A 19-year-old Centennial man was killed in a truck-pickup collision last week during The Denver Post’s Ride the Rockies bicycle tour.
Benjamin Kopecky was driving a 2001 Ford Ranger as a support vehicle for friends making the week-long bicycle trek through the mountains. He did not drive the actual bicycle route but took other roads to meet the cyclists each evening.
The morning of June 17, he was driving north on U.S. 285 about 20 miles south of Fairplay when he drifted into the southbound lane, according to the Colorado State Patrol. An 18-wheeler headed south collided with Kopecky’s Ford, hitting the left-front wheel. The big rig went off the west side of the road and flipped onto its side. The driver, Vanessa Ford, 39, of California, was not seriously injured. Kopecky’s truck went off the east side of the road and remained upright. Kopecky was pronounced dead at the scene. Troopers said both drivers were wearing seat belts.
Kopecky was a graduate of Grandview High School and had recently completed his freshman year at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden.
Mike McPhee, The Denver Post
