Almost two years after the accidental death of former Italian professional cyclist <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/06/meintjes-escapes-in-the-final-and-wins-the-victory-quinto-verre-oa-sport/” title=”Meintjes escapes in the final and wins the victory! Quinto Verre – OA Sport”>Davide Rebellin, the German perpetrator was sentenced to four years in prison by a court in Vicenza. This is reported by the AFP news agency, citing Italian media. The now 64-year-old German truck driver who rammed the then 51-year-old rebel with his truck on November 30, 2022, was charged with manslaughter and failure to provide assistance. The public prosecutor’s office had requested a prison sentence of five years against the German, who was not personally present at the trial.
“We are reasonably happy with the verdict, but it doesn’t bring Davide back,” Rebellin’s brother Carlo said on Monday. The truck driver had hit the former top Italian driver Rebellin, who had recently ended his long career, with his heavy truck in the northeastern Italian region of Veneto and then continued driving. Seven months later, the driver was arrested in Germany after a lengthy investigation. He was in custody there, but was finally allowed to leave prison because of health problems.
Rebellin was one of the greatest specialists in one-day races, including winning the Flèche Wallonne three times. In 2002 he was hired as a model driver by the Gerolsteiner team, which stopped racing at the end of 2008 after various doping scandals. During rehearsals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Rebellin tested positive for the blood doping drug Epo and had to return his silver medal from the road race.
