Quick-Step prospect shaken by horrific hit and run during training

Garofoli, who began his 2026 season at the AlUla Tour where he finished 20th overall, was out on a training ride when the incident occurred. The person driving the car initially fled the scene, but Garofoli found the car later on. 

The 23-year-old Italian didn’t suffer any fractures or serious injuries but admitted in a social media post that he had been shaken by the incident.

“Today I'm struggling for words,” said Garofoli in a post to Instagram. “I was hit by a hit-and-run driver: he was coming from behind, at full speed, over 100 km/h, well over the speed limit.”

“I was perfectly visible: I was wearing a neon yellow vest and had my red taillight flashing. Despite this, he didn't slow down, he didn't move, he didn't do anything. He came up behind me and hit me with the mirror and the front of the car,” said Garofoli. “In that moment, I realized that if he had hit me head-on, I probably wouldn't be here today.”

Garofoli said the driver left him stranded after fleeing the scene, but that by chance he later spotted the same vehicle on his way back to the hotel.

“After the impact, I felt helpless, fragile, completely at the mercy of something I couldn't control. But the worst thing wasn't just the blow: it was seeing that he didn't stop. He ran away, leaving me there on the asphalt, as if my life meant nothing.”

“As luck would have it, as I was returning to the hotel, still in shock, I saw a white Seat that perfectly matched the car that had hit me. The mirror was broken... the same one I had picked up from the ground a few minutes earlier,” said Garofoli. “I immediately called the Guardia Civil, who took charge of the case and identified the driver.”

The Italian rider confirmed that checks at the hospital confirmed no major injuries, but he was deeply impacted mentally by the incident.

“I then went to the hospital: fortunately, nothing was broken, just several bruises on the left side of my body,” said Garofoli. “Inside, however, something was broken anyway.”

He used the incident as a moment to highlight the importance of road safety and the dangers that come with riding on public roads.

“I share all this not to create controversy, but to remind us how helpless we are on the road and how it takes just a second, a wrong choice, to change a life,” said Garofoli. “Today, that's how it is. Tomorrow we start again, with a little more fear, but with so much gratitude for still being here.”