Marco Pantani

Marco Pantani

Personal information
Full name	Marco Pantani
Nickname	'Il Pirata' (The pirate)
Date of birth	13 January 1970(1970-01-13)
Place of birth	Cesena, Italy
Date of death	14 February 2004(2004-02-14) (aged 34)
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Weight	57 kg (130 lb; 9.0 st)
Team information
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climbing specialist
Professional team(s)
1992–1996 1997–2003	Carrera Mercatone Uno
Major wins
Tour de France General classification (1998) Young riders classification (1994, 1995) 8 Individual Stages Giro d'Italia General classification (1998) Mountains Jersey (1998) 8 Individual stages
Medal record Competitor for  Italy Road bicycle racing World Championships Bronze 1995 Duitama Elite Men's Road Race
Infobox last updated on 24 July 2008

Marco Pantani (13 January 1970–14 February 2004) was an Italian road racing cyclist, one of the best climbers in professional road bicycle racing. He won the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia in 1998. He was known as 'Il Pirata' (the pirate) because of the bandana he wore. His career was beset by drug abuse allegations after a failed blood test in the 1999 Giro d'Italia. He died after a cocaine overdose in 2004.

The first victories

Pantani was born in Cesena, Romagna. At 1.72m and 57 kg (5 ft 8 in, 126 lb/9 st),^[1] Marco Pantani had the classic build for a mountain climber. As an amateur, he won the 1992 Baby Giro by his climbing.^[2] In 1994, during his second Giro d'Italia, he won two mountain stages and came second behind Eugeni Berzin but ahead of Miguel Indurain, who won the two previous Giros. Pantani first rode the Tour de France in 1994, coming third. In 1995 he was hit by a car while training but rode the Tour and won stages at Alpe d'Huez and Guzet Neige. He came third in the 1995 world championship in Colombia. Shortly after returning to Italy he collided head-on with a car during the Italian Milano–Torino race. He broke his leg in two places.^[3]

Pantani's climbing style was to stay on the lower section of his handlebars, often pedaling out of the saddle. Bianchi built for him a bike with a longer steerer tube for higher handlebars.^[4]

1997-1998

Pantani returned to the Giro in 1997 but fell after a black cat ran in front of him during one of the first stages.^[5] He returned to action at the Tour and won two stages in the Alps and Pyrénées, establishing a record time for the climb of Alpe d'Huez. Jan Ullrich won, with Pantani third behind Richard Virenque.

Fans on the roadside of the climb to Les Deux Alpes, awaiting the arrival of the 1998 Tour de France.

The following year, 1998, Pantani won the Giro d'Italia for the first time, beating Pavel Tonkov and Alex Zülle. In the Tour de France, Pantani pulled back early time losses to Ullrich and then defeated Ullrich by almost nine minutes in the mountain stage, from Grenoble to Les Deux Alpes, via the Col de la Croix de Fer and Col du Galibier. Pantani became the first Italian since Felice Gimondi (1965) to win the Tour.

The late years

Things turned bad for Pantani towards the end of the 1999 Giro. He won four stages, with his challengers far away, and only one mountain stage left: however, he was disqualified for a high red blood-cell count which suggested EPO. Later, it was revealed he had a hematocrit level of 60 per cent after his crash in 1995, above the later limit of 50.^[6] Pantani stayed away from the rest of the year's races.

In 2000 he was back in the Giro after deciding to ride only the day before the race started. He lost time and could not attack until the last mountain stage to Briançon, in which he helped his teammate Stefano Garzelli to win. Pantani rode the 2000 Tour de France. He was off the pace but matched Lance Armstrong on Mont Ventoux, leaving the field behind. Armstrong eased and appeared to allow Pantani the stage victory; Pantani resented the gesture, causing bad feelings between the two exacerbated when Armstrong referred to him as Elefantino (Italian for 'little elephant'), a reference to his prominent ears.^[7] In that same Tour, he won another stage, to Courchevel, leaving everyone behind. It turned out to be his last victory. On the next stage, over the hors categorie Col de Joux-Plane, Pantani broke away to crush Armstrong. Instead, he suffered stomach problems and dropped out. He never raced the Tour again.^[8]

After that he raced sporadically in 2001 and 2002, morally defeated from doping suspicions. He seemed to be back during the Giro of 2003, where he did not win any stage but finishing well-placed in the mountains.^[9]

Pantani entered a clinic in northern Italy in June 2003, suffering clinical depression.^[10]

"He's gone" – front page announcement in La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Shrine to Pantani on the Mortirolo Pass.

