Davide Rebellin's widow has written about her heartbreaking loss and love for the former professional rider who was killed while out training last week in northern Italy.
Rebellin, 51, who had only retired in October, was killed instantly when he was hit by a truck driver while riding his bike in Montebello Vicentino last Wednesday.
"I can’t imagine my life without you," Françoise Rebellin wrote in a moving message published by the Gazzettino newspaper in the north of Italy.
"Imagining my life without you is heartbreaking, the horror of what has happened is heartbreaking. Knowing that we’ll never hug each other, never speak again, never wake up together in each other's arms leaves me in pieces. You are my angel, my love."
Françoise married the Italian rider in 2004 and they lived together in the hills near Vicenza.
"Not being able to make the energy bars you so loved is so painful, our plans for the future, that were finally taking shape after your career, will never happen. That’s heartbreaking," Françoise wrote.
"I’m trying to recover from what has happened but how can I without you? Please, hug me with your aura that was so beautiful, so kind and so warming. Give me the strength to pick myself up.
"Rest in peace, the peace you so deserve. You will always be in my heart, in my being, forever."
According to the latest reports in Italy, the family and haulage company of the 62-year-old German truck driver involved are helping the police with the case. Rebellin’s funeral was set for Wednesday but has now been delayed after the Italian coroner ordered a full autopsy.
Il Gazzettino suggested the truck driver was allegedly aware that he had struck Rebellin before fleeing the scene and returning to Germany. The newspaper cited eyewitnesses who said they saw the driver emerge from the Volvo truck after the crash and approach Rebellin's body before driving off again.
The 62-year-old driver faces a charge of vehicular homicide in Italy, but has not been arrested as the offence is not covered under the German penal code. Italian police will reportedly request a European arrest warrant to extradite the truck driver to Italy for trial.
Police in Italy were able to track the driver thanks both to photographs taken by witnesses who arrived at the scene and to footage provided by CCTV cameras in the car park of the La Padana restaurant in Montebello, near the roundabout where Rebellin was killed.
The truck driver works for a haulage company based in Recke in northern Germany and he was in Italy on Wednesday to collect cargo from the freight terminal in Verona.
Il Gazzettino reported that the German truck driver had committed two previous offences on Italian roads. In 2001, he pleaded guilty to a non-fatal hit and run incident in Foggia, though the sentence was quashed due to the statute of limitations. In 2014, the same driver was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol in Chieti.
