Giovanni Prosperi, a 51-year-old Italian ultracyclist and Race Across America champion, is fighting for his life in the intensive care unit of a Rochester trauma center after being struck by a car while riding in a 1,200-kilometer endurance event across western New York. He was airlifted to Strong Memorial Hospital at the University of Rochester Medical Center, a Level I trauma facility, with severe thoracic vertebral fractures, and doctors have had to postpone stabilization surgery because his vital signs are not stable enough to withstand the operation.
Prosperi was participating in the Waterfalls 1200k, a self-supported cycling event that loops through the Niagara Falls, Finger Lakes, and Lake Ontario regions, when he was hit by a driver, according to Cycling West. Details of his critical condition were first made public Tuesday by his longtime race crew chief, Luca Masini, who posted an urgent appeal for support, as reported by Gran Fondo Daily. Prosperi is intubated and on mechanical ventilation in the resuscitation and intensive care unit, and he has since developed septic shock and pneumonia. Cycling West reports that he remains at risk of death, and his medical team is administering vasopressor medications to try to stabilize him.
An International Endurance Career Built on Grit
Prosperi was born in Sora, a municipality in Italy's Lazio region, and has lived in the United States since 2018, per the same Gran Fondo Daily report. He married Katarina Greer in 2019 and has lived in Cleveland, Ohio; Greer is now staying at a hotel near the Rochester hospital as her husband fights for his life, according to Cycling West. The outlet also notes that Prosperi has lived a life built around distance cycling, holding the WUCA world record on the Bratislava-to-Rome route and finishing 3rd overall and 2nd in his category at the 2024 Race Across the West.
His resume includes a 2021 Race Across America two-person team victory with teammate Philippe May, whom Gran Fondo Daily says completed the transcontinental route in 8 days, 14 hours, and 4 minutes. He also finished 1st in his category and 3rd overall at Race Across Oregon and earned a podium finish at the National 24-Hour Challenge, per Cycling West. Just 15 months before the crash, Prosperi persevered through intense early heat and stomach illness across Kansas and Missouri to complete a solo, coast-to-coast finish at the roughly 3,000-mile Race Across America, as shown in RAAM Media footage from June 2025.
Prosperi also won the solo division at the grueling Hoodoo 500 in Utah, finishing the 500-mile course in an official time of 40 hours and 27 minutes, a result documented in race footage from the event. Off the bike, he runs GPro Coaching, a business offering personalized training for athletes preparing for multi-day endurance competitions, according to his coaching website. Cycling West notes he has coached champions to national 24-hour solo mountain bike titles and helped athletes over 60 complete the RAAM solo event.
The Route Where the Crash Happened
The Waterfalls 1200k is based in Webster, New York, and consists of four loops through the Niagara Falls, Finger Lakes, and Lake Ontario region, according to Cycling West. The event is sanctioned by Les Randonneurs Mondiaux as an official Grand Randonnée ride, and riders must complete the full 1,200-kilometer course within a strict 90-hour time limit, per Audax Ireland's event listing. The cloverleaf-style route was created in Webster to replace the cross-border Lap of the Lake 1200km event when U.S.-Canada border restrictions were in place in 2021, according to a Randonneurs USA report.
Under New York Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1122-a, drivers overtaking a bicycle traveling in the same direction are required to pass to the left at a safe distance and remain clear of the cyclist, per Justia Law's summary of the statute. Law enforcement has not yet released a public crash report confirming the exact crash site, the driver's identity, or any potential charges, and it remains unclear whether investigators have determined fault or vehicle speed in the collision.
Family Races Against Insurance Limits
Prosperi's family and support crew have launched a PayPal fundraiser titled “Help Giovanni Prosperi Fight” to cover his intensive care expenses, warning that the costs risk exceeding the family's health insurance lifetime maximum payout limit. Extended ICU stays at Level I trauma centers can run into tens of thousands of dollars per day, a financial reality that weighs heavily on international athletes living in the United States. An official WhatsApp channel has also been launched to share clinical updates as Prosperi's condition evolves, and Cycling West says the site iamgosolo.com is providing the complete article and ongoing updates on his recovery.
For now, Prosperi's medical team continues to monitor his vital signs in hopes of eventually performing the stabilization surgery his fractured vertebrae require. His family, his crew chief Masini, and the broader ultracycling community that watched him conquer routes from Utah's canyons to America's coasts are now waiting on updates from a hospital room in Rochester, hoping the same endurance that carried him across thousands of miles on a bike can carry him through this fight.
