Jan 8, 2006
Rebellin Not Going Argentinian
Davide Rebellin captured the triple in 2004 by winning the Amstel Gold Race, Liege-Bastongne-Liege and Fleche Wallone. He is one of Italy’s top one-day riders and had great form going into the Olympics and the World Championships that year.
Unfortunaelty he was not on Franco Ballerini’s radar to join either team. Feeling disgruntled, he decided that he should try to ride the World Championships for another country. Davide “The Rebel” Rebellin had some relative somewhere that made it seem feasable to switch nationalities in time for the Worlds. Small problems arose as Rebby had to actually visit the county at some point and spend some time there.
Argentina is not like visiting Switzerland or Portugal, it take a while to get there from Italy. The Argentinian Rancheros love their beef which is cheap and plentiful. This diet-although tasty-does not agree with the slight almost waifish figure that a man such as Rebellin has to maintain.
Seems like the process of becoming Argentinian for one race was going to be more complicated that originally thought, so no Worlds for Davide in 2004 or even 2005.
In 2005 “The Rebel’s” only result was a stage win in the Brixia Tour which is very paltry when you are one of the more fearsome small Italian one-day races whose name is not Paolo Bettini. A change is necessary, so Rebby will give up on becoming an Argentinian and focus on staying Italian. Rebellin will be focusing on getting some good results in the spring classics in 2006 and is now talking to Franco Ballerini about getting one of the coveted spots on the Italian World’s team for Salzburg. It helps that Rebellin can get up steep hills quick as the German Worlds looks to be one for the climbers.
Rebellini has not been too fond of Grand Tours as he rode the Giro last year but only lasted one week. He will give the race another try this year to see how things go. His main goal is to win a stage and to capture the Maglia Rosa which he last wore ten long years ago.