Marco Pantani is dead

Tegellan · Post by **Tegellan** » February 14, 2004, 9:48 pm

According to Danish news sources, he was found dead saturday night.

Godspeed little elephant

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » February 14, 2004, 11:27 pm

Who is he?

Iedok65 · Post by **Iedok65** » February 15, 2004, 12:47 am

Who Dat Be?

Kelshara · Post by **Kelshara** » February 15, 2004, 1:07 am

Fairly well known cyclist, last person to win Tour de France and Giro d'Italia (wonder if I got that name correct) in the same year. Had some drug controversy attached to him though.

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » February 15, 2004, 3:20 am

It was those damn poppy seed muffins.

Tegellan · Post by **Tegellan** » February 15, 2004, 11:18 am

One of the most famous mountain riders of the 90es, he retired a few years back because of dopign controversy.

He was called the little elephant because he had big ears that stuck out, or the pirate because of his bandana. No doubt one of the best mountain riders to ever grace the roads with his presence.

noel · Post by **noel** » February 18, 2004, 5:15 pm

I almost posted this in sports, but didn't think anyone here would give a shit.

The '98 tour was the first one I ever watched start to finish. I can still remember Il Pirata (as he was so often called) just plain riding away from everyone up the steepest mountain I'd ever seen in my life, and gaining 10-12 minutes over everyone else in the peloton.

A lot of people didn't like Pantani, myself included, but I respected him as a competitor and as one of the greatest climbers cycling had ever seen. When he crashed in the '03 Giro, on one of the huge mountain stages in the Alps, he was struggling to get to the top, and on his descent he was cut off by Stephano Garzelli. He crashed to the side of the road in a snow bank. He got off his bike and was grimacing with pain and in tears, pondering whether to continue or quit. After sitting on the side of the road and struggling with obvious pain and cuts for nearly 10 minutes, Marco continued on and finished the race. He lost a lot of time that day, but the key is he didn't quit. That is what cycling is really about; suffering, but never, ever quittting, and never giving up. He still managed to place 14th in the final GC, showing flashes of his formerly brilliant self.

Lance Armstrong had the following comments regarding Pantani's untimely death (he was 34):

"This is terrible and shocking news. My thoughts and condolensces go out to his family, friends, and fans. Regardless of our battles on/off the bike, I had a deep respect for Marco. Cycling has indeed lost a great champion and a great personality."

His death is appearing to be a suicide, but in my opinion, the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of the Italian Justice system and the press who villified this man and made him the scapegoat for a sport riddled with doping problems.

I'd try to explain more, but if you don't watch cycling, and you didn't see this guy ride, you simply can't get it. I had a profound sense of sadness when I read that he'd died.