Fearful moments on Tuesday afternoon on the provincial road of Brisighella for the professional cyclist Manuele Tarozzi and for two very young athletes belonging to a team from Bologna. “We were traveling along the provincial road, we were between the hamlets of Fognano and Castellina – explains Tarozzi, still shaken by what had happened –. We were pedaling in single file, yet a motorist driving a van behind us honked his horn. One of the two boys signaled him with his arm that he could pass, since the road was clear, but he instead approached us, covering us with insults and threats , but it was all in vain. He intentionally drove his car towards my bike, with the clear intention of making me fall. I had to put my foot on the ground to avoid ending up on the side of the road.”
One of the two very young people, both 17 years old and working for a junior team based in the Bologna area, then approached Tarozzi to check on his condition, but it was he who ended up getting the worst of it. It all happened in the space of a few moments: “I saw a carabinieri patrol not far away and asked for their intervention”, continues Tarozzi.
But it was already too late: “The man had already gotten out of the van and had pounced on one of the boys, hitting his face with his fists.” The blows caused the 17-year-old to fracture his nasal septum and two teeth. A prognosis of approximately thirty days was issued for him.
The Carabinieri patrol, which was not far away at the time, immediately intervened to identify the man, an Italian of around 40 years old, who turned out to have various previous injuries, as the men of the force explained. The attacker will now have to defend himself against a personal injury claim against him, the latest legal mishap in a series. Manuele Tarozzi has no words to comment on the matter: after an excellent debut at the Giro d’Italia with the Bardiani jersey, the 25-year-old is expected at his wedding on Sunday, at which he risked showing up with a swollen face, or worse, if the The motorist had succeeded in his attempt to make him go off the road.
“This is the answer to those who ask us why Italian teams are increasingly rare in the world of cycling, or why in Romagna we professionals number just a few units, when decades ago there were instead dozens. In an environment like that of the streets Italians, we shouldn’t be surprised that there are fewer and fewer kids who want to get involved in our sport, and that families are afraid of sending their children to the streets to train. The situation has gotten out of control after the Covid pandemic: I really don’t understand the anger increasingly widespread against us cyclists; I get offended by motorists even when I train alone.”
Tarozzi is now only the latest in a long line of cyclists involved in attacks by motorists and truck drivers: the same fate happened to Alessandro De Marchi last year, and a few years ago to former world champion Philippe Gilbert. Accidents caused by cars have in the meantime cost the lives of various cycling champions: Michele Scarponi, Davide Rebellin, Chris Anker Sørensen, all of whom died after being hit. “I train in Spain in the winter, and these things don’t happen there, or in any case not at these rates – concludes Tarozzi –. Perhaps we need more severe laws against those who use the car as if it were a weapon.”
Filippo Donati
