Handbike champion Andrea Conti, winner of three editions of the Giro d'Italia in 2015, 2016 and 2019, died today in Verona following a serious road accident on Friday.

The 51-year-old athlete was training along the provincial Bosco Chiesanuova-Cerro Veronese, when he collided head-on with a car traveling in the opposite lane.

Transported in serious condition to the Borgo Trento hospital, he fell into a coma. Death today.

A dynamic that recalls the accident involving Alex Zanardi .

Also known as the "cyclist-poet" (on public occasions in which he was invited he always read some of his verses composed in dialect), Conti - a native of Cerro Veronese - had spent a lot in meetings in schools to promote road safety.

At the age of 18 he had been the victim - on the same road that cost him his life - of an accident that had caused him a neck injury and was left quadriplegic.

In 2002 he approached sports and cycling, using his arms and only partially his hands. To push the handbike he needed special prostheses. He competed for the Gsc Giambenini.

(Unioneonline / F)

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