Davide Rebellin: German truck driver apparently committed an escape

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Destroyed bike of Davide Rebellin at the scene of the accident in Montebello Vicentino

Photo: Tommaso Quaggio/EPA

According to new findings, professional cyclist Davide Rebellin was run over by a German truck driver in northern Italy.

This was the result of the evaluation of surveillance videos and witness interviews, as announced by the Vicenza public prosecutor.

Accordingly, the truck driver was also found through cooperation with the German police.

Rebellin had died at the scene of the accident.

The 62-year-old driver works for a forwarding company from North Rhine-Westphalia.

Charges have now been brought against him.

According to prosecutors, he had left the scene of the accident and returned to Germany, as reported by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

The authorities are now investigating a hit-and-run after a fatality on the road.

The 51-year-old rebel, who used to drive for the German elite racing team Gerolsteiner and ended his long professional career just a few weeks ago, was hit by the trailer truck at a roundabout in Montebello Cicentino on Wednesday morning.

The public prosecutor's office has now published further details: As eyewitnesses reported, the German got out after the accident and approached the rebel lying on the street.

But then he immediately got back into the driver's cab of the semitrailer and drove away.

He was photographed by passers-by - the Carabinieri were able to use these pictures to locate the man.

According to »La Repubblica«, the truck driver is said to be the brother of the trucking company owner.

It was also announced that the German truck driver had been convicted of hit and run by a court in Foggia in southern Italy more than 20 years ago.

In addition, in 2014 in Chieti in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, the police took away his driver's license for drunk driving.

Rebellin was not the first Italian professional cyclist to die in a truck accident.

Former Giro d'Italia winner Michele Scarponi was also run over and killed by a van during a training session in April 2017 at the age of 37.

kha/dpa