Italian rider training hard, says teams are interested in him
Psyched to return at a very high level when his doping ban ends, Davide Rebellin has revealed that he will have clocked up 33,000 kilometres by the end of this year, with much of that at a high intensity. The 39 year old Italian is currently negotiating with various teams, and looks set to rejoin the peloton after April 27th.
“I have several contacts, but the proposals that interest me most are two,” he told Il Giornale di Vicenza. “I’ll decide by mid-December. I want to return with a team that allows me to participate in the biggest races, the Classics first, and to earn the Azzura jersey [Italian team] in the next championships.”
Rebellin incurred a two year ban from cycling after testing positive for CERA at the 2008 Olympic Games. He claimed he was clean and an error was committed, but lost his appeal and was handed a 24 month ban, starting April 2009. He also lost his silver medal from the Olympic road race.
Rebellin’s long absence from competition plus the fact that he will turn 40 next year mean that he faces a tough task to get back to a high level. He claims he can do it, though.
“I’ve always trained as if I had to race the following week. I replaced the races with specific workouts that simulate competition,” he said. He’s kept to a strict training programme, missing little. “Only during the floods, I stopped [then] for two days in a row.”
One of the teams reported as being interested in him is Astana. He knows team captain Alexandre Vinkourov well, and sees him often. “In Monaco [where he lives], I often find myself with Vinokourov and Gilbert. There are also many Australians, but they make too many stops at the bar for my taste. When I go back to Italy I usually train with Gatto and the group of Ballan and Tosatto.”
Remaining in contact with top pros enables him to keep himself in mind when places come up on teams. His case puts many squads off, of course, but Rebellin doesn’t envisage any problems in finding a deal for 2011.
The Italian’s top achievement came in 2004, when he won the rare triple of Liège–Bastogne–Liège, La Flèche Wallonne and the Amstel Gold Race. He is a punchy rider, who fares best on short, steep climbs and in uphill sprints.