Giro d’Italia, no new pink jersey due to Rebellin’s death. Cairo: “Great sadness”

No new pink jersey today in Milan. But a minute’s silence to remember Davide Rebellin, the 51-year-old ex-racer who tragically died, killed by a truck. Out of respect, the RCS Sport organization canceled the presentation, an event that should have taken place in the center of Milan, in the presence of the three Giro winners Ivan Basso, Damiano Cunego and Vincenzo Nibali. “I think it is a dutiful choice – comments Mauro Vegni, the director of the Giro d’Italia and RCS Sport cycling races -, we cannot celebrate on a day of mourning. The guests were arriving but it is not possible to celebrate any event. It is a moment that touches us all closely. Our thoughts go to Davide and his family in this terrible moment”.

The memory

—

Rebellin had worn the pink jersey for six days, on the occasion of the 1996 Giro d’Italia. “More than memories, my thoughts go to a man who has gone through many years in cycling and has given me many moments of joy. He did our own journey on the roads of Italy – continues Vegni -. Those 51 years showed how age had managed to defeat it. I don’t think there has ever been such a long-lived rider, but this was part of his way of interpreting cycling. The races he won, the placings and the jerseys he wore are many, but right now my deepest memories go to his family and loved ones.”

Cairo

—

Also present at the event was Urbano Cairo, president and managing director of RCS Mediagroup. “I learned the news as I got out of the car. I didn’t know him personally, but I followed his career when he wore the pink jersey. And then there was this extraordinary thing about him as a professional at 51. It takes a culture of respect, we need greater prevention, we need greater attention. We must try to understand how to do it because there are millions of people on the roads. Unfortunately these things continue to happen. I remember the Scarponi tragedy. Now it is something that is repeated Unfortunately, it happens every day on the roads. There must be greater attention, we need to understand how to do it. Now it seems almost obvious to say it, but prevention is needed and it is not easy because there are millions of people on the roads, in cars, trucks, in bicycle. There is fatality, but there must be something that must be done because it is not possible that so many people lose their lives. It is something terrible that leaves us terrified. The great family of the Giro d’Italia – he concludes Cairo – must launch the message for a more virtuous behavior. We’ve done it before but evidently it’s not enough because these tragedies still happen. We need more attention on the roads. We will reiterate this even more at the next Giro d’Italia. Today, on the day we should have presented the pink jersey, we felt this great sadness. At 51, he had broken all longevity records.”