logo
Nineteen-year-old cyclist Samuele Privitera dies following crash in Italy

Nineteen-year-old cyclist Samuele Privitera dies following crash in Italy

RTÉ News​17-07-2025
Italian cyclist Samuele Privitera, 19, died following a crash during the opening stage of the Giro della Valle d'Aosta, his team Hagens Berman Jayco confirmed late on Wednesday.
Privitera crashed during a descent, losing his helmet and colliding with a gate, Italian media reported. He was transported to hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.
"Samuele was and always will be the life and personality of this team. This team has always been a small family, and moments like this are unimaginable," Axel Merckx, owner of Hagens Berman Jayco, said in a statement.
The second stage of the race, which takes place in northern Italy's Aosta Valley near the French border, has been cancelled.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Ireland legend opens up on Serie A opportunity and why the move didn't happen
Ireland legend opens up on Serie A opportunity and why the move didn't happen

Irish Daily Mirror

time6 hours ago

  • Irish Daily Mirror

Ireland legend opens up on Serie A opportunity and why the move didn't happen

Jason McAteer has hailed Evan Ferguson's switch to Roma - and revealed that he was once so close to a big Serie A move of his own that he spent four months learning Italian. The Ireland legend was at his childhood team Liverpool at the time, when a call came in from Italy. Serie A giants Sampdoria were tracking the Boys in Green star and were all set to swoop at the end of the 1997/98 campaign. Then, disaster struck. A broken leg against Blackburn Rovers in January 1998 put an end to their interest, and McAteer stayed at Anfield until the following January, when he moved to Ewood Park. 'The Italian league was really fashionable,' McAteer recalled, speaking to MirrorSport with William Hill Vegas. 'I know the money came into the Premier League and you had the influx of foreign players and foreign managers. 'It was very lucrative to come to the Premier League. But there was still an attraction to go to Italy. 'When I was at Liverpool, I got a phone call from an agent in Italy asking me if I wanted to go to Sampdoria. I kind of was flattered. Put it this way, I started learning Italian. 'They were on the phone all the time, just checking in with me and making sure I was alright, and (asking) what I was doing at the end of the season. 'And then I broke my leg playing for Liverpool against Blackburn, and they went in a different direction. 'Whether it had come to them actually making a bid, I don't know whether that happened. 'But if I was given the opportunity to go, I don't know, because I was at Liverpool, so it would have been extremely flattering. 'Sampdoria at the time had a record of players coming over - Graeme Souness, David Platt - so it was a very, very fashionable move. 'They probably would have been able to compete with the wages back then. But I don't know whether my heart would have let me go.' Sampdoria weren't the only big continental outfit to register their interest in McAteer, the man whose goal against the Netherlands put Ireland on course for qualification to the 2002 World Cup. 'I had the opportunity as well… my agent was talking to Sevilla when I left Blackburn (in October 2001),' said McAteer, who ended up going to Sunderland. 'I don't know whether the wages put them off, I don't know what happened, but the deal broke down. 'I do look back on my career and think, once I left Liverpool it would have been nice to go abroad, it would have been nice to learn a different language, to live a different culture, to see football in a different way. 'But unfortunately it didn't quite happen. 'There were not as many opportunities for my generation as there are now. But still there were offers, there were situations that might have grown legs, but they just didn't.' McAteer does occasionally wonder 'what if', so he is delighted to see Ferguson join the growing group of Irish youngsters plying their trade outside of the traditional UK scene. 'Sampdoria and Sevilla were huge clubs, and obviously I was flattered,' he said. 'I have no idea… like I said, I broke my leg. The phone calls stopped and I ended up stopping my Italian lessons. 'But I was enjoying it, I was really enjoying learning Italian. 'I'd like to pick it up again. I probably did it for about four months. I had a decent go at it, I had a private tutor. 'Saying my name and asking for some lunch was what I had in the bag. A few swear words too! 'Gazzetta Football was on, James Richardson, Gazza was out in Lazio, and there was this fashion about the Italians and the way they played football. 'A lot of big players were there. In '94 as well, we were playing in the Giants Stadium against Italy; Baggio, Donnadoni, Baresi… all of those big names.' As for Ferguson, he said: 'Obviously he's had his injury problems and that probably struck him down when he was coming into prominence. 'He was on everyone's lips, a move to Man United was maybe on the cards at one point, everyone was talking about him. 'There were a few players around like (Rasmus) Hojland, the same age, and he was probably in that bracket of maybe going onto one of the big-six. 'His Ireland career was going well. Then obviously the injuries and a loss of form. 'But I think the move abroad for these young players is brilliant if you get the opportunity, to learn a different culture. 'It's obviously different to what Trent (Alexander-Arnold)'s move is. You would put it more in the Jadon Sancho bracket, Jude Bellingham, to go to these clubs where everything about them is about football. 'He is going to Italy, he'll play with quality players like (Paulo) Dybala, and he'll learn a different style of football. 'He's away from the pressure as well, the expectation that everyone thinks he is going to become this world-beater, which is where he was before his injury. 'So I think it will really benefit his career, this move.' Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email .

