{"id":448643,"date":"2026-02-27T14:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/448643\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T14:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:46:08","slug":"they-will-fly-together-again-franky-the-parrot-michele-scarponis-viral-training-partner-dies-in-factory-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/448643\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;They will fly together again&#8217; \u2013 Franky the parrot, Michele Scarponi&#8217;s viral training partner, dies in factory fire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"6a439ee8-831f-4702-9449-73e543465c54\">Franky the parrot, who rose to fame after accompanying Michele Scarponi on the late rider&#8217;s training rides, has died.<\/p>\n<p>The parrot featured in several <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BN_ugJGDk4X\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BN_ugJGDk4X\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">viral videos<\/a> as Scarponi trained around his home base in Filottrano, flying alongside the Astana rider and perching on his helmet and back as he rode.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"6a439ee8-831f-4702-9449-73e543465c54-2\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">When <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/michele-scarponi-killed-in-training\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/michele-scarponi-killed-in-training\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/michele-scarponi-killed-in-training\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scarponi died in 2017 after being hit by a van driver<\/a>, Franky remained involved, featuring in road safety campaigns and graphics for the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/michele-scarponis-family-launches-foundation-in-his-name\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/michele-scarponis-family-launches-foundation-in-his-name\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/news\/michele-scarponis-family-launches-foundation-in-his-name\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Michele Scarponi Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>            You may like<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Franky was killed in a <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ilrestodelcarlino.it\/ancona\/cronaca\/filottrano-incendio-046b5070\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.ilrestodelcarlino.it\/ancona\/cronaca\/filottrano-incendio-046b5070\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">fire at a factory of a scrap metal disposal company<\/a> in Osimo on Wednesday night. No other casualties were reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">The Foundation bade farewell to Franky in an Instagram post on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;Franky would lean on Michele&#8217;s shoulders while he trained. Or she would follow him a short distance, flying with her large wings outstretched. Franky accompanied Michele and other cyclists,&#8221; the post read.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;Everyone was happy to have her close, colourful, and free. She was important to us, so much so that we dedicated the Vola Franky project and our Christmas and Easter initiatives, like the Franky Egg, to her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;Today we say goodbye to Franky for the last time: she died in a factory fire in Filottrano last night. It&#8217;s a loss that saddens us deeply, deeply. Now they will fly together again, she and Michele.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&#8220;A big hug to Giacomo, who introduced us to Franky and who saw his sacrifices destroyed in the fire that devastated his warehouse where little Franky also lived. Strength, Giacomo.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Franky the parrot, who rose to fame after accompanying Michele Scarponi on the late rider&#8217;s training rides, has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-448643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}