Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Foreshadowing a Doping Past - Rebellin: "This year we also have the Olympic Games. I want to play a good role there."

Isn't it creepy to read an interview like this one now, knowing what we know about Rebellin's love affair with the CERA during his final years? How badly do you think he wishes he would have retired on 17 January 2008, the day after giving this interview, and not set-off on the season that would lead to his destruction, and the invalidation of a lifetime of work?


"16.01.2008/ Davide Rebellin will start his seventh season with Team Gerolsteiner. Rebellin won last years Fleche Wallonne and the 36 year old Italian rider aims for the Ardennes classics, the worlds and the Olympic Games. German based website radsport-aktiv.de spoke with Davide Rebellin.

Davide, will 2008 be your final season as a pro?

[Ed. note: I bet he wishes it was, and that he'd retired BEFORE the Olympics.]

Davide Rebellin: At the moment I expect to ride one more year and quit at the end of 2009.

What are your goals for the upcoming season?

Davide Rebellin: I will concentrate on the classics again, especiall on the Ardennes races. This year we also have the Olympic Games. I want to play a good role there. And the worlds will take place in Italy this year.As an Italian, of course I am double motivated and I want to achieve a good result..."

Find the Full Interview Here.

If this were a movie, and not a blog, here the screen would be fading to black but audio would be rising, a crackle crackle whir whiz static zwirrr hum sound of a radio being tuned-in, and a somber voice would announce, in unaccented English such that you couldn't place the speaker's place of origin:

"Two cyclists have been implicated in new doping positives which have come out of retroactive testing of samples from last year's Beijing Games...two cyclists... positive for the EPO variant CERA. La Gazzetta dello Sport has reported that one of the positive cyclists is Davide Rebellin, who took second in the road race in Beijing. The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has confirmed only that one of the athletes is from Italy, but has not given a name. Rebellin's former trade teammate Stefan Schumacher tested positive for CERA following retroactive testing of Tour de France samples last October. The tests were completed after the German had already participated in the Olympic time trial..." - Cyclingnews.com.


Link to a "radio being tuned" sound...

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