Davide Rebellin

Davide Rebellin

Personal information
Full name	Davide Rebellin
Nickname	Tintin
Born	(1971-08-09) 9 August 1971 San Bonifacio, Italy
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	63 kg (139 lb; 9.9 st)
Team information
Current team	CCC Polsat Polkowice
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Classics specialist
Professional team(s)
1992–1994 1995 1996 1997 1998–1999 2000–2001 2002–2008 2009 2011 2012 2013–	MG Bianchi Maglificio MG-Technogym Polti Française des Jeux Polti Liquigas-Pata Gerolsteiner Diquigiovanni-Androni Miche-Guerciotti Meridiana-Kamen CCC Polsat Polkowice
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia 1 individual stage (1996) Stage races Tirreno–Adriatico (2001) Paris–Nice (2008) Tour du Gévaudan Languedoc-Roussillon (2012) One-day races and Classics Züri-Metzgete (1997) Clásica de San Sebastián (1997) Tre Valli Varesine (1998, 2011) Rund um den Henninger Turm (2003) Amstel Gold Race (2004) La Flèche Wallonne (2004, 2007, 2009) Liège–Bastogne–Liège (2004) Giro dell'Emilia (2006)
Medal record Representing  Italy Road bicycle racing Olympic Games Disqualified 2008 Beijing [[Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's road race|Men's road World Championships Silver 1991 Stuttgart Amateur road race race]]
Infobox last updated on 27 January 2014

Davide Rebellin (born 9 August 1971 in San Bonifacio, province of Verona) is an Italian road bicycle racer, currently riding for CCC Polsat Polkowice.^[1] In 2012 he rode for the Meridiana-Kamen team.^[2] He served a 2-year suspension for testing positive for Mircera at the 2008 Olympic Games.^[3] He is best known in the cycling world for his 2004 season, when he won a then unprecedented treble with wins in Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He is considered one of the finest classics specialists of his generation with more than fifty top ten finishes in UCI Road World Cup and UCI ProTour classics.^[4] Throughout his career he has also won a stage in Giro d'Italia and stage races like Paris–Nice and Tirreno–Adriatico.

Career

Rebellin turned professional in 1992 and came to the attention of the cycling world with a string of strong performances during his early years. In 1996 he gained further notice when he thrived in the 1996 Giro d'Italia. Riding for Polti, the young Italian took stage seven and with it the maglia rosa. He held the leader's jersey for six days and finished the Grand Tour sixth overall. Years later he said of the race, "I have won Classics, but the first important win was in the 1996 Giro, winning the maglia rosa with the stage."^[5]

Rebellin time trials in 2006

In 1997 he scored his first UCI Road World Cup victories by winning the Clásica de San Sebastián and the Züri-Metzgete (then known as Grand Prix de Suisse). The following years he won many Italian classic races like Giro del Veneto and Tre Valli Varesine. In 2001 he won the Tirreno–Adriatico stage race.

During 2004 season he got seven victories, including an, at that time, unprecedented treble win in the Ardennes classics with wins in Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Only Philippe Gilbert has repeated this feat since, in 2011. He also scored a number of podium places in top races such as Paris–Nice and Clásica de San Sebastián. Despite his stellar achievements, Rebellin did not win the 2004 UCI Road World Cup, which went to Paolo Bettini.

In 2005, Rebellin fell short of his triumphs in 2004, but posted yet another solid year. Although he generally concentrated on classics and small tours, he was part of the Gerolsteiner team in the 2005 Tour de France. With a number of solid performances throughout the season, without any individual victories, Rebellin finished as the 3rd highest ranked rider in the UCI ProTour rankings. Apart from the ProTour races, he only won one race in the 2005 season, taking the first stage of the Brixia Tour.

Rebellin began the season leading Paris–Nice until Alberto Contador moved him to second in the final stage to Nice. He later finished second in Amstel Gold Race and won the Flèche Wallonne, which made him the oldest ever winner of an UCI ProTour race. He finished second in the UCI ProTour behind Cadel Evans.

Rebellin triumphed early in 2008 with an overall victory in the Paris–Nice. He won the stage race by 3 seconds ahead of Rinaldo Nocentini.^[6] He went on to win the Tour du Haut Var and show strongly in the Ardennes classics with a second place in the Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

Rebellin won the silver medal in the Men's road race at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He was a member of a six-man breakaway group and claimed second place in the sprint finish. This medal has now been revoked in light of his doping sentence by the International Olympic Committee.^[7]

Doping

In April 2009, the IOC announced that six athletes had tested positive during the 2008 Summer Olympics, without mentioning names or sports. Later, rumours emerged that the athletes included two cyclists, one of them a medal winner.^[8] The Italian Olympic committee then confirmed that a male Italian cyclist had tested positive for CERA during the men's road race, without identifying a name. The next day, on 29 April 2009, the Italian Olympic committee confirmed that Rebellin was an involved athlete. Rebellin's agent sent a request for the analysis of the B sample^[9][10] which was later also confirmed to be positive.^[3]

Palmares

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Giro	—	—	—	29	WD	WD	—	WD	—	WD	WD	WD	—	—	—	—	—
Tour	58	—	—	—	—	—	WD	—	—	—	—	WD	—	—	—	—	—
Vuelta	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	WD	WD	—	—	—	—	—	—

WD = Withdrew; In Progress = IP

References

External links

• Davide Rebellin profile at Cycling Archives
• Dopeolog Profile
• Davide Rebellin is one of the characters of the cycling film "The Last Kilometer"