The Valladolid cyclist Estela Domínguez, 18, died this Thursday afternoon when she was training when she was run over by a truck at the intersection with the A-62 of the N-120 highway, at the exit of the Polígono de Villares (highway de Castellanos), as confirmed by sources from the 112 emergency service to ‘Salamancahoy’. The deceased cyclist was the daughter of Iscari runner Juan Carlos Domínguez, a cycling professional in the 1990s and in the first decade of this century and winner of a stage in the Giro d’Italia.
Estela Domínguez had competed in the Spanish Cyclocross Championship in Vic in January and after reaching the top ten, occupying the seventh position, she was summoned by the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) to participate in the Cyclocross World Cup, which held on Sunday the 22nd of last month in Benidorm. “It is a dream for all cyclists who practice this modality, since it is an international event, in which the best riders in the world will participate,” explained Estela, who debuted in the Elite/Sub23 category last year, with the team Sopela Team UCI World Tour from Biscay and who combined sport with his university studies at the University of Salamanca. Due to her status as a student at the charra university, Estela trained in the surroundings of the capital of Salamanca, where she suffered a fatal accident.
The incident occurred around 6:32 p.m., according to sources from the 1-1-2 Emergency Service of Castilla y León. The 1-1-2 operations room reports this incident to the Traffic subsector of the Civil Guard of Salamanca and to the Emergency Coordination Center for Health Emergencies – Sacyl, which mobilizes an Emergency Medical Unit.
A mobile UVI has moved to the scene and has confirmed the death of the young woman. According to official sources to this newspaper, the hit-and-run was caused by glare from the sun that prevented the truck driver from seeing the cyclist.
First fatality of the year
This is the first fatality on the roads of Salamanca. Last year, the road accident rate recorded fifteen deaths on the roads of which two were run over. However, none of those accidents involved a cyclist. The result of the previous year reflects thirteen deaths compared to only five the previous year and twelve in 2020, a strange year with a high accident rate despite traffic restrictions.
The highways of the province registered one of the most serious accidents, the one that took place on Three Kings Day when two people died on the Castilla Highway (A-62), as it passed through Aldehuela de la Bóveda (Salamanca). There was another accident with multiple victims, two deceased, in Colmenar de Montemayor. In addition, last September there was the first death in a hit-and-run in the capital in nearly two years when a man died at a pedestrian crossing in front of the bus station, it was the first fatality of this type in the city since that speed was limited to 20 and 30.
In Castilla y León, on the other hand, there were two victims who were riding a bicycle last year. However, there has been a decrease in recent years in deceased bicycle users since last 2019, six deaths were registered in this vehicle. The negative data comes with the increase in pedestrian deaths: 10 in 2022 compared to 8 in 2019. Of these, 3 were on motorways and dual carriageways, and 7 on conventional roads.