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He walked the fine edge.
Via LGF Former Tour de France winner Marco Pantani was found dead Saturday in the Italian seaside resort of Rimini, according to reports from the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport and the ANSA news agency. The flamboyant Pantani, who made an emotional comeback to cycling last year after years of wrangling with the authorities over alleged drug-taking, had not competed regularly on the professional circuit for the past two years. Nicknamed "The Pirate" in Italy for his wearing of earrings and colorful headbands, Pantani won the Giro and the Tour de France in 1998 with the Mercatone Uno team, which he joined in 1997. He was the last rider to achieve the prestigious double in the same year, and the first Italian to win the Tour de France since Felice Gimondi in 1965. This is a major acheivement. Lance does not attempt this (He should) "He paid a very high price," said Gimondi, who was Pantaniâs manager for two years. "For four years he was at the center of a storm." After a successful career throughout much of the 1990âs as one of the best climbers in the peloton, his career hit the skids in the wake of the tough anti-doping laws introduced in Italy after the 1999 Giro, when he was targeted in a police raid on ridersâ hotels. Tests showed his blood hematocrit levels to be abnormally high - an indicator but not proof that a rider may be using endurance-enhancing drugs - and he was disqualified from the race only 36 hours from winning the event for a second time. A year later, Pantani returned to compete in the Tour de France, where he scored his last major victory on the stage to Courchevel. He was then banned for eight months in June 2002 by the Italian Cycling Federation after a syringe containing insulin was found in his hotel room during the 2001 Giro. A month later, to the annoyance of the UCI, he won a successful appeal due to an absence of proof. The international governing body appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to reinstate the eight-month ban, which if upheld would have ruled Pantani out of the 2003 Giro. However, in March of last year, CAS ruled he should only serve a six-month ban, effectively paving the way for a comeback. Instead, severe depression caused Pantani to spend the second half of June in a drugs and depression clinic near Venice. He was recently reported to be living with friends in the village of Predappio, but rarely rode his bike and was said to be overweight. Pantani was not registered with a professional team this year, and his father had said there was little chance of him ever racing again. Still, his death at such a young age has shocked the whole of Italy. Italian cycling star Mario Cipollini said Pantaniâs death was a great tragedy. "I am devastated," he said. "Itâs a tragedy of enormous proportions for everyone involved in cycling. Iâm lost for words." Franco Ballerini, coach of the Italian national cycling team, was quoted as saying: "Itâs something that is so huge, it doesnât seem true." And compatriot and colleague Stefano Garzelli compared Pantani to the legendary Fausto Coppi, who in 1949 became the first rider to win the Tour and the Giro in the same year - a feat Pantani repeated 49 years later. "Forty years on they remember Coppi, in 40 yearsâ time they will still be talking about Marco," said Garzelli. "Certainly he came under a great deal of pressure, not just from cycling. He was very strong but also very sensitive and took refuge in things he shouldnât have. The pressure he was exposed to would have been difficult for anyone to cope with. In the cycling rags there was an add for a cycling shoe with Pantani walking on water. Very Christ like. He was a star. He was a hard road cyclist. He put his life on the line. His Tour victory came over the "undefeatable" and defending Tour champion Jan Ulrich. This was Ulrich as the next Merkx and the main nemisis to Armstrong this past Tour. But Pantani attacked Jan when it got steep and Jan couldnât match The Pirate. Time Trialist, such as Miguel Indurian, had been dominating the Tour until Pantani and that made his win special. His Tour victory also had an affair of doping that overshowdowed the event and sullied the name of the French hope, Richard Virenque, and the shame it brought on his Festina team. Pantani was beautiful on the bike. Posted by: Lucky 2004-02-16 |
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