Six weeks ago, on the evening before his final professional race and in the middle of a long conversation that took in the peaks and valleys of his three decades in the peloton, the late Davide Rebellin was at pains to emphasise one thing: the Veneto Classic marked the end of a chapter, but the story of his life on two wheels was not complete.
“I go out on the bike because I’m following my passion. Sunday’s my last race, but Monday or Tuesday, I’ll already be back on the bike,” Rebellin said softly. “For me, it’s really a way of feeling good in myself. It’s my way of life. And I know it will be like that afterwards, too. I always said that I’d keep doing races for as long as I felt good. It’s going to be different now, but I’ll still be going out on the bike. It’s my way of feeling good.”
Rebellin was true to his word. Last Sunday, in his adopted home of Monte Carlo, the 51-year-old was among the participants in the Beking Monaco Criterium, an exhibition event organised by Matteo Trentin. By midweek, Rebellin was back in his native Veneto. Inevitably, he was in the saddle.
Even back in his darkest days, when he was stripped of his Olympic medal and banned from competition, when his first marriage was falling apart, and when his tax affairs were being scrutinised across national newspapers, the bicycle remained a source of light for Rebellin. At times, it might even have served as a lifeboat.
“Maybe I felt sickened by the milieu of cycling, but I was never sickened by the idea of riding my bike. I always loved that,” Rebellin said in that long phone call in October. “As long as I can pedal, I’ll keep doing it, and always with pleasure.”
For Rebellin, even in retirement, a gloomy day in early winter was always likely to be adorned with a bike ride. On Wednesday morning, he set out for a spin that took him towards Montebello Vicentino. He never came back. He was killed instantly shortly before midday when he was struck by a truck whose driver reportedly failed to stop at the scene.
That Rebellin died doing what he loved best is no consolation at all for those who loved him. Italy, the nexus of the bicycle industry, has become an increasingly dangerous place to ride a bike. Rebellin’s tragic death echoes that of Michele Scarponi in 2017 and those of so many other cyclists up and down the peninsula in recent years. The routine act of cycling on public roads has become fraught with unacceptable risk.
Italy’s class of 1992
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