With his two year suspension due to finish in just over a month’s time, the National Anti-Doping Tribunal of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) has indicated that it will not pursue further charges against Davide Rebellin.
Although the rider is Italian, he was competing under a licence issues by federation of Monaco, where he lives, and was handed a two year ban by it after his positive test in the last Olympics. He was found to have used EPO CERA en route to second place in the road race.
CONI has declared that it is closing the file on Rebellin. “The National Anti-Doping Agency tribunal, chaired by Vice President Luca Fiormonte, in disciplinary proceedings against the athlete Davide Rebellin, noted the request made by the Office of the Doping Prosecutor providing for the filing of his proceedings.
“Rebellin has already been banned for two years by the Disciplinary Commission of the Monegasque Cycling Federation in its ruling of September 24th 2010 (effective from April 28, 2009).”
Rebellin has been stripped of his silver medal. It went to Fabian Cancellara, with Alexandr Kolobnev moving up into the bronze medal slot.
Rebellin has never admitted the doping offence. He has been training hard and wants to make a comeback when his ban expires on April 27. One of the teams he has been linked to is the Astana squad, which is led by another Monaco resident, Alexandre Vinokourov.
Rebellin’s past victories include Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Amstel Gold, three editions of Flèche Wallonne, Tirreno-Adriatico, Paris-Nice and the Clasica de San Sebastian.