The great Paris tourist rip-off exposed by a fake American
The great Paris tourist rip-off exposed by a fake American

Irish Independent

time6 hours ago

  • Irish Independent

The great Paris tourist rip-off exposed by a fake American

Hapless tourists in Paris are being charged as much as 50pc more than French customers, the city's leading newspaper found. After detecting online complaints from tourists about being overcharged, Le Parisien sent out one bona fide Parisian to a cafe on the Champ-de-Mars near the Eiffel Tower. It then dressed up one of its reporters as a typical tourist, sporting a T-shirt emblazoned with the iconic tower, trainers, dark glasses and a baseball cap, along with a passable American accent − albeit with a French twang. They both sat down at the unnamed restaurant and ordered the same dish − lasagne − and drinks, a Coke and ­water, and discreetly filmed themselves. The clearly 'French' customer was served a can of Coke for €6.50 and offered a carafe of water along with his dish. Meanwhile, the 'American' was not offered a small can, only a 'medium or large Coke'. When it arrived, it was half a litre and cost €9.50. As for the water, the 'American' received no offer of a carafe, which is free. Instead, he was made to fork out a further €6 for a small bottle of Vittel. The pair then walked to another nearby cafe-restaurant to test its policy on tipping. When it was time to pay, the French customer received the bill, which includes an obligatory 10pc service charge. However, the 'American' client was asked if he wished to tip because 'service isn't included'. Worse, when he agreed to add a 10pc tip via the card machine, he realised afterwards the waiter had shielded the amount and discreetly upped this to 15pc. Last month, Paris cafes were caught cheating unsuspecting tourists out of good-quality wine. An undercover sommelier ordered a glass of Chablis, costing around €9, but the wine being served was actually the cheapest on the menu − a €5 sauvignon. Wine merchant Marina Giuberti said: 'It's a pity for the customer and for the image of the wine appellation, for the winemaker and for the restaurant owners who do a good job.' The Telegraph spoke to Joseph, a 21-year-old waiter who confirmed some of the techniques were widespread. 'In one restaurant I worked [in] I was instructed to bring spring water at €7 a bottle unless foreign customers specifically asked for a carafe. 'I confess I sometimes don't tell them that service [is] included if they mention the word tip.' 'It's daylight robbery,' said the French customer,Marc Maziere, an economist who runs a blog called Radin Malin (shrewd miser), which helps people make savings in their everyday spending. 'It's almost abuse of weakness. They know you're a tourist, you're probably tired and don't understand much etc.' Several American tourists quizzed by Le Parisien on restaurant rules thought that you always had to pay for water, as that was their experience. 'Usually they bring a bottle of water, you have to pay for even when we say still,' said one woman sitting on a bench in the Tuileries gardens. Franck Trouet of the hotel and restaurant umbrella group GHR said: 'It's a disgrace to the profession. You can't even call these people waiters. You should know that in France, water and bread are free. One can refuse a bottle of water.' He said waiters' eagerness to increase the tip had been supercharged when Emmanuel Macron, the French president, decided three years ago to waive taxes on 'le pourboire'. Now, tips made in French restaurants and cafes using a bank card are no longer taxable. The rise of new pay machines that automatically suggest a tip of at least 5pc has accelerated the trend to try to squeeze more out of diners.

Macrons file lawsuit against US right-wing podcaster over claims France's first lady was born male
Macrons file lawsuit against US right-wing podcaster over claims France's first lady was born male

The Journal

time13 hours ago

  • The Journal

Macrons file lawsuit against US right-wing podcaster over claims France's first lady was born male

EMMANUEL MACRON AND his wife, Brigitte, filed a defamation lawsuit on Wednesday against a right-wing US podcaster who claimed the spouse of the French president used to be a man. The 218-page complaint against Candace Owens, who has millions of followers on X and YouTube, was filed by the Macrons in Delaware Superior Court and seeks a jury trial and unspecified punitive damages. In a statement released by their lawyer, the Macrons said they filed the lawsuit after Owens repeatedly ignored requests to retract false and defamatory statements made on an eight-part YouTube and podcast series called 'Becoming Brigitte.' 'Owens' campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety,' they said. 'We gave her every opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused. Advertisement 'It is our earnest hope that this lawsuit will set the record straight and end this campaign of defamation once and for all.' The suit accuses Owens of using her popular podcast to spread 'verifiably false and devastating lies' about the Macrons including that Brigitte Macron was born a man, that they are blood relatives and that Macron was chosen to be France's president as part of a CIA-operated mind control program. 'If ever there was a clear-cut case of defamation, this is it,' Tom Clare, a lawyer for the Macrons, said in a statement. 'Owens both promoted and expanded on those falsehoods and invented new ones, all designed to cause maximum harm to the Macrons and maximize attention and financial gain for herself.' Brigitte Macron, 72, has also taken to the courts in France to combat claims she was born a man. Two women were convicted in September of last year of spreading false claims after they posted a YouTube video in December 2021 alleging that Brigitte Macron had once been a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux – who is actually her brother. The ruling was overturned by a Paris appeals court and Macron appealed to the highest appeals court, the Court de Cassation, earlier this month.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store