Mourning in the world of Italian cycling: Davide Rebellin, 51, died today in a road accident in the Vicenza area. The Veronese cyclist was riding his bicycle when he was hit and run over by a truck near the Montebello Vicentino motorway junction. The truck driver would not have noticed the accident, continuing his journey. Rebellin had won, among other things, an Amstel Gold Race, three editions of the Freccia Vallone, and a stage of the Giro d’Italia. Silver at the Beijing Games, the medal was later revoked due to a positive doping test.
A life on the bike and retirement at 51
Professional from 1992 to 2022, Rebellin was a specialist in the classics, in his career he won one edition of the Amstel Gold Race (in 2004), three of the Freccia Vallone (in 2004, 2007 and 2009) and one of the Liège-Bastogne-Liege (in 2004), as well as a stage in the Giro d’Italia. After a good amateur career, silver medal at the World Championships. In 1992 he was the point man of the Italian national team at the Barcelona Olympic Games, but he ran in support of his teammate Fabio Casartelli who won the gold medal.
He made his professional debut after the Olympic Games, with a brilliant ninth place in the Giro di Lombardia and took his first success as a professional the following year, winning the final classification of the Hofbrau Cup, a short German stage race. After a couple of years on the sly, he shines in the 1996 Giro d’Italia, where he triumphs in the stage with arrival at Monte Sirino and wears the pink jersey for six consecutive days. Sixth in the final classification of that Giro, he will repeat himself with a good performance in the Vuelta a España, which he will finish in seventh place.
In 1997 he scored a prestigious double, winning the Clásica San Sebastián and the Swiss Grand Prix in Zurich in just a few days, taking advantage of the condition achieved at the end of the Grande Boucle, his main objective of the season. Thus, now thirty years old, after several seasons in which he could have won much more, he finally specialized in road races and short stage races, conquering the 2001 Tirreno-Adriatico.
In 2004 he starred in a season that saw him winning in the Amstel Gold Race, Freccia Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege: thus he became the first cyclist capable of conquering the three Ardennes classics in just one week. In 2007 the campaign in the Ardennes sees him protagonist again: second, first and fifth place respectively at Amstel Gold Race, Freccia Vallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liege. He then honors the eighth blue shirt at the world championships in Stuttgart, managing to finish in sixth position. In 2008 he won his first Paris-Nice and the following year he won the Freccia Vallone for the third time.