Fiona Mangan says Ireland's elite cycling community will have Gabby Glodenyte in their thoughts at this weekend's Road National Championships.
The much loved Orwell Wheelers and UCD rider was killed when she was involved in a collision with an oncoming car close to Garristown, near the Dublin-Meath border, in May.
Glodenyte won the Newry Three Day event last July and competed in the Rás na mBan twice, and also raced competitively on the continent.
READ MORE: Irish cyclist Imogen Cotter on a mission after remarkable recovery from horror crash
Her tragic death came in the wake of a roll out of the cycle safety campaign involving Imogen Cotter, the Irish professional who suffered serious injuries in a head-on collision with a van in Girona in January of last year.
Mangan, who is a good friend of Cotter, had her own brush with danger just days after finishing the Vuelta Femenina last month.
The Limerick rider was competing in the Itzulia Basque Country race when she was in a group that was involved in a crash with a police car that was escorting an ambulance on the race route.
Spanish cyclist Eider Merino was run over and suffered arm and leg injuries, and several other competitors were injured as the group crashed.
"We nearly got hit by the car," said Mangan.
"There was miscommunication between the organisers and other cars on the road in the Itzulia and essentially the police car that was escorting the ambulance for another event came straight for us and didn't realise we were there.
"Three girls were in hospital with some severe injuries but luckily no deaths.
"I don't want to say a huge topic, because lives are involved, but the loss of Gabby, I think that struck us all in the female cycling community - and especially coming off Imogen's campaign, I just know the devastation behind it.
"I hate the way that it seems to be part of cycling but I love that Imogen's doing a great job, she's wearing her yellow vest as part of her campaign and I see she wore her yellow band for the TT. Things like that really put the awareness out there.
"There's a life behind the cyclist too, it's not just a cyclist. So yeah, we'll be thinking of Gabby, obviously for Nationals and going forward."
