As they waited to go into the team presentation for Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Saturday afternoon, riders paid tribute to Michele Scarponi, who died as the result of a crash with a vehicle during training earlier in the day. Widely appreciated for his charismatic personality and well-known for his long years as a pro - starting with Acqua e Sapone - back in 2002 - the random nature of such an accident and Scarponi's death had struck home hard.
"It's a huge blow," Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) told a small group of reporters as he waited his turn to be presented to the crowd. "Nobody deserves something like that to happen to them, but Michele was a very happy, upbeat sort of person, on and off the bike, it's a real pity."
"The truth is, I'm not in a great place now, and when I heard the news it really messed me up, it was very difficult to take in. You never know when something like this can happen. One day you're here, the next, it's over."
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Echoing Valverde's words and visibly emotional, Scarponi's former teammate in Liberty Seguros and Astana Angel Vicioso confirmed to Cyclingnews that "words can't do justice to someone like Michele. He was a good person, generous, a real friend to his friends, kind, never angry, never annoyed.
"I think it's a really sad day, and I'm finding this very tough. He really was one of the people I most appreciated in the whole of the peloton. It's a catastrophe for cycling."
An idol and a friend
As Cannondale-Drapac director Juanma Garate - who raced against Scarponi for many years - told Cyclingnews that processing the loss will be especially hard for those riders at Liege who had been racing with Scarponi in Italy in the Tour of the Alps, such as the team's Davide Formolo and Davide Villella.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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