Italian ace Rebellin killed in hit-and-run collision
Former Italian cycling champion and one-time Olympic silver medallist Davide Rebellin has died after a hit-and-run collision involving a truck near his home in the Venice region.
The 51-year-old was one of the finest racers of his generation, winning seven major one-day events. In 2004, he was the first rider to sweep the Ardennes Classics treble of Liege-BastogneLiege, Fleche Wallone and Amstel Gold. He also won the Fleche in 2007 and 2009 as well as classics in San Sebastian and Zurich in 1997.
There were also stage race triumphs in 2001 and 2007 as he won the prestigious TirrenoAdriatico and the Paris-Nice.
He took part in 19 Grand Tours, including 12 Giro d’Italia, where he won his sole major tour stage and wore the overall leader’s pink jersey for six days in 1996.
“This is an infinitely sad day for all those in cycling,” Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme said.
Rebellin was stripped of his Olympic road race silver medal from the 2008 Beijing Games after a positive test for the bloodbooster EPO Cera. “This is a victory for clean cycling,” Rebellin had insisted after taking the silver. He always denied the offence.
Rebellin’s positive, in both samples, came months after the end of the Beijing Games, during a retesting campaign.
Lotto-Soudal general manager John Lelangue said he was stupefied by the news of the rider’s death. “I just can’t believe it. He was with us Sunday night at the Monte Carlo Criterium dinner.”
FDJ chief Marc Madiot, who managed Rebellin in the 1990s said: “He was a really nice guy. Polite, reserved, never a word out of place, he lived like a monk or a
choirboy. Once, after a training camp, we had a bit of a party that got out of hand, but he didn’t even have a single drink.”
Seven-time Tour de France King of the Mountains Richard Virenque recalled “a lovely, loyal person and we shared some wonderful moments together”.
Italian media reported his death on Wednesday, saying he was killed instantly at a roundabout in a collision with a truck that left the scene without stopping.