Cycling: Tragedy hits Russian Olympic hopefuls

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Russian cycling is in mourning after tragedy struck three of the country's top track riders this week.

National sprint champion Alexander Khormykh and young Olympic hopeful Nikolai Maksakov died when their car skidded off the road near Moscow's Olympic velodrome.

Three days earlier, Olympic gold medallist Zoulfia Zabirova was seriously hurt when she crashed during a road race and suffered head injuries.

Zabirova, the 1996 Games time-trial champion, was training for next month's women's Tour de France and the Olympics, riding in a local men's race, when she fell and hit her head on a cobblestone.

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