Marco Pantani

Marco Pantani (Cesena, January 13, 1970 – February 14, 2004) was an Italian cyclist widely regarded as being one of the best climbers of his generation in professional road bicycle racing. The high point of his career was to win the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia in 1998. The bandana he often wore and his attacking style of riding led to him being dubbed 'Il Pirata' (the pirate) by the adoring Italian "tifosi" - his fans. However, since 1999 his career was dogged by drug allegations, following his failing a blood test in the 1999 Giro.

The great years

Pantani returned to action in the Giro in 1997, but was felled by a black cat which ran out in front of him during one of the first stages, ending his race. Remarkably, he returned to action the same year in the Tour and mounted a strong challenge for the yellow jersey. Because of his slight build and unique ability, Pantani was virtually unmatchable in the high mountains of the Alps and Pyrenees and won two stages, establishing the record time for the climb of Alpe d'Huez, but the bulkier and more powerful Jan Ullrich showed his own determination and limited the amount of time he lost to Pantani during some titanic battles. Ullrich was then able to recover these losses and more in the individual time trials to which he was far more suited; thus, he ultimately claimed the yellow jersey, with Pantani finishing third overall after Jan Ullrich and Richard Virenque.

Related Topics:
1997 - Yellow jersey - Alps - Pyrenees - Alpe d'Huez - Jan Ullrich - Individual time trial - Richard Virenque

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The following year, 1998, was the year of glory for Pantani. For the first time he won the Giro d'Italia, beating Pavel Tonkov and Alex Zülle. And he was also triumphant in the Tour de France; where he was finally able to crack the resolute and hitherto indestructible Ullrich, who was wearing the yellow jersey, defeating him by almost nine minutes in one sensational mountain stage arriving at Deux Alpes, across Col du Galibier, under horrible weather conditions. Although Ullrich showed his character by going on the offensive during the next stage, Pantani followed him easily and went on to become the first Italian since Felice Gimondi (1965) to win the Tour. His achievement was all the more remarkable because for many years the Tour has been dominated by powerful time trial specialists such as Miguel Induráin and Jan Ullrich. Not since the days of Lucien van Impe (1976) had a 'pure' climber been victorious, and Pantani's triumph resurrected the legend of the specialist mountain man flying up the steepest of ascents as if made of air.

Related Topics:
1998 - Giro d'Italia - Pavel Tonkov - Alex Zülle - Deux Alpes - Col du Galibier - Felice Gimondi - 1965 - Miguel Induráin - Jan Ullrich - Lucien van Impe - 1976

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Unfortunately, because of the big doping scandal during 1998's Tour, the Tour that should have been remembered as Pantani's Tour, passed to history as the Tour of the Festina Affair; from the name of the French Team Festina led at the time by Richard Virenque. That year, the Festina team was excluded from the Tour after one of its medical staff members was caught at the France-Belgium border with many illicit doping products hidden in his car. The scandal touched not only the Festina team, but all the cyclists: during the Tour there were investigations of numerous teams and many of them left the Tour voluntarily. There were two cyclists' strikes protesting the police atmosphere to which the Tour had fallen. Under those conditions, Pantani, who was not touched by the doping scandal, looked like a saviour for that Tour and for cycling in general.

Related Topics:
Festina - Richard Virenque - France - Belgium - Doping

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