Wolfgang Rieke, 63, was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for the accident that claimed the life of former professional cyclist Davide Rebellin in 2022.

According to witnesses, Rieke stopped and got out of his Volvo truck after hitting Rebellin while riding in Montebello Vicentino on November 30, 2022. The Germans then fled, leading to a multi-country manhunt by authorities in Italy, Germany, Austria, and Slovenia.

Rieke turned himself in to police in Münster, Germany, in June 2023. He was extradited to Italy, charged with vehicular homicide in Italy, and held in a Vicenza prison for trial.

The judge rejected several plea attempts by Leake's attorneys, rejecting his first plea of 2 years and 11 months and in February rejecting his second plea of 3 years and 11 months of house arrest.

The case was postponed after Rieke suffered a stroke in May and was hospitalized in serious condition.

The German's case was not his first. He pleaded guilty to a 2001 hit-and-run in Foggia, but the statute of limitations allowed him to avoid punishment; in 2014 he was charged with DUI in Chieti.

Leake reportedly completed his delivery in Berlin after fleeing the scene of Rebellin's death.

Rebellin had retired just six weeks before her death, having raced from childhood until age 51. His last race was the Veneto Classic, where he finished 29th.

Rebellin, who won the Ardennes three times in a row in 2004, won La Flèche Wallonne three times, but won the Liège - Bastogne - Liège and Amstel Gold for the first time. He also won the Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico overall.

His career was interrupted by a positive test for the EPO drug CERA and he was stripped of his 2008 Olympic silver medal. After this ban, the door to the World Tour was closed and he embraced a second career with lower-level teams such as Meridiana Camen, CCC Porzat, and his last team, Work Service Vital Care Vega.

See also

“I kept racing even when I was banned” - Davide Rebellin's 30 years in professional cycling

Davide Rebellin: a career in pictures

Obituary: Davide Rebellin, life on two wheels [27