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United States | Midwest | Arkansas >> Truck driver who killed Italian Cyclist Davide Rebellin gets 4 years in Prison

Truck driver who killed Italian Cyclist Davide Rebellin gets 4 years in Prison

Davide Rebellin died aged 51 after he was hit by a truck during a training ride in Montebello Vicentino near Vicenza, Italy, in November 2022

Truck driver who killed Italian Cyclisr Davide Rebellin gets 4 years in Prison

51 year old Rebellin, who was from San Bonifacio, near Verona, had only recently ended his lengthy professional career at the Veneto Classic in front of his adoring fans.

He became the first rider to win the Ardennes Classics treble in a highlight 2004 season, with victory in the Amstel Gold Race, La Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. He also won Tirreno-Adriatico (2001) and Paris-Nice (2008), along with a stage of the Giro d’Italia in 1996, wearing the maglia rosa for six stages and placing 6th overall in the general classification. Throughout his career, Rebellin claimed 61 victories.

Rebellin won silver in the men's road race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics before stepping down as a professional cyclist. Rebellin raced in the lower divisions until 2021 and is remembered by his family as someone "who lived to ride his bike". His career spanned three decades before he retired.

The police report stated that the vehicle did not stop at the scene and the driver was traced, a 62-year-old German truck driver named Wolfgang Rieke.

Rieke was arrested in Germany in June 2023 and extradited to Italy in August 2023. He knew he had hit the cyclist, but left the scene anyway.

Last year, an Italian judge rejected a plea bargain from Rieke, several witnesses saw him get out of his truck and look at Rebellin, before quickly getting back in the cab and taking off. It also appears like this was not the driver’s first offense. The German driver pleaded guilty to a non-fatal hit-and-run incident in 2001, and in 2014 was charged for drinking and driving. 

Rieke has been charged with a heavier sentence of involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist a person in need. He received four years in prison as a result of his apalling actions.
 
RIP Rebellin and our thoughts and prayers are with your brother Carlo and family who fought for justice.

RIP Rebellin and our thoughts and prayers are with your brother Carlo and familly who fought for justice.