“If you get there slowly you don’t pass it, you either jump over it or fall into it. I also do motocross and when I got to the end of the jump ramp I braked and tipped over into the hole. I did a somersault and fortunately I didn’t hurt myself”, this is the story of the experience of jumping on the ‘saltimbanco’ track in the Viola Saint Grée bike park by AG, a 27-year-old from Liguria, called to testify in the trial for manslaughter in to which the manager of the FR park is accused for the death of Andrea Pastor, the 38-year-old firefighter from Imperia who instead lost his life on that jump on 3 October 2021, hitting his chest against the edge of the descent ramp. “If the jump was signposted – continued the young man – I didn’t see it but usually these jumps are done with a kind of slide that allows you to never take your wheels off the ground, both downhill and uphill. I was scared and even my friends agreed that it was a bit dangerous.” This was the last witness called by the prosecution and who, when questioned by the defence, stated that he did not remember whether the jump he had come across could be seen from the chairlift that was used to go up after having covered the slopes, “I don’t know if If there was a sign, it’s possible he didn’t see it. On a bike perhaps you are more engrossed in the wheels, the speed, the stones, and pay less attention to the signs.” The Italian downhill champion, and in the past also international champion, Tommaso Francardo, was also called to testify in the courtroom, who said that that medium-level jump could be seen from the chairlift and that he had seen jumps like that in Italian bike parks but made of earth and not of wood.” Lastly, a bicycle representative was heard who knew the Viola Saint Grée park and the ‘acrobat’ route with the wooden jump which he hadn’t done because he didn’t feel capable. “I usually do a reconnaissance lap of the track, I don’t do the jumps straight away but I walk along the chicken line which is always next to the tracks with the jumps. That jump could be seen from the chairlift and the bar above.” The commercial agent told the judge that he had heard about the accident while he was with colleagues on a bike ride a few weeks after the Viola Saint Grée accident, “we were above Pinerolo and I remember that one of the participants commented negatively the managers of the bike parks due to the dangerousness of the routes, I learned that there was a criminal case”. The hearing was postponed to October 7 for the completion of the investigation.
