Italian cyclist Samuele Privitera dies at the age of 19 after a crash in the Giro del Valle d'Aosta.

Tragedy in the world of cycling. 19-year-old Italian Samuele Privitera died in hospital this Wednesday after the severe crash he suffered the day before during the first stage of the Giro del Valle d'Aosta.

The European Cycling Union expressed its deep sadness at the news confirmed by the Umberto Parini Hospital in Aosta, where the young talent from the Hagens Berman Jayco team was admitted.

Privitera, born in the Italian city of Imperia, lost his helmet in a high-speed crash on Tuesday and hit the fence of a house in the municipality of Pontey.

Medical services were able to revive him after finding the runner in cardiac arrest, and he was taken to the hospital in critical condition, where he died this Wednesday at the age of 19.

According to the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport , Privitera had great admiration for the Spanish cyclists, Alejandro Valverde, 'Purito' Rodríguez and Alberto Contador who, in the 2015 Giro, when Privitera was a 10-year-old boy who dreamed of being a cyclist, gave him a glove at the start of the Italian round, very close to his home, which the Spaniard ended up winning.