Regrettable episode in the early hours of this morning in Rivanonte Agordino, in the province of Belluno. A woman at the wheel of her car forced a road block installed to allow the passage of a cycling competition and hit three athletes who were passing by at that moment, knocking them to the ground. The three were rescued and taken to hospital in Agordo, where they were found to have multiple fractures. The accident occurred just before 8.30am at the Forcella Franche curve. Having spotted the car arriving, the volunteers present tried to stop the woman, pointing out how dangerous it could be to advance, but she didn’t listen to reason: “I’m late for mass”, she would have replied dryly. Just at that moment, three cyclists competing in the Sporful Dolomiti Race arrived, the hardest gran Fondo in Europe covered today on the roads of the Dolomites. At that point the impact was inevitable. According to local newspapers, the three injured athletes are a 46-year-old from Lucca, a 34-year-old from Rovereto and a 49-year-old Irishman. Help arrived immediately on site and the injured cyclists were taken to the Papa Luciani hospital in Agordo. The organizers of the race were furious: “There was no way to stop it, we tried in every way but avoiding the accident was impossible.”
