February 14 is the 1st anniversary of the death of Italian cyclists Marco Pantani who won both the Giro and Tour in ’98. Since he was kicked out of the Giro in ’99 he was the one rider in the peloton that all fans had an opinion about. For the most part fans either liked or disliked him, and from ’99 until his death only Lance probably had more written about him. Considering how little Pantani rode those last 5 years the attention he got showed what a charismatic figure he was. I make no apologies for being a fan and I will always say he was not my hero, but he was my favorite.
Pantani emerged on the scene in ’94 at the Giro winning 2 stages and coming in 2nd overall ahead of Miguel Indurain. In the Tour that year he seemed to have bad luck with early breaks staying away him just missing out on several stages. One stage he crashed early and looked like he would abandon surrounded by his team before he got back on and rode great to get a top finish. A very familiar scene would be played out 9 years later in the Giro. Those scenes showed the 2 sides of Pantani with both his despair and then courage to fight back.
’95 he was hit by a car while training in May that kept him out of the Giro. He returned and won on Alpe d’Heuz for the first time and anther stage in the Tour as well. He later would go on to finish 3rd in the World Championship held in Columbia that year with several great attacks. Unfortunately he would have a terrible crash in the Milan-Turin race with a car, and some doctors feared he would never be able to walk again. Also some of the medical records from that crash would also haunt him in other ways as his blood hematocrit ranged from 60% down to 16% in a matter of days.
He returned yet again in ’97 with another 2 stage wins in the Tour including a record climb of Alpe d’Huez. That year there were no climbs before the climb of the Alpe and it looked like a sprinters lead-out to the base of the climb for his team to make sure nobody got away and delivered Marco to the front to start the climb.
’98 was his most famous year with his wins in the Giro and Tour. He did not start either race as a top favorite. Most thought Zulle would win the Giro and few thought Ullrich could be beaten in the Tour. In ’99 the Giro organizers created a route perfect for Marco and Pantani was dominating the race winning all the mountain stages. In one he lost his chain at the start of the final climb to Oropa and had to stop to put it back on. A terrifying climb where he passed everyone and still won by almost a minute. In the next to last stage that he was expected to win at the Mortiolo he was kicked out of the race for having too high a hematocrit. He was never the same after that despite winning 2 stages in the Tour in 2000 and a good ride in the 2003 Giro.
After ’99 Marco’s life become one of a Shakespearean tragedy and unless there was a major change to Pantani his death became the only end, and like Hamlet, Lear, and Othello; Pantani was unable to do the changes he needed to save his life. His last 6 months reads like any other cocaine addict rather then a top athlete. His team was willing to bend over backward to allow him to ride for the Bianchi team in the 2004 Tour, but Marco said he would not ride as a helper to Ulrich. There were plenty of people that tried to help Pantani the last few years, but he often refused their help.
I sure hope that Marco has found the peace that seemed to elude him in the last 5 years of his life.
Perfect mini bio and tribute to the great but flawed genius that he was.
Posted by: Andre Veloux | February 28, 2005 at 11:58 AM
Missing things about his personal and early life. Was he a total recluse, and no one can find anything else about him? Did he like pepperoni pizza? How about some of the smaller details?
Posted by: someone | March 01, 2005 at 07:50 AM