{"id":405603,"date":"2026-01-11T05:33:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/405603\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:33:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:33:16","slug":"tadej-pogacar-joins-memorial-ride-honouring-samuele-privitera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/405603\/","title":{"rendered":"Tadej Poga\u010dar joins memorial ride honouring Samuele Privitera"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The cycling world came together in Liguria earlier this month to honour the memory of Samuele Privitera, the young Italian rider who tragically lost his life at just 19 during last year\u2019s Giro della Valle d\u2019Aosta. What began as a simple initiative among friends grew into a deeply moving tribute \u2014 one that even drew the sport\u2019s biggest name, Tadej Poga\u010dar, to attend.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.feltet.dk\/landevej\/pogacar-dukkede-op-ved-smuk-hyldest-af-afdoed-rytter\/11060097\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Feltet.dk<\/a>, Danish rider Asbj\u00f8rn Hellemose, a close friend of Privitera, helped organize the memorial ride alongside former teammates and friends. The goal was just to remember Samuele on the roads he loved. The response, however, exceeded all expectations. Big time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/tadej-pogacar-i-was-riding-for-urskas-mother-today\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tadej Poga\u010dar: \u2018I was riding for Ur\u0161ka\u2019s mother today\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe only shared it on social media and hoped a few people would show up,\u201d Hellemose said. \u201cBut when I arrived, there were hundreds. I tried counting \u2014 there had to be at least 200. It was overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Privitera was a member of the Hagens Berman Jayco development squad, died on a descent. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/tour-de-france-pauses-to-honour-young-continental-rider-who-died-in-race\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">La Gazzetta dello Sport<\/a>, he was going around 70 km\/h. After crashing, he struck a barrier and lost his helmet. The incident was just over 30 km from the finish.<\/p>\n<p>After his death, the peloton at the Tour de France stood in silence ahead of Stage 12 to honour him. Many pros, including Jayco Alula\u2019s Ben O\u2019Connor, <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/tour-de-france-pauses-to-honour-young-continental-rider-who-died-in-race\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">wore black armbands during the stage. Hagens Berman Jayco is the feeder team for O\u2019Connor\u2019s WorldTour team.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>At the memorial ride, among the participants were both amateurs and professionals, including riders from Alpecin-Premier Tech and Picnic\u2013PostNL. Poga\u010dar travelled from Monaco to quietly join the ride, accompanied by Michael Matthews and Alessandro Covi. True to the spirit of the day, the Slovenian star kept a low profile, allowing the focus to remain on Privitera and his family.<\/p>\n<p>Hellemose said that Pogacar\u2019s presence meant a great deal, particularly to Samuele\u2019s parents. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe didn\u2019t have to come. That\u2019s what made it so special,\u201d he said. Pogi had already paid tribute months earlier by dedicating a Tour de France stage victory to Privitera.<\/p>\n<p>Privitera\u2019s mother addressed the gathering before the ride, speaking about loss, pride, and moving forward. For Hellemose, seeing Samuele\u2019s parents surrounded by support helped bring closure after a difficult year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt doesn\u2019t erase the pain,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it helped all of us take a step forward \u2014 together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cycling world came together in Liguria earlier this month to honour the memory of Samuele Privitera, the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[215069,215070,64,63,784,215071,215072,85,215073],"class_list":{"0":"post-405603","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-rideforprivi","9":"tag-asbjorn-hellemose","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-cycling","13":"tag-hagens-berman-jayco","14":"tag-samuele-privitera","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-tadeg-pogacar"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}