Her mountain bike, twisted and lying near the curb.

Her safety helmet, crushed into small pieces.

A backpack and a University of Waterloo sweatshirt, tangled up in the bike’s bent remnants.

A massive cement truck, idling nearby.

A 19-year-old woman died Thursday of her injuries following an afternoon rush-hour collision at one of London’s busiest intersections. Police hadn’t identified the woman, but concrete truck owner Lafarge Canada expressed its sympathy in a late-night statement.

“To know that a family has been forever changed by this tragedy is devastating,” Shawn Tylee, the company’s Southwestern Ontario general manager,” said by email.

“The loss is heart-wrenching, the impact lasting. Today, and for many days to come, our hearts will be with the family and friends as they face this difficult time.”

It was the city’s first cycling fatality of the year.

Police say a concrete truck going west on Riverside Dr. was turning right onto Whancliffe Rd. when the collision the westbound cyclist occurred just after 3 p.m.

The cyclist, whom police hadn’t identified, was taken to Victoria Hospital in critical condition.

“Corners are the most dangerous place on the roads for cyclists,” said Don Rycroft, a member of London’s cycling advisory committee.

Delivery worker Marco Cosentino, who was backed up in traffic at the scene of the crash, said an emergency worker performed CPR on the cyclist before putting her into an ambulance.

“The bike helmet was in a thousand pieces,” said Cosentino.

Investigators closed the intersection for several hours, with traffic re-routed to nearby streets.

Last year there were 106 collisions involving cyclists in London, down from 151 the previous year.

White-painted memorial bikes, known as ghost bikes, mark at least two fatal collision sites in London. The roadside memorials began in St. Louis, Mo., in 2003 and have spread to scores of cities worldwide.

dale.carruthers@sunmedia.ca

jennifer.bieman@sunmedia.ca