• Sara Piffer was out for a training ride with her brother near their home in Trentino

The father of a promising young cyclist who was hit head-on and killed as she was overtaken by a 70-year-old driver has said he forgives the man who is responsible for his daughter’s death.

Sara Piffer, 19, was out for a training ride with her brother near their home in Trentino, northern Italy, when the driver collided with her.

The young athlete’s father Lorenzo said his son asked that he forgive the driver, who is now being investigated for vehicular homicide.

‘After the accident, my son Christian hugged me and said, ”Dad, please forgive him. Because I think he’s suffering right now too.’ So I decided to forgive him. Then justice will take its course.’

Christian reportedly called his father after his sister was hit, tragically telling him ‘Sara is not breathing.’

Several other witnesses are said to have seen the collision take place and have confirmed details of what happened to police.

Lorenzo said that his daughter ‘was always careful’ when out on the roads and was happy to be training with her brother.

He said she had told him before going out: ‘”Dad, we always pay attention, it’s the others who don’t pay attention to us.” And unfortunately that’s how it was.’

Lorenzo said that Sara was ‘a flower, a gift from God’, and said that he was ‘grateful’ to have had her in his life (pictured together)

Lorenzo said that his daughter 'was always careful' when out on the roads and was happy to be training with her brother

Lorenzo said that his daughter ‘was always careful’ when out on the roads and was happy to be training with her brother

In tribute to his daughter, Lorenzo said that Sara was ‘a flower, a gift from God’, and said that he was ‘grateful’ to have had her in his life.

The teenager was both sporty and artistic, and enjoyed painting and making sculptures, even restoring the statue of the Virgin Mary in the town of Mezzocorona, where she lived. 

‘She was good at doing everything,’ her father said in an emotional interview with Italian media.

Sara’s death has shocked many in the local area. The President of the Province of Trento, Maurizio Fugatti, said in a statement: ‘Our condolences go out to the family, friends and the entire community.’ 

In the wake of his daughter’s death, Lorenzo said that the roads had become more dangerous and were now a ‘Wild West’.

‘I’d say we need more common sense. Unfortunately, they always realise it too late. Maybe to save that minute they put other people’s lives at risk. I see things getting worse on the roads,’ he said.

Sara Piffer, 19, was out for a training ride with her brother near their home in Trento, northern Italy , when the driver collided with her

Her death is just the latest in a string of tragedies on Europe’s roads to rock the cycling community.

Last September, 18-year-old Swiss cyclist Muriel Furrer crashed and suffered a ‘severe traumatic brain injury’ while ompeting in the Road and Para-cycling World Championships in Zurich.

In July, Norwegian cyclist Andre Drege, 25, was fatally injured in a crash during the Tour of Austria, with the final stage of the competition replaced with a memorial ride for the athlete.

And in June 2023 Swiss rider Gino Mäder, a former Giro d’Italia stage winner, died aged 26 after crashing into a ravine during the Tour de Suisse.

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