Davide Rebellin (9 August 1971 – 30 November 2022) was an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 1992 and 2022 for twelve different teams, taking more than sixty professional wins. He was considered one of the finest classics specialists of his generation with more than fifty top ten finishes in UCI Road World Cup and UCI ProTour classics.
Rebellin was best known in the cycling world for his 2004 season, when he won a then unprecedented treble with wins in Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He also won stage races such as Paris–Nice and Tirreno–Adriatico, and a stage in the Giro d'Italia. Rebellin served a two-year suspension for testing positive for Mircera at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Career 1990s Born in San Bonifacio in the province of Verona, Rebellin turned professional in 1992 and came to the attention of the cycling world with a string of strong performances during his early years. He suffered from asthma, a disease that affected his whole career. In 1996 he gained further notice when he thrived in the 1996 Giro d'Italia. Riding for Team Polti, Rebellin took stage seven and with it led in the general classification, giving him the pink jersey. He held the lead for six stages and finished the Grand Tour sixth overall. Years later he said of the race, "I have won Classics, but the first important win was in the 1996 Giro, winning the maglia rosa with the stage."
In 1997 he scored his first UCI Road World Cup victories by winning the Clásica de San Sebastián and the Grand Prix de Suisse. Over the following years he won many Italian classic races, such as the Giro del Veneto and Tre Valli Varesine.
2000s In 2001, he won the Tirreno–Adriatico stage race.
During the 2004 season he amassed seven victories, including what was at the time an unprecedented treble win in the Ardennes classics, with wins in the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Only one male rider, Philippe Gilbert, has repeated this feat since, in 2011. Rebellin also scored a number of podium places in top races such as Paris–Nice and the Clásica de San Sebastián. Despite these achievements, Rebellin did not win the 2004 UCI Road World Cup, which went to Paolo Bettini.
In 2005, Rebellin fell short of his triumphs of 2004, but posted yet another solid year. Although he generally concentrated on classics and small tours, he was part of the team in the 2005 Tour de France. With a number of solid performances throughout the season but without any individual victories, Rebellin finished as the third-highest ranked rider in the UCI ProTour rankings. Apart from the ProTour races, he only won one race in the 2005 season, taking the first stage of the Brixia Tour.
Rebellin began the 2007 season leading Paris–Nice until Alberto Contador moved him to second in the final stage to Nice. He later finished second in Amstel Gold Race and won the Flèche Wallonne, which made him the oldest ever winner of an UCI ProTour race. He finished second in the UCI ProTour behind Cadel Evans.
Rebellin triumphed early in 2008 with an overall victory in the Paris–Nice. He won the stage race by three seconds, ahead of Rinaldo Nocentini. He went on to win the Tour du Haut Var and show strongly in the Ardennes classics with a second place in the Liège–Bastogne–Liège.
Rebellin finished second in the men's road race at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing having been part of a six-man breakaway group, but his silver medal was revoked in light of his doping sentence by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
2010s On 16 August 2011, Rebellin took his first victory after returning from his doping suspension, winning Tre Valli Varesine four seconds ahead of Domenico Pozzovivo.
On 28 April 2015, at 43 years old, Rebellin won the queen stage of the Tour of Turkey, a mountaintop finish concluding in Elmali. He beat riders twenty years younger than him to accomplish this feat. With that performance, he grabbed the leader's jersey, but lost it to Kristijan Đurasek on Stage 6. He had to abandon on the last stage since he crashed after hitting a dog.
In 2017, Rebellin rode for the team, winning three races. After one season with the team, he moved to for the 2018 season. He rode for the team up to February 2019, when his contract was terminated by mutual consent. In April 2019 he announced that he had rejoined the team and that he would retire from competition after the Italian National Road Race Championships at the end of June. He finished his supposed last race in 18th place, almost five minutes behind new Italian champion Davide Formolo. One day later, Rebellin announced that he would continue his career.
2020s On 8 December 2020, Rebellin announced that he would continue for a record 29th season in professional racing, initially signing with the team for 2021. However, this deal fell through, and in February, Rebellin signed with Italian team . Rebellin remained with the team into the 2022 season, which he stated would be his last professional season in a January interview with Spanish publication Marca.
Death Rebellin was hit by a truck and killed while out on a training ride on 30 November 2022, at the age of 51.
According to the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, Rebellin was killed instantly in the incident, which took place at Montebello Vicentino shortly before midday. The German truck driver stopped briefly, then fled the scene. Police were able to reconstruct the incident and identify the driver. Witnesses had photographed the driver at the scene. The driver had been found guilty of a similar offence before. The driver turned himself in to German authorities in June 2023, awaiting a decision on extradition to Italy. According to prosecutors, the man had tried to destroy evidence by cleaning the vehicle with "a strong cleaning detergent". He had earlier been charged with fleeing the scene of an accident in Southern Italy in 2001 as well as for driving under the influence in 2014. The alleged perpetrator's name was given as Wolfgang Rieke, his extradition to Italy was confirmed by a German court on 6 July 2023. He was eventually sentenced to four years in prison.
Doping In April 2009, the IOC announced that six athletes had tested positive during the 2008 Summer Olympics, without mentioning names or sports. Later, rumours emerged that the athletes included two cyclists, one of them a medal winner. The Italian Olympic committee then confirmed that a male Italian cyclist had tested positive for CERA during the men's road race, without identifying a name. The next day, on 29 April 2009, the Italian Olympic committee confirmed that Rebellin was an involved athlete. Rebellin's agent sent a request for the analysis of the B sample which was later also confirmed to be positive. The Italian National Olympic Committee subsequently took Rebellin to court, seeking €500,000 in damages and a twelve-month custodial sentence under an Italian law passed in 2000 allowing for athletes who dope to be jailed for up to three years. However, in 2015 a court in Padova ruled that he had no criminal case to answer, in addition to clearing him of charges of tax evasion.
