2009-06-26 11:36:03 -

MINSK, Belarus (AP) - Former road race world champion Zinaida Stagurskaya has been killed after being hit by a car while training in her native Belarus.
Police say the 38-year-old cyclist was killed when an oncoming car crossed the center line on the Vitebsk-Gomel highway in eastern Belarus on Thursday.
The driver of the car was hospitalized.
Police say Stagurskaya was riding 10 meters behind the car of her trainer, who was able to avoid the oncoming car.
Sports Minister Alexander Grigorov described Stagurskaya on Friday as «one of the brightest stars of Belarusian cycling and the country's best representative in road races.

Stagurskaya was world champion in 2000. She had recently lived in Italy and only arrived in Belarus last week.