Carly Hibberd, 26, had been toughing out the international circuit for three years after leaving her Sherwood home, in Brisbane’s south, for Italy to pursue her career in cycling one year after claiming the prestigious Australian women’s national road series title in 2008.

Yesterday was a "perfectly fine" summer’s day in Italy when she was struck and killed by a car while riding on a road north of Milan about 10.45am local time.

The cyclist died almost instantly of severe head injuries, although her training partner, Colombian rider Diego Tamayo, escaped the crash uninjured.

In a statement read by Cycling Australia chief executive Graham Fredericks today, Hibberd’s family spoke of the passion for competitive cycling she discovered at age 19.

‘‘Carly has been racing in Italy for the past three years and loving every minute of it. She was living her dream. It was her passion, along with her love for Cameron, to whom she was to be married in October this year,’’ they said.

‘‘They spoke to each other constantly, not a day went by without numerous calls.

‘‘Her love of cycling was fostered from a very early age by her parents, her father Mark and brother Luke riding along with her.’’

The gifted runner had turned her competitive might to cycling in her late teens and soon after became an elite member of the Ipswich Cycling Club.

She came into professional cycling through a talent identification scheme and was a scholarship holder at the Queensland Academy of Sport from 2006 to 2008, in which time she raced domestically with the MBCycles team.Her former MBCycles teammate Liz Young remembered her as a ‘‘bright, friendly, energetic young person’’.

"When she was around 19 she decided she wanted to become a professional cyclist and she pursued that dream with a great deal of passion,’’ she said.

"She dedicated her life to her sport and to her friends and family and was a very positive person to be around."

Hibberd rode for the Michela Fanini-Record-Rox squad for two years, before joining the Cassina Rizzardi A Style Fionucci team at the start of the season.

Former professional rider and chief executive of the Amy Gillett Foundation Tracey Gaudry said Hibberd retained her immense passion for the sport, despite the testing conditions of the women’s international cycling circuit.

"It’s a tough circuit over there," Gaudry said.

"Women don’t make the millions that the men do on the professional teams that you will see - they are often scraping it together, riding for small budgets [and] living in pretty average conditions.

"It’s a lifestyle of survival."

Hibberd's career was abruptly cut short with one fatal mistake, Gaudry said.

"A totally senseless tragedy has occurred again in an environment where bikes and cars, of all places in the world, get along well," she said.

"I can only assume that ... just like when Amy was killed nearly six years that there was a terrible mistake made.’’

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said consular officials were liaising with local authorities in Milan while others provided assistance to Hibberd’s family.

Gaudry said the loss was particularly difficult for cyclists racing in the women’s Giro d’Italia Femminile.

The tragedy prompted race organisers at the Giro Donne, being held about 160 kilometres from the scene of the accident, to cancel podium celebrations at the end of the latest stage.

Giro Donne competitor and fellow Australian cyclist Rachel Neylan also tweeted her horror at the news of the death of her friend.

"Devastated and in shock to hear news of fellow Aussie pro cyclist and friend Carly Hibberd ... no words right now," she wrote.

"Rest in peace Carly ... sending my deepest sympathy, thoughts and prayers to her family and loved ones."

The news also prompted an outpouring from Australia’s cycling community on Twitter, including Cadel Evans, who awarded Hibberd her National Australian Road Series champion jersey in 2008, on his Tour de France campaign.

"I’m very, very sorry, I ride that road too," Evans tweeted.

The cycling community mourned the death of Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt, 26, in May when died from injuries sustained in a high-speed crash in stage three of the Giro d’Italia.

And last month Spanish cyclist Xavier Tondo was killed in a freak accident when he was crushed between his car and a garage door at a ski resort in southern Spain.

The Australian cycling community was devastated by the death of Amy Gillett, 29, in Germany in 2005, when she and five teammates were injured after a car ploughed into them on a training run.

Gillett’s five Australian Institute of Sport teammates were also left with serious injuries, some of them life-threatening, when an out-of-control car ploughed into the cyclists 80 kilometres south of Leipzig.

The teenage driver of the car was fined €1440 and had her driving licence revoked for eight months for causing the crash.

Gillett had also been a champion rower, representing Australia at the Atlanta Olympics, before joining the Australian Institute of Sport elite cycling squad in 2002.

In the wake of her death, the Amy Gillett Foundation was established to promote cycling safety and reduce death and injury rates of riders.

Fairfax has decided to remove the ability to comment on this article. It was felt this was not the right forum for a debate between cyclists and motorists over the use of our roads.