Ex-Gerolsteiner pro Rebellin dies in accident with lorry

The 51-year-old Italian died on Wednesday morning in the northern Italian town of Montebello Vicentino, as the Carabinieri reported at the request of the German Press Agency confirmed.

According to initial findings reported by the media, Rebellin collided with a lorry as it turned onto the road. The lorry then drove away from the scene of the accident - the driver may not have noticed the collision, according to reports. The authorities did not initially provide any further details. On Friday it became known that, according to the public prosecutor's office, the lorry driver was a 62-year-old man from Germany.

Rebellin once under contract with Gerolsteiner

Rebellin had only ended his long career as an active rider this season and had ridden a charity invitation race in the Principality of Monaco at the weekend. He was a specialist in one-day races and won the classics Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège for the German team Gerolsteiner within a week in 2004. In 1996, he also won a stage of the Giro d'Italia.

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However, he later made negative headlines when he was stripped of his Olympic silver medal in Beijing in 2008 due to doping. Follow-up tests in April 2009 revealed that he had taken the blood doping drug Cera. He was banned for two years, but always denied doping offences and cheating until the end.

Rebellin most recently with smaller teams

After his doping ban, Rebellin remained active for smaller teams, most recently for the third-class racing team Work Service-Vitalcare-Dynatek. "Please tell me it's not true," tweeted the Italian national team coach and former professional Daniele Bennati.

Rebellin was not the first Italian professional cyclist to die in an accident involving a lorry. Former Giro d'Italia winner Michele Scarponi was also run over and killed by a van during a training ride in April 2017 at the age of 37.

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