Lele Forever also mourns Alex Zanardi, one of the first to push MPR: "An honor his support"
Also the Lele Forever association movingly remembers Alex Zanardi, who passed away at age 59 after long tribulations following a hand-bike accident. “There is great sorrow, because in addition to being a champion in sport, he was a champion in life,” Roberto Brandazzi, president of the villasantese association, tells Sportal.it. “A great man has gone, whom we still have to thank because since 2013, and that is when there was the first edition of the Monza Power Run, he honored us with his support to make the initiative known.
Brandazzi also recounts a very touching anecdote: “Zanardi was also very close to the vicissitudes of Gabriele, my son, because they both participated in the Monza Rally, albeit in different categories, in the year in which Lele’s illness unfortunately manifested itself. You can say that they raced together and it is a beautiful memory.”
Alex Zanardi’s appeal for the 2013 MPR
Alex Zanardi’s appeal for the 2017 MPR
The bond between Zanardi and Lele Forever is rooted in a history of genuine solidarity. The association, founded by Roberto and Patrizia Brandazzi in April 2001 after the untimely death of their son Gabriele, a victim of a serious blood disease, has over time become a point of reference for the Brianza area and for many families facing leukemia. In twenty-five years of activity, thanks to initiatives such as the Monza Power Run, more than two million euros have been raised for scientific research, support for the families of sufferers and the purchase of hospital equipment.
The passing of Zanardi, who was born in Bologna on October 23, 1966, closes an extraordinary story that had already gone through moments of deep darkness. After the terrible accident at the Lausitzring in 2001, which cost him the amputation of both legs, Alex had managed to reinvent himself as a Paralympic athlete of the highest caliber, winning four gold and two silver medals at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympics. On June 19, 2020, during a charity relay race near Pienza, a devastating new handbike accident had forced him to undergo a very long rehabilitation between Siena, Lecco, Milan, and Padua, before returning home to Bologna in December 2021. Since then, the family had maintained the utmost secrecy about his condition, until today’s news, announced by his wife Daniela and the Obiettivo 3 association, founded by Zanardi himself.
In 2026, Lele Forever is celebrating its 25th anniversary. For the occasion, the association has chosen not to organize the Monza Power Run, focusing instead energy and resources on a series of events dedicated to the association’s history. Brandazzi himself had explained the decision in recent months, “2026, for us, is not a year like any other. It is our 25th anniversary, a milestone that belongs to the whole community and that we wish to celebrate as it deserves.” The main event is set in Villasanta, in Piazza Europa, on June 26, 27, and 28, under the banner of the color yellow, a symbol of hope and vitality chosen as the theme for the entire year.
