Wolfgang Rieke, 62, the German driver who hit and killed former cycling champion Davide Rebellin , 51, was arrested on a European arrest warrant requested by the Vicenza investigating judge.

This was communicated by the Public Prosecutor of Vicenza.

The truck driver is being held in prison in Münster, Germany. According to the ordinance, reads the note from the Public Prosecutor's Office, Rebellin's death "is to be attributed exclusively to a plurality of behavioral norms on the part of Rieke".

Within 60 days, the German authorities will have to decide whether or not to hand over the truck driver to Italian justice.

THE RECONSTRUCTION – The cyclist was riding his bike on the regional 11 Vicenza-Verona road when the truck ran over him near the Montebello Vicentino motorway junction.   Rieke got out of the cab and approached the victim, then resumed his seat in the cockpit and left , not before being photographed by some witnesses.

On 20 January, the investigators carried out an inspection in the German company of the truck driver, Duveneck, where the lorry was kept, analyzing the vehicle and discovering that there were deformations in the plastics in correspondence with the impact with the bike and Rebellin's body . In addition, the articulated lorry had been washed with an acid detergent precisely on the parts affected by the collision.

The technical consultancy - reads the note signed by the prosecutor Lino Giorgio Bruno - ascertained «that the driver had direct and indirect visibility which allowed him to adequately perceive the presence of the cyclist on the roadway . Also thanks to a camera that is activated automatically when the direction indicator comes on".

A professional since 1992, Rebellin had been a specialist in the classics: in his career he had won one edition of the Amstel Gold Race (in 2004), three of the Freccia Vallone (in 2004, 2007 and 2009) and one of the Liège-Bastogne-Liege ( in 2004), as well as a stage in the Giro d'Italia.

(Unioneonline/D)

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