RIP Davide Rebellin

[capuldemetal]

May his soul rest in peace...horrible news..

 

[red_flanders]

I was shocked to see this thread. What a tragic irony for a man who lived to ride. I’m quite saddened by this.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Nooo! One of my all time heroes. So sad to hear this

 

[Armchair cyclist]

For years we marvelled at how old he was.
Now we can only reflect on how young he was.

 

[RedheadDane]

For years we marvelled at how old he was.
Now we can only reflect on how young he was.

51. Quite old for a (semi-)pro cyclist. Far, far too young to die.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

From a perspective of Dante's Divina Commedia
IMO Davide will now be closer to Paradiso
having done much of his Purgatorio here on earth.

RIP Davide Rebellin

 

[pmcg76]

Really sad to hear this. His career pretty much spanned almost the entire time I have followed pro cycling. All the way back to getting a silver in the Worlds amateur RR at Stuttgart in 91. He was part of the generation of Italians who turned pro after the Olympics in 92, Pantani, Bartoli, Casagrande, Guerini etc. He was considered possibly the most talented of the whole lot of them, but his career had its ups and downs like many. Hard not to admire his dedication and longevity though. RIP.

 

[Roku]

From a perspective of Dante's Divina Commedia
IMO Davide will now be closer to Paradiso
having done much of his Purgatorio here on earth.

RIP Davide Rebellin

You're right. Regardless of the mistakes he might have done, he was unfairly treated after his retrospective positive test on 2008.

He loved the bike and he was undoubtedly a gifted and hard-working rider.

Rest in Peace, Davide.

 

[Mayomaniac]

You're right. Regardless of the mistakes he might have done, he was unfairly treated after his retrospective positive test on 2008.

He loved the bike and he was undoubtedly a gifted and hard-working rider.

Rest in Peace, Davide.

Yeah, it's a bit of a joke hearing all the higher ups from the Italian federation praising him now that he's dead, when he was considered a Pariah for at least a decade...
The whole story is cruel, now that he had finally been able to let cycling go and had more time to spend with his wife his life ends.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

So tragic, a life lost before it needed to be.
Getting into cycling recently, I fell in love with Rebellin’s determination to keep going at doing what he loves. His whole career is older than me. In an ironic twist of fate, cycling in the bitter end, ended up costing his life from a truck hit.
RIP high up above Davide.

 

[staubsauger]

Yeah, it's a bit of a joke hearing all the higher ups from the Italian federation praising him now that he's dead, when he was considered a Pariah for at least a decade...
The whole story is cruel, now that he had finally been able to let cycling go and had more time to spend with his wife his life ends.

The contrast Basso and even Di Luca were welcomed back already made me angry when Rebellin was still alive. Especially that CCC was told to keep him out of their Giro d'Italia selection. Unfair. Stole him his well-deserved return to the highest level. Even though he still was a major contender at the Italian fall classics at CCC of course and even won Sabatini.

His last victory remains the Tour of Iran stage win 5 years ago at the age of 46. One of the most prestigious races on the Asian calendar actually.

Rebellin already raced against Sean Kelly and still competed against Juan Ayuso!

 

[Bolder]

RAI 3 just did a report on the evening news of Rebellini's tragic end, with footage of his bike still at the scene that was totally broken in half and utterly destroyed, nay mangled. which indicates that he was literally run over at high speed. The driver kept going! In a cruel coincidence it was Davide's brother that first discovered him dead.

Many motorists just don't care about cyclists and rather despise them.

PS. Over the years, in every interview, he really did seem like a kind soul, soft spoken to the point of melancholic, never angry, even during his dark moment. And I never heard a collegaue speak badly of him.

Well put. I admired him for coming back and just continuing to race his bike, which he clearly loved.

This and Scarponi's death are reminders to those of us who ride regularly that we need to be eternally vigilant -- and assume that every driver is either trying actively to kill us or just not paying attention...

 

[Mayomaniac]

The contrast Basso and even Di Luca were welcomed back already made me angry when Rebellin was still alive. Especially that CCC was told to keep him out of their Giro d'Italia selection. Unfair. Stole him his well-deserved return to the highest level. Even though he still was a major contender at the Italian fall classics at CCC of course and even won Sabatini.

His last victory remains the Tour of Iran stage win 5 years ago at the age of 46. One of the most prestigious races on the Asian calendar actually.

Rebellin already raced against Sean Kelly and still competed against Juan Ayuso!

Also won Emilia in 2014 and still 11th on the gc in the Adriatica-Ionica race this year!
Yeah, that whole thing about RCS forcing CCC to not select him for the Giro was BS, he was singled out, mainly because they were thinking that his career was over anyway and because he was already on a smaller team after the fall of Gerolsteiner before getting banned.

But certain people were always the golden boys, while other's were seen as the red-headed stepchild. See also Ulissi, who kept getting selected for WCs despite being a semiclassics rider and stagehunter who can't handle the distance (and his short clinic related hiatus), while and Ardennes specialist like Gasparotto never got a chance (2014 was the perfect WC for route him, Ulissi was suspended and he had just finished top 10 in the Canadian classics, but nope...)

