AUCH, France (AP) — Tour de France riders applauded for a minute before the 12th stage on Thursday in memory of Samuele Privitera, the 19-year-old Italian who died after a crash while racing in Italy the day before.
Privitera crashed in the first stage of the Tour of Valle D’Aosta in the northwestern municipality of Pontey on Wednesday.
Race organizers said the circumstances of the accident were “still unclear and are being investigated by public safety authorities.”
“It’s really sad to lose another young talent today, it’s devastating,” Tour de France favorite Tadej Pogačar, who crashed on Wednesday, said before Thursday's stage. “It is one of the most dangerous sports in the world I think, and the risk that we are taking sometimes is too far. But I’m really really really sad for all his family. May he rest in peace.”
Privitera was a member of the Hagens Berman Jayco team, the development team for Jayco Alula, which is racing at the Tour de France and whose members including Ben O’Connor wore black armbands.
“Samuele was and always will be the life and personality of this team,” Hagens Berman Jayco team director Axel Merckx said in a statement. “This team has always been a small family, and moments like this are unimaginable. He was irreplaceable. His joy, his spirit, his kindness, was always a bright light to whatever room or race that he was in at that moment. To lose him is devastating beyond words.”
Italian media reports said Privitera crashed on a descent about 35 kilometers from the finish in Aosta at a speed of almost 70 kph. He reportedly lost his helmet and crashed into a barrier.
The second stage of the the Tour of Valle D’Aosta was canceled and participating teams were being given a choice whether to continue with the third stage on Friday.
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A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.
A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.
Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.
For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.
The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”
Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.
Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)
