Amy Dombroski, a former Fort Lewis College cyclist, was killed Thursday during a training ride in Belgium. She was 26.
Dombroski, of Boulder, suffered fatal injuries in a collision with a truck, according to an email message from Karen Ramakers, assistant manager of Dombroski’s cycling team, Young Telenet-Fidea.
“The crash was too hard, and Amy didn’t have a chance,” Ramakers said.
Dombroski arrived in Belgium on Tuesday for a team news conference. She had spent the summer in the U.S. training and spending time with her family, Ramakers said.
“Amy was very happy to be in Belgium and pursue her dream in cyclocross,” Ramakers said. “She was well prepared for the upcoming winter.”
Dombroski attended FLC for one semester in 2007, spokesman Mitch Davis said. She helped FLC to a second-place finish at the 2008 national championships.
Dombroski also won three national titles for under-23 cyclocross, along with other road and mountain-biking titles.
Dombroski was known as a talented young rider in the tight-knit cyclocross community, said Matt Shriver, a Durango-based Trek team liaison,
“She was a very aggressive racer, really competitive,” he said. “On the course, she was super professional but a hard-core racer.”
Dombroski was friendly and fun off the course, Shriver said.
“It’s sad, and she’ll definitely be missed,” he said.
Dombroski was one of the rising stars of American cycling, said Travis Brown, a Durango native and former U.S. mountain-bike national champion.
“It was just very clear that she had the drive and talent to take a cycling career a very long way,” he said.
Brown said Durango’s cycling community was shocked by Dombroski’s death.
“Everyone can’t believe it happened,” he said. “I just feel like the list of friends I knew in cycling who were killed by cars just keeps getting longer and longer. I’m speechless.”
cslothower@durangoherald.com