Death

During the early evening of 14 February 2004 Pantani was found dead at a hotel in Rimini, Italy. An autopsy revealed he had a cerebral edema and heart failure, and a coroner's inquest revealed acute cocaine poisoning. Mario Cipollini said "I am devastated. It's a tragedy of enormous proportions for everyone involved in cycling. I'm lost for words."^[11]

Pantani was buried in his hometown, Cesenatico. Twenty thousand mourners were at his funeral, during which his manager Manuela Ronchi read from his diary:

^[12]

Miguel Indurain, five-times Tour de France winner, paid tribute by saying: "He got people hooked on the sport. There may be riders who have achieved more than him, but they never succeeded in drawing in the fans like he did."^[13]

Giro d'Italia's organizers decided to dedicate a mountain pass to Pantani's memory every year. In the 2004 edition, the first Cima Pantani was Mortirolo Pass, a pass that played a key role in Pantani's history. When it was included in the Giro for the third time in 1994 Pantani attacked, leaving everyone behind, to earn win at Aprica.

The 16th stage of 2004 Tour de France was dedicated to Pantani's memory. This stage was an individual time trial up to Alpe d'Huez, where Marco Pantani won in 1995 and 1997.^[14]

Alleged drug use

Matt Rendell's biography of Pantani suggests Pantani used recombinant erythropoietin (rEPO) throughout his professional career. It alleges that seasonal levels of hematocrit from several sources showed variations which exceeded those possible naturally, and that Pantani's great victories were probably with levels up to 60 per cent.^[15] However, his autopsy ruled out the continued use of drugs such as EPO.^[16]

Major results

Source:^[17]

See also

• List of doping cases in cycling

References

External links

• Italian Official website

Further reading

• Fiore, Stefano (2004). Pantani Vive (with photography by Emanuele and Stefano Sirotti). De Eecloonaar. ISBN 9789077562055. 
• Rendell, Matt (2006). The Death of Marco Pantani – A Biography. Weidenfeld & Nicholson. ISBN 9780297850960. 
• Ronchi, Manuela (2004). Un uono in fuga – la vera storia di Marco Pantani. Rizzoli. ISBN 9788817003674. 
• Ronchi, Manuela (2005). Man on the Run – the Life and Death of Marco Pantani. Robson Books. ISBN 9781861059208. 
• Wilcockson, John (2005). Marco Pantani – the Legend of a Tragic Champion (with photography by Graham Watson). Velo Press. ISBN 9781931382656. 

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Jan Ullrich	Vélo d'Or 1998	Succeeded by Lance Armstrong

Winners of the general classification in the Giro d'Italia 1909 Luigi Ganna • 1910–11 Carlo Galetti • 1912* Team Atala • 1913 Carlo Oriani • 1914 Alfonso Calzolari 1915–18 World War I 1919 Costante Girardengo • 1920 Gaetano Belloni • 1921–22 Giovanni Brunero • 1923 Costante Girardengo • 1924 Giuseppe Enrici • 1925 Alfredo Binda 1926 Giovanni Brunero • 1927–29 Alfredo Binda • 1930 Luigi Marchisio • 1931 Francesco Camusso • 1932 Antonio Pesenti • 1933 Alfredo Binda • 1934 Learco Guerra 1935 Vasco Bergamaschi • 1936–37 Gino Bartali • 1938–39 Giovanni Valetti • 1940 Fausto Coppi 1941–45 World War II 1946 Gino Bartali • 1947 Fausto Coppi • 1948 Fiorenzo Magni • 1949 Fausto Coppi • 1950 Hugo Koblet • 1951 Fiorenzo Magni • 1952–53 Fausto Coppi 1954 Carlo Clerici • 1955 Fiorenzo Magni • 1956 Charly Gaul • 1957 Gastone Nencini • 1958 Ercole Baldini • 1959 Charly Gaul • 1960 Jacques Anquetil 1961 Arnaldo Pambianco • 1962–63 Franco Balmamion • 1964 Jacques Anquetil • 1965 Vittorio Adorni • 1966 Gianni Motta • 1967 Felice Gimondi • 1968 Eddy Merckx 1969 Felice Gimondi • 1970 Eddy Merckx • 1971 Gösta Pettersson • 1972–74 Eddy Merckx • 1975 Fausto Bertoglio • 1976 Felice Gimondi • 1977 Michel Pollentier 1978 Johan de Muynck • 1979 Giuseppe Saronni • 1980 Bernard Hinault • 1981 Giovanni Battaglin • 1982 Bernard Hinault • 1983 Giuseppe Saronni 1984 Francesco Moser • 1985 Bernard Hinault • 1986 Roberto Visentini • 1987 Stephen Roche • 1988 Andy Hampsten • 1989 Laurent Fignon • 1990 Gianni Bugno 1991 Franco Chioccioli • 1992–93 Miguel Indurain • 1994 Evgeni Berzin • 1995 Tony Rominger • 1996 Pavel Tonkov • 1997 Ivan Gotti • 1998 Marco Pantani 1999 Ivan Gotti • 2000 Stefano Garzelli • 2001 Gilberto Simoni • 2002 Paolo Savoldelli • 2003 Gilberto Simoni • 2004 Damiano Cunego • 2005 Paolo Savoldelli 2006 Ivan Basso • 2007 Danilo Di Luca • 2008 Alberto Contador • 2009 Denis Menchov • 2010 Ivan Basso *This Giro was contested solely by teams, with no individual classification

