Davide Rebellin died after an accident. © AFP / ERIC FEFERBERG

Death of Davide Rebellin: Truck driver must go to prison

A truck driver from Germany has been sentenced to four years in prison in Italy for the accidental death of former Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin.

14 October 2024

From: dpa/det

The regional court in the northern Italian city of Vicenza found the 64-year-old guilty of running over the former professional cyclist and then committing a hit-and-run. The public prosecutor had demanded five years in prison.

Rebellin was hit by a semi-trailer truck and fatally injured during a training lap near the northern Italian town of Montebello Vicentino on November 30, 2022. The 51-year-old had recently ended his professional career for good.

Truck driver leaves the scene of the accident

The truck driver was charged with homicide in road traffic - a criminal offense in Italy - and failure to render assistance. After the collision, he left the scene of the accident and returned to Germany. The man was then arrested on the basis of a European arrest warrant and extradited to Italy.

This is where the accident occurred. © ANSA / Tommaso Quaggio

Rebellin's career included triumphs in the Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice stage races. In 1996 he won a stage of the Giro d'Italia. However, Rebellin was a specialist in one-day races. In 2004 he won the classics Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège for the German team Gerolsteiner within a week.

He later made negative headlines: his silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing was taken away from him because of doping with the blood doping drug Cera. He was banned for two years, but always denied doping offenses and cheating until the end.