 

[Escarabajo]

Unbelievable he came top Ten in the 1992 Lombardia and still rode competitively in 2022. He rode almost my entire life

Like the CN says; "Life on Two Wheels"

https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/obituary-davide-rebellin-a-life-on-two-wheels/

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

RIP classic legends from the era of Bettini, Bartoli, Boogerd, VDB etc...

unbelievable a month after he retired

 

[Mayomaniac]

According to Italian Media they caught the guy. A 62 year old German, already convicted once for fleeing/failure to render assistance after an incident and he also had already lost his driving license back in 2014 because of drunk driving, both times in Italy. Apparently he stopped after the crash to check the damage on his truck and to take a look at the victim before driving away...
Source: https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2022/12/02/news/rebellin_padova_arrestato_linvstitore-377186763/?ref=RHLF-BG-I0-P1-S1-T1

 

[HelloDolly]

It breaks my heart ...so sad

 

[Libertine Seguros]

According to Italian Media they caught the guy. A 62 year old German, already convicted once for fleeing/failure to render assistance after an incident and he also had already lost his driving license back in 2014 because of drunk driving, both times in Italy. Apparently he stopped after the crash to check the damage on his truck and to take a look at the victim before driving away...
Source: https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2022/12/02/news/rebellin_padova_arrestato_linvstitore-377186763/?ref=RHLF-BG-I0-P1-S1-T1

How TF is a guy like that still allowed to be on the road.

 

[Mayomaniac]

How TF is a guy like that still allowed to be on the road.

Yeah, it's messed up.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Seems to be a driver from a company from Recke, in Western Germany. There really are companies in and around Recke, specialized on transports to Italy and Berlin. Apparently one of their drivers, aged 62, was involved in Davide Rebellin’s fatal accident.

He didn‘t get arrested (yet), apparently no crime under German law.

The driver possibly fled an accident in 2001, and drove under alcohol in 2014. Both in Italy. On Wednesday, it seems possible that he got out of the truck cabin, checked the truck and Rebellin‘s bike and Rebellin‘s body (unclear if he was still alive), and drove away with his truck, without helping Rebellin.

Well, that‘s it for the moment. I‘m a bit speechless…

 

[Oldermanish]

How TF is a guy like that still allowed to be on the road.

This would suggest a penalty equivalent to his cumulative lack of regard for humanity.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Seems to be a driver from a company from Recke, in Western Germany. There really are companies in and around Recke, specialized on transports to Italy and Berlin. Apparently one of their drivers, aged 62, was involved in Davide Rebellin’s fatal accident.

He didn‘t get arrested (yet), apparently no crime under German law.

The driver possibly fled an accident in 2001, and drove under alcohol in 2014. Both in Italy. On Wednesday, it seems possible that he got out of the truck cabin, checked the truck and Rebellin‘s bike and Rebellin‘s body (unclear if he was still alive), and drove away with his truck, without helping Rebellin.

Well, that‘s it for the moment. I‘m a bit speechless…

Scum like that shouldn't even be allowed within 50 meters of a road. If I were in charge 2 major offenses like that would be punishable by life-in-prison. Your not only endagering your own (in his case worhtless) life. But you're driving around in a X-ton killing machine with which you already proved yourself you're incapable to be trusted with.

A chair, a tree and a noose would be too kind.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

Scum like that shouldn't even be allowed within 50 meters of a road. If I were in charge 2 major offenses like that would be punishable by life-in-prison. Your not only endagering your own (in his case worhtless) life. But you're driving around in a X-ton killing machine with which you already proved yourself you're incapable to be trusted with.

A chair, a tree and a noose would be too kind.

Well, in Germany, truckers often are not punished too hard, because the country lacks truckers, and they are needed on the road. So everyone closes his eyes and doesn‘t want to see the problems like alcohol or fleeing from accidents.

A trucker of course wants to work, drive his truck, so he will try to drive without incident. If an incident happens, everyone reacts differently. For the trucker who collided with Rebellin, if the trucker is guilty, future life for this trucker might be more difficult than his past life, because Rebellin is dead.

 

[Red Rick]

I never had particuarly strong opinions about Rebellin, I didn't really get into cycling until after his ban and I always viewed him more as a curiousity more than anything else. But this story is just tragic and sad

Yeah, it's a bit of a joke hearing all the higher ups from the Italian federation praising him now that he's dead, when he was considered a Pariah for at least a decade...
The whole story is cruel, now that he had finally been able to let cycling go and had more time to spend with his wife his life ends.

It's a twisted irony of life, that many show the most respect to people not until after they're dead.

 

[Red Rick]

How TF is a guy like that still allowed to be on the road.

Can only give armschair psychologists reason

But I think stuff like drunk driving is so common it's politically very unpopular to punish it much more harshly. It's the sort of crime many ordinary people can imagine doing and identify with. Whereas with many similarly dangerous actions or violent crime you just say "I'd never do that"