Winners of the general classification in the Tour de France 1903 Maurice Garin • 1904 Henri Cornet • 1905 Louis Trousselier • 1906 René Pottier • 1907–1908 Lucien Petit-Breton • 1909 François Faber • 1910 Octave Lapize • 1911 Gustave Garrigou • 1912 Odile Defraye • 1913–14 Philippe Thys • 1915–18 World War I • 1919 Firmin Lambot • 1920 Philippe Thys • 1921 Léon Scieur • 1922 Firmin Lambot • 1923 Henri Pélissier • 1924–25 Ottavio Bottecchia • 1926 Lucien Buysse • 1927–28 Nicolas Frantz • 1929 Maurice De Waele • 1930 André Leducq • 1931 Antonin Magne • 1932 André Leducq • 1933 Georges Speicher • 1934 Antonin Magne • 1935 Romain Maes • 1936 Sylvère Maes • 1937 Roger Lapébie • 1938 Gino Bartali • 1939 Sylvère Maes • 1940–46 World War II • 1947 Jean Robic • 1948 Gino Bartali • 1949 Fausto Coppi • 1950 Ferdinand Kübler • 1951 Hugo Koblet • 1952 Fausto Coppi • 1953–55 Louison Bobet • 1956 Roger Walkowiak • 1957 Jacques Anquetil • 1958 Charly Gaul • 1959 Federico Bahamontes • 1960 Gastone Nencini • 1961–64 Jacques Anquetil • 1965 Felice Gimondi • 1966 Lucien Aimar • 1967 Roger Pingeon • 1968 Jan Janssen • 1969–72 Eddy Merckx • 1973 Luis Ocaña • 1974 Eddy Merckx • 1975 Bernard Thévenet • 1976 Lucien Van Impe • 1977 Bernard Thévenet • 1978–79 Bernard Hinault • 1980 Joop Zoetemelk • 1981–82 Bernard Hinault • 1983–84 Laurent Fignon • 1985 Bernard Hinault • 1986 Greg LeMond • 1987 Stephen Roche • 1988 Pedro Delgado • 1989–90 Greg LeMond • 1991–95 Miguel Indurain • 1996 Bjarne Riis • 1997 Jan Ullrich • 1998 Marco Pantani • 1999–2005 Lance Armstrong • 2006 Óscar Pereiro • 2007 Alberto Contador • 2008 Carlos Sastre • 2009–10 Alberto Contador

Tour de France young rider classification winners 1975 Francesco Moser • 1976 Enrique Martínez Heredia • 1977 Dietrich Thurau • 1978 Henk Lubberding • 1979 Jean-René Bernaudeau • 1980 Johan van der Velde • 1981 Peter Winnen • 1982 Phil Anderson • 1983 Laurent Fignon • 1984 Greg LeMond • 1985 Fabio Parra • 1986 Andrew Hampsten • 1987 Raúl Alcalá • 1988 Erik Breukink • 1989 Fabrice Philipot • 1990 Gilles Delion • 1991 Álvaro Mejía • 1992 Eddy Bouwmans • 1993 Antonio Martín • 1994–1995 Marco Pantani • 1996–1998 Jan Ullrich • 1999 James Lloyd • 2000 Francisco Mancebo • 2001 Óscar Sevilla • 2002 Ivan Basso • 2003 Denis Menchov • 2004 Vladimir Karpets • 2005 Yaroslav Popovych • 2006 Damiano Cunego • 2007 Alberto Contador • 2008–2010 Andy Schleck