Major results Source:
1988 3rd Overall Grand Prix Rüebliland 1st Stage 3 1989 1st Team time trial, UCI Junior Road World Championships (with Rossano Brasi, Andrea Peron and Cristian Salvato) 1st Overall Driedaagse van Axel 2nd Overall Giro della Lunigiana 3rd Trofeo Buffoni 1990 2nd Giro del Medio Brenta 1991 1st Road race, Mediterranean Games 1st Overall Giro delle Regioni 2nd Amateur road race, UCI Road World Championships 2nd Gran Premio Palio del Recioto 3rd Piccolo Giro di Lombardia 1992 1st Trofeo Alcide Degasperi 2nd Gran Premio Palio del Recioto 2nd Giro di Romagna 5th Giro del Veneto 8th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 9th Giro di Lombardia 1993 1st Overall Hofbrau Cup 1st Stage 2a 5th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 5th Giro di Campania 6th Trofeo Melinda 7th Giro di Toscana 8th Overall Tour de Suisse 8th Giro del Friuli 9th Coppa Placci 10th Giro del Veneto 10th Giro della Romagna 1994 3rd Overall Euskal Bizikleta 3rd Giro dell'Etna 5th Amstel Gold Race 6th Overall Tour de Romandie 6th Trofeo Pantalica 8th Overall Giro del Trentino 8th Trofeo Matteotti 8th Tre Valli Varesine 10th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 1995 2nd Giro dell'Appennino 3rd Overall Tour Méditerranéen 3rd Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria 4th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 4th Overall Tour de Romandie 4th Milan–San Remo 5th Overall Tour of the Basque Country 6th La Flèche Wallonne 8th Overall Tour de Suisse 9th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 9th Overall Giro del Trentino 1st Stage 1 1996 3rd Trofeo Pantalica 4th Overall Tour de Romandie 4th Trofeo Melinda 5th Japan Cup 5th Giro di Lombardia 6th Overall Giro d'Italia 1st Stage 7 Held after Stages 7–12 6th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 6th Wincanton Classic 7th Overall Vuelta a España 8th Road race, UCI Road World Championships 8th Trofeo Matteotti 8th Subida a Urkiola 10th Overall Tour of the Basque Country 10th La Flèche Wallonne 1997 1st Grand Prix de Suisse 1st Clásica de San Sebastián 1st Trophée des Grimpeurs 3rd Coppa Sabatini 4th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 7th Overall Tour de Romandie 7th Omloop van het Waasland 7th Grand Prix de la Ville de Lillers 7th Rund um den Henninger Turm 8th Classique des Alpes 8th Giro di Lombardia 10th Klasika Primavera 1998 1st Tre Valli Varesine 1st Giro del Veneto 2nd Overall Critérium International 3rd Trofeo Forla de Navarra 3rd Giro dell'Appennino 3rd Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato 3rd Coppa Sabatini 4th Overall Tour de Wallonie 1st Stage 1 4th Subida a Urkiola 5th Trofeo Melinda 6th Overall Tour de Romandie 6th Giro dell'Emilia 6th Milano–Torino 7th Grand Prix de Suisse 8th Overall Tour de Suisse 1st Stage 1 1999 1st Overall Tour Méditerranéen 1st Stage 1 1st Tour du Haut Var 1st Giro del Veneto 1st Giro del Friuli 1st Memorial Gastone Nencini 2nd Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 2nd Overall Giro della Provincia di Lucca 2nd Trofeo Pantalica 2nd Klasika Primavera 2nd Tre Valli Varesine 3rd Overall Tour of the Basque Country 3rd Trofeo Laigueglia 3rd GP Miguel Induráin 4th Overall Critérium International 1st Stage 2 7th Overall Regio-Tour 7th Züri-Metzgete 2000 1st Giro del Veneto 2nd Gran Premio di Chiasso 2nd Tre Valli Varesine 2nd Coppa Placci 3rd Liège–Bastogne–Liège 3rd Tour du Haut Var 3rd Trofeo Pantalica 3rd Subida a Urkiola 3rd Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato 4th Overall Tour Méditerranéen 4th Züri-Metzgete 4th La Flèche Wallonne 5th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 5th Overall Tour of the Basque Country 6th Giro di Lombardia 7th Clásica de San Sebastián 8th Giro dell'Emilia 10th Overall Danmark Rundt 2001 1st Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 1st Stage 4 1st Overall Tour Méditerranéen 1st GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 1st Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato 1st Gran Premio di Chiasso 1st Giro di Romagna Tour of the Basque Country 1st Stages 1 & 3 1st Stage 2 Brixia Tour 2nd Liège–Bastogne–Liège 2nd Rund um den Henninger Turm 3rd Giro del Veneto 3rd Clásica de San Sebastián 3rd Trofeo Laigueglia 3rd Tour du Haut Var 3rd Giro dell'Emilia 4th Firenze–Pistoia 6th Trofeo Pantalica 7th Giro del Lazio 8th La Flèche Wallonne 8th Amstel Gold Race 2002 1st Gran Premio Città di Camaiore 2nd Giro di Lombardia 2nd Gran Premio di Lugano 2nd Giro del Lazio 2nd Giro del Friuli 3rd HEW Cyclassics 3rd Giro del Veneto 3rd Trofeo Melinda 3rd Coppa Placci 4th Milano–Torino 5th Giro dell'Emilia 6th Tour du Haut Var 6th Rund um den Henninger Turm 6th Tre Valli Varesine 7th Züri-Metzgete 9th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 2003 1st Rund um den Henninger Turm 1st Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato