Michele Scarponi 1979 ~ 2017

If you are you having fun then you don't tend to spend too much time worrying about life. It is as it should be, and you should be lucky for it. But life is fragile and sometimes something horrible happens that reminds us of that, and we count our blessings.

Last Friday afternoon, April 21, I looked up the results of the final stage of the Tour of the Alps. I seen that Thibaut Pinot had won it and that Geraint Thomas had taken the general classification. A huge result for the Sky rider ahead of his Giro d'Italia ambitions. In fourth place was Michele Scarponi. I didn't take too much notice of it but considered him a man on form. He would lead his Astana team at the Grio now that team leader Fabio Aru had withdrawn through injury. Often a faithful lieutenant of Nibali and Aru, this was a chance of freedom for the 37 year old Italian.

On Saturday morning, April 22, I woke up, put on the kettle, settled into my armchair, looked at my phone and seen the horrible news. Scarponi, with so much going for him, was dead. An accident with a van while out training near his home in Italy that morning had ended it all. It was shocking and so saddening. His final tweet had been a picture of him a few hours after returning from Switzerland, with the race leaders jersey he had had won on the first stage, on the shoulders of his sons while they sat on his back, all smiling at the camera. How could your heart not break in knowing the fate that awaited them all in the hours ahead?

Reports say the van pulled out in front of the oncoming Scarponi at an intersection. Scarponi, who had the right of way on a downhill road could not avoid it. The impact was brutal. Medics tried to revive him on the scene but he was pronounced dead as a helicopter evacuated him to a local hospital. Police are currently deciding whether to press charges against the motorist.

If it can happen to the likes of Scarponi while out training, it can happen to any of us. The roads are dangerous, we've all see what drivers can be like, either through inattention or aggression. You never know the moment. One minute you're living your life as happy as can be, thinking of the months ahead, the next it suddenly ends. It hit home for me; the fragility of life so tragically exposed. No doubt as it did for anyone who rides a bike. No doubt we all hugged our families that little bit tighter before our next rides and went out in hope.

I didn't know Scarponi but I had watched him enough. I'll not profess to say I was a big fan and didn't follow his results as with others, but I knew he was a likable guy and a very good cyclist. I only found out how likable he was in the hours after learning of the tragedy. It's sad how sometimes it happens like that. Tributes poured in from around the cycling world and in particular within the peloton he had been racing with 24 hours before. And it said something about Scarponi that there was less said about the cyclist he was, than the man he was. And he was a fine cyclist.

Scarponi's biggest achievement was GC victory in the 2011 Giro d'Italia. He finished 4th on three other occasions and in 2009 he won the Tirreno-Adriatico. In recent years had been the right hand man of Vincenzo Nibali when he won the Tour de France in 2014 and the Giro in 2016. Beyond all that, Scarponi was one of the good guys of the peloton. Many spoke of his humour and his ability to keep everyone light when the going was getting tough on those long stage races. It's that which they will miss going into this years Giro. The race that followed his tragic death was Liège–Bastogne–Liège, a race he finished in the top 10 of four times including a 4th place finish in 2013. Alejandro Valverde won that his year, and in doing so announced he would donate his prize money to Scarponi's widow.

Scarponi, at the age of 37, leaves behind a wife and two young twin boys.

And that is so very sad.