Looking back at the late Italian's life in the peloton
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Davide Rebellin was a silver medallist in the amateur road race at the 1991 World Championships in Stuttgart.(Image credit: Sirotti)
A young Rebellin is feted for his achievements as a junior in Milan in December 1988.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin with Francesco Casagrande and Wladimir Belli on national duty in 1991. Another contemporary, Michele Bartoli, gave Rebellin the affectionate nickname of 'Davidenko' due to his contests with the gifted Russian amateurs of the era.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin's first professional race was the GP Camaiore in 1992, days after he had helped Fabio Casartelli to Olympic gold in Barcelona.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin and fellow neo-pro Marco Pantani join Claudio Chiappucci at the San Silvestro d'Oro award ceremony in 1992.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin on Piazza Duomo before his Milan-San Remo debut in 1993(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin in Bologna after the opening stage of his Giro d'Italia debut in 1994.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin at the 1995 Tirreno-Adriatico with MG-Technogym teammates Max Sciandri, Luca Scinto and Davide Cassani, and manager Giancarlo Ferretti.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin in the overall lead at the 1995 Giro del Trentino.(Image credit: Sirotti)
The lone Giro stage win of Rebellin's career came atop Monte Sirino in 1996. It also earned him a stint in the maglia rosa.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin in pink, flanked by Polti directeur sportif Giosuè Zenoni and Francesco Moser. He would reach Milan in 6th overall.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin was signed by La Francaise des Jeux in 1997 as a Tour de France contender. At year's end, he returned to Italy certain his future lay in the Classics.(Image credit: Sirotti)
FDJ manager Marc Madiot with Rebellin after he added Züri-Metzgete to San Sebastian victory in 1997. The relationship wasn't destined to last. "You know Madiot, he’s a bit impulsive," Rebellin said. "I’ve got a different character."(Image credit: Sirotti)
Back at Polti, Rebellin won the Giro del Veneto before his home tifosi in Padua in 1998.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin with Alfredo Martini before his second successive Giro del Veneto win in 1999.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin moved to Liquigas in 2000 to become an outright team leader.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin jousts with Italian champion Michele Bartoli at the Coppa Placci in 2000.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin was controversially omitted from the Sydney Olympics in favour of Marco Pantani. The two are pictured together at the following season's Giro del Friuli.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin moved to Gerolsteiner in 2002. Here, he leads Laurent Jalabert at the Giro dell'Emilia.(Image credit: Sirotti)
One: Rebellin beats Michael Boogerd up the Cauberg, Amstel Gold Race 2004.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Two: Rebellin sees off Danilo Di Luca to win Fleche Wallonne three days later...(Image credit: Sirotti)
And three: 'Trebellin' completed an Ardennes hat-trick at Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2004.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin applied for Argentinian citizenship in a vain attempt to ride the 2004 Worlds on home roads in Verona.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin with teammate and pink jersey Stefan Schumacher on the 2006 Giro. They would reunite at Miche in 2011 after their respective doping bans.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin won his second Fleche Wallonne in 2007 in the white jersey of ProTour leader.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin with Prince Albert of Monaco after his 2008 Tour du Haut Var victory. He would win Paris-Nice the following month.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin finished second behind Samuel Sanchez at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He would become the first Italian athlete to be stripped of an Olympic medal when he later tested positive for CERA. . "Even if I don’t have it physically, I feel like it’s still mine," he said in October of this year.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin and Diquigiovanni–Androni manager Gianni Savio celebrate his third Fleche win in 2009. Days later, news of his positive test from Beijing would emerge, and his career and life would never be the same.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin quickly returned to winning ways when his ban expired in 2011. In Miche colours, he beat Domenico Pozzovivo and a youthful Thibaut Pinot to Tre Valli Varesine.(Image credit: Sirotti)
The WorldTour remained off limits for Rebellin on his return to racing. He spent 2012 with Croatian team Merdiana-Kamen.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin, seen here on Superga in 2014, spent four years at Pro Conti level with CCC.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin won his second Giro dell'Emilia at 43 years of age in 2014.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin moved to the Kuwait-Cartucho in 2017 and he claimed his final pro win in their colours.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin switched to the Algerian squad Sovac–Natura4Ever in 2018.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin rejoined Meridiana-Kamen midway through 2019 and he was still sporting their colours when cycling restarted after the COVID-19 lockdown in the summer of 2020.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin joined the Veneto-based Work Service team in 2021.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Rebellin thanks the crowds in Bassano del Grappa after his final pro race at the Veneto Classic in October 2022.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Rebellin on the attack at the 1993 Giro della Romagna.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Writing in Tuttobici on Thursday, the Italian writer Marco Pastonesi summed up the longevity and the aura of the late Davide Rebellin as only he can.
“He seemed eternal, Rebellin: he raced against the sons of his first rivals. And he beat them,” Pastonesi wrote. “He seemed mystical, Rebellin: he always competed with himself, not against himself. And he won.”
Rebellin’s tragic death on Wednesday robbed a man and his family of the opportunity to enjoy his retirement.
The 51-year-old had only stopped his professional career at the Veneto Classic in October, but the bike was always going to remain a fixture in his life.
Devastatingly, a bike ride was the final act of that life. Rebellin was killed by a truck whose driver failed to stop at the scene of the tragedy.
Rebellin’s palmarès as a rider included Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Flèche Wallonne, Amstel Gold Race, Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico and a stage of the Giro d’Italia. The story of his career also included being stripped of an Olympic medal for doping.
In time, however, the quiet but remarkable persistence of his last decade in the peloton seemed to supersede consideration of the earlier highs and lows of a career that straddled several tumultuous eras of professional cycling.
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In the gallery above, Cyclingnews looks back through Rebellin’s cycling life, from his emergence as a talented amateur in the late 1980s to his thirty seasons as a professional.
Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.
