Settlement rejected

Rebellin death: trial against German truck driver

Davide Rebellin died in a traffic accident.

(Bild: AFP)

A court in the northern Italian city of Vicenza has decided to open a trial against a German truck driver accused in the fatal road accident involving professional cyclist Davide Rebellin. 

The German had agreed with the public prosecutor's office in February to a prison sentence of three years and eleven months. However, the agreement as part of a shortened trial was rejected by the court, which decided to open a trial.

The man, an employee of a company in Münsterland, had rammed Rebellin with his vehicle on November 30, 2022 in the municipality of Montebello Vicentino in the Veneto region and had driven on. He turned himself in to the authorities seven months later and was detained in Vicenza prison. He is currently under house arrest in an apartment in the province of Treviso with friends, Italian media reported on Monday. The Rebellin family had been compensated with 825,000 euros through an insurance company.

Failure to provide assistance
The athlete, who had recently ended his professional career, had been on a training ride. According to the Italian police, analysis of surveillance cameras, witness statements and joint investigations with authorities in Austria, Slovenia and Germany revealed that the long-distance driver was involved in the accident. It was also established that the man got out after the accident, approached Rebellin, who was lying on the ground, but then drove away. He is now accused of causing death in road traffic and failing to render assistance.

Rebellin was a specialist in one-day races and won the classics Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège within a week in 2004. In 1996, he also won a stage of the Giro d'Italia. He later made negative headlines when he was stripped of his 2008 Olympic silver medal in Beijing for doping.