“What she says is not true” - Jury denies Paternoster’s claim of being hit during Italian Championships descent

A day after Letizia Paternoster claimed she was struck by a race jury car during the Italian Women’s National Championships, officials have responded forcefully, denying the events as described and offering their own version of what unfolded on the descent.

“What the Fiamme Azzurre athlete reported absolutely did not happen: the girl was not dragged,” a race judge sitting in the back seat of the vehicle in question told TuttoBiciWeb. According to the jury, their car was the first to respond after a crash involving Vittoria Guazzini and was in the process of overtaking on the right when the near miss with Paternoster occurred.

“Along the descent, on the left, Vittoria Guazzini fell,” the judge explained. “We started to overtake on the right, immediately after there was a hairpin bend and Paternoster moved from left to right to widen the curve. She braked and evidently we only grazed her. If things had gone differently she would have fallen. What she says is not true. Her following car was right there and if she had had mechanical problems she would have changed bikes.”

He added: “After the curve Letizia screamed, I turned around and saw that she was pedalling. If the wheel had broken she would have stopped.”

The jury also recounted a post-race confrontation that they felt resolved the situation. “Immediately after arriving, she said to us these exact words: ‘Are you the one who pissed me off?’ The driver apologized, said he hadn’t done it on purpose, and then Letizia left,” the judge recalled. “I wanted to add something, but she simply walked away and we thought the matter was closed there.”