Tour de France, the Briton Tommy Simpson lost his life. A few days later, on July 39, the Spaniard Valentin Uriona died after a fall at the national championship.

On August 28, 1968, after hitting a spectator during a criterium in Zingem, Belgium, the Frenchman Jose Samyn lost his life. On March 15, 1971, a world champion died: hit head-on by a car during a race at the Gran Premio della fiera di Retie, the Belgian Jean Pierre Monseré lost his life.

Death returned to the Giro d'Italia in 1976: on May 21, after a fall during the first stage, the Spaniard Juan Manuel Santisteban passed away. Victim of a fall caused by a dog, on May 10, 1984 on the roads of the Volta ao Algarve, the Portuguese Joaquin Agostinho died.

In the Giro d'Italia of 1986, Emilio Ravasio fell during the first stage and would die after two weeks of agony. In 1987, the Spaniard Vicente Mata, run over by a car during the Trofeo Puig, and the Belgian Michel Goffin, who ended up in a ravine at the Tour du Haut Var, died.

July 18, 1995 is the saddest date of Fabio Casartelli's death on the descent of Col du Portet d'Aspet.

Four years later, in 1999, the Spaniard Manuel Sanroma died from a fall in the Giro di Catalogna and in 2000 his compatriot Saul Morales was run over by a truck during the Giro dell'Argentina.

On March 12, 2003, the Kazakh Andrei Kivilev died after a serious accident during the second stage of Paris-Nice. Following this death, the International Federation would finally make helmet use mandatory in races.

On June 15, 2005, struck by a cardiovascular arrest, the Tuscan Alessio Galletti lost his life at the Subida al Naranco.

On November 26, 2006, the Spaniard Isaac Galvez flew into a railing during the Six Days of Ghent, hit his head and died during transport to the hospital.

On May 9, 2011, another tragedy at the Giro d'Italia: after falling in the third stage of the Giro d'Italia, Belgian Wouter Weylandt died.

On March 27, 2016, run over by a motorcycle during Gand-Wevelgem, the young Belgian Antoine Demoitié passed away. On April 8, 2018, struck by a heart attack during Roubaix, another young Belgian, Michael Goolaerts, lost his life.

Bjorg Lambrecht, a young Belgian from Lotto Soudal, lost his life on August 5, 2019 at the Tour of Poland: losing control of his bicycle due to a road marker, he fell roadside, violently hitting his head against the concrete bridge that crosses a water drainage canal.

Gino Mäder, a professional with Bahrain Victorious, passed away on June 16, 2023, in his "own" Tour of Switzerland after falling from a slope during a descent.

To this list - clearly incomplete and not taking into account many tragedies in women's and youth races and those that occurred during training, for all we remember Sara Piffer - is added the name of André Drege, a Norwegian from the Continental Coop Repsol team, who fell from the Grossglockner on July 6, 2024, at the Tour of Austria.

And in September, even on the world championships stage, the tragic death of Muriel Furrer, a Swiss girl who lost her life in the junior women's race, ending up off-road and "disappearing" from everyone's sight for too long and in an unacceptable way.

Now we mourn Samuele Privitera, who was 20 and had a healthy obsession with cycling...