Lorry driver who killed Davide Rebellin jailed for four years

The lorry driver who killed Davide Rebellin in a collision in November 2022 before fleeing the scene has been jailed for four years.

Wolfgang Rieke was sentenced in Vicenza earlier today, the German lorry driver receiving a four-year sentence, one year less than the five-year term that prosecutors had sought.

Rebellin's longevity competing in the sport he loved became the defining feature of the latter stages of the Italian's career, the iconic racer still pinning on a race number throughout the 2022 season, even past his 51st birthday and competing at Continental level in races against riders younger than half his age.

> Davide Rebellin made me fall in love with professional cycling (and all its flaws)

Of course to focus solely on the length of Rebellin's career would exclude unfairly the great success he enjoyed in his prime, pulling off the coveted Ardennes 'triple crown' in 2004, winning Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallonne and the monument Liège-Bastogne-Liège all in one week.

That was the first of three Flèche Wallonne victories for Rebellin who also won Tirreno-Adriatico, San Sebastian, Paris-Nice and a stage of the Giro. His career was also punctuated by a two-year doping ban having tested positive for Mircera at the 2008 Olympics.

In November 2022, a little over a month after his retirement, Rebellin was hit and killed by Rieke who subsequently fled the scene and returned to Germany. Last year, the lawyers representing the lorry driver, who was extradited to Italy in July 2023, had requested a reduced sentence of three years and 11 months of house arrest.

> "We do not want revenge, but justice": Plea deal for lorry driver accused of killing Davide Rebellin rejected by Italian court

However, Rebellin's family were vehemently opposed to any such plea bargain, particularly when viewed in the light of Rieke's two previous driving convictions in Italy.

In 2001, the lorry driver was convicted of fleeing the scene of a non-fatal crash in Foggia, Puglia, without stopping to give assistance to those involved in it, while in 2014 he was handed a driving ban after officers found him drunk at the wheel of his vehicle in Chieti, Abruzzo.

According to roadside video and witness photos, after the fatal collision involving Rebellin, Rieke got out of his cab briefly to assess the cyclist's condition, before fleeing the scene and driving to Germany, where his brother's haulage firm is based.

In the weeks after Rebellin's death, the Italian professional cyclists' union, the ACCPI, criticised what they regarded as a lack of action from the authorities.

> I'm fortunate I can try to contemplate why a driver would knock me off my bike: Davide Rebellin didn't get that chance

"You can kill a cyclist, flee abroad driving your lorry and continue to live as though nothing happened," the ACCPI said in December 2022, "while the person you killed is still waiting for their autopsy and his devastated family has not yet been able to arrange his funeral."

Rieke has been jailed for four years.