Reacting to a grim collision in Puglia at the weekend which left three cyclists dead, the president of the Italian Cycling Federation has blamed the rising death rate on Italy’s roads on “motorists having less patience and being in more of a hurry”.
Cordiano Dagnoni spoke with The Times after the number of cyclists to die on Italy’s roads in 2025 reached 130 on Sunday morning, a “record” rate for this time of year which is on track to far eclipse the 185 deaths suffered last year.
The nation’s cycling federation president has questioned attitudes towards cyclists and blamed road users’ impatience and intolerance for putting bicycle riders in danger.
“Motorists will slow down if they are behind a tractor but for some reason cannot stand to slow down for cyclists and increasingly resort to insults,” he said. “Motorists don’t want to lose a minute, but don’t understand that thanks to their driving a cyclist could lose their life.
“Italy is pushing green transport like bicycling but has forgotten to install the bike lanes you see in northern Europe, and I don’t just mean painted lines on the road.”
Adding to the sentiment of people concerned about dangerous attitudes towards cyclists on Italian roads, a radio DJ called Linus who is also a cyclist said recently that “sometimes even children insult us”.
“They roll down the window and yell at us to move to the right, encouraged — I believe — by their parents who are probably on their phones,” he said.
And it seems the worrying attitudes go all the way to the top of society, Italian politician Vittorio Feltri having distastefully commented last year that he “only likes cyclists when they get run over”.
Italy’s cyclist death toll is up 22 per cent on this time last year and is already 45 ahead of the 85 cyclists who died on UK roads in the entirety of 2024, that despite Italy having a smaller population by approximately 10 million people. Overall road deaths were almost double the UK number in Italy last year and Italian statistics agency Istat has said the top three reasons for crashes were distracted drivers, an unwillingness to give way to vehicles which had right of way, and excessive speed.
In January there was anger and calls for road safety reform and education after a teenage racing cyclist was killed by an overtaking motorist during a training ride.
Sara Piffer (credit: road.cc)
19-year-old Sara Piffer, who was set to enter her second year with UCI Continental team Mendelspeck, was training with her brother in the northern Italian region of Trentino when she was fatally struck.
Her father, Lorenzo, told the press that Italy’s roads are a “Wild West”.
“I’d say we need more common sense. Unfortunately, they always realise it too late. Maybe to gain that minute they put other people’s lives at risk. I see things getting worse on the roads,” he reacted.
Memory of the deaths of high-profile pro cyclists Michele Scarponi and Davide Rebellin is still painful for the Italian cycling community, the lorry driver responsible for Rebellin’s death having been jailed for four years in October.
Davide Rebellin (credit: licensed CC BY SA 2.0 on Flickr by Tete de la Course)
In March, an Italian professional cyclist said he is now “scared” to train on local roads after he was threatened, pushed off his bike, and punched in the face by motorbike-riding thugs at the end of a training ride with his brother, in what appeared to be two random, completely unprovoked attacks.
Luca Colnaghi, who races for UCI ProTeam VF Group-Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè, suffered a dislocated shoulder and fractures to his ribs in the back-to-back assaults, the second of which took place as he attempted to retrieve his earphones from the scene, only to find his attacker and a friend waiting for him.
That came just months after Giro d’Italia stage winner Domenico Pozzovivo called for Italy’s laws on cycling two abreast to be changed, that after the 42-year-old was stopped and fined €18.50 by police for riding side-by-side with fellow pro Diego Ulissi.