On Friday, a 62-year-old German truck driver was identified as a suspect following the road accident that resulted in the death of Italian former champion cyclist Davide Rebellin earlier this week.
"Our relentless investigations... have allowed Vicenza Carabinieri police to put a face and a name to the driver of the heavy goods vehicle that ran over and killed Davide Rebellin," police colonel Giuseppe Moscati revealed in a statement, following cooperation on the case with German counterparts.
After the accident, which occurred on November 30, the truck driver was nowhere to be found.
Though he has been identified as a suspect, he has not been placed under arrest, as the German criminal code does not envisage the crime of vehicular homicide.
Rebellin was knocked off his bicycle and killed by a truck near Vicenza on Wednesday.
The former cycling champion, 51, was riding his bicycle when he was hit and run over by the lorry, near the motorway junction of Montebello Vicentino.
The truck driver reportedly did not notice the accident and continued on his way.
Rebellin, who hailed from Verona, had won in his career, among other races, an Amstel Gold Race, three editions of the Fleche Wallonne, and a stage of the Giro d'Italia.
After winning silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, his medal was later revoked due to a positive doping test.
Rebellin was 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.
Rebellin was best known in the cycling world for his 2004 season, when he achieved a then unprecedented treble with wins in the Amstel Gold Race, La Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
He also won stage races such as the Paris-Nice and the Tirreno-Adriatico.
