 Pantani climbingAlpe d'Huez in1997 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Marco Pantani | ||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Il Pirata ("The Pirate") Elefantino ("The Little Elephant")[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Born | (1970-01-13)13 January 1970 Cesena,Emilia-Romagna, Italy | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 14 February 2004(2004-02-14) (aged 34) Rimini, Emilia-Romagna, Italy | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft7+1⁄2 in)[2][3] | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 57 kg (126 lb; 9 st 0 lb)[3] | ||||||||||||||
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| Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||
| Rider type | Climber | ||||||||||||||
| Amateur teams | |||||||||||||||
| 1989 | G.S. Rinascita Ravenna | ||||||||||||||
| 1990–1992 | G.S. Giacobazzi-Nonantola | ||||||||||||||
| Professional teams | |||||||||||||||
| 1992–1996 | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond | ||||||||||||||
| 1997–2003 | Mercatone Uno | ||||||||||||||
| Major wins | |||||||||||||||
Grand Tours
Other
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Medal record
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Marco Pantani (Italian:[ˈmarkopanˈtaːni]; 13 January 1970 – 14 February 2004) was an Italianroad racing cyclist, widely regarded as one of the greatestclimbing specialists in the history of the sport by measures of his legacy, credits from other riders, and records. He recorded the fastest ever climbs up the Tour's iconic venues of Mont Ventoux (46:00)[4] and Alpe d'Huez (36:50),[5] and other cyclists includingLance Armstrong andCharly Gaul have hailed Pantani's climbing skills.[6][7] He is the second to last rider and one of only eight to ever win theTour de France –Giro d'Italia double, doing so in 1998. He is the sixth of seven Italians, afterOttavio Bottecchia,Gino Bartali,Fausto Coppi,Gastone Nencini andFelice Gimondi, and beforeVincenzo Nibali to win the Tour de France.
Pantani's cycling style was off-the-saddle, and was a relentless climbing style. His early death caused by acutecocaine poisoning in 2004 has further turned the cyclist into a popular icon. The narrative was cultivated by Pantani, who picked the nickname"Il Pirata" (English: "The Pirate") because of his shaven head and thebandana and earrings he wore.[8] At172 centimetres (5 feet7+1⁄2 inches) and 58 kilograms (128 pounds), he was said to have the classic build for amountain climber.[3] His style has been contrasted with that oftime-trialling experts such as the five-time Tour winnerMiguel Induráin.[9]
Although Pantani never tested positive during his career, his career was beset by doping allegations. In the1999 Giro d'Italia, he was expelled due to his irregular blood values. Although he was disqualified for "health reasons", it was implied that Pantani's highhaematocrit was the product ofEPO use. Following later accusations, Pantani went into a severe depression from which he never fully recovered, ultimately leading to his death in 2004.
Pantani was born on 13 January 1970 inCesena,Romagna, the son of Ferdinando (referred to as Paolo) and Tonina.[10][11] He joined the Fausto Coppi cycling club ofCesenatico at the age of eleven.[10][12] As an amateur, he won the 1992Girobio, the amateur version of theGiro d'Italia, after finishing third in 1990 and second in 1991.[8]
His success at the Girobio led to his turning professional for the remainder of the 1992 season withDavide Boifava'sCarrera Jeans–Vagabond. While signing the contract, barely above the minimum established, he asked Boifava what would happen if he were to win theGiro d'Italia or theTour de France, requesting a change in the contract.[13] He finished 12th in his first professional race, theGran Premio Città di Camaiore. In 1993, his first full season as a professional, he finished fifth at the mountainous course ofGiro del Trentino and debuted at theGiro d'Italia in order to help his team leader,Claudio Chiappucci. He was forced to abandon the race in the 18th stage due totendinitis.[14]
In 1994, he finished fourth at theGiro del Trentino and theGiro di Toscana before his second participation at theGiro d'Italia, where he was supposed to help Chiappucci.[14] He won two consecutive mountain stages, earning his first victory as a professional in the fourteenth stage toMerano. In the following stage toAprica, which featured the renownedStelvio Pass and theMortirolo Pass, Pantani attacked at the base of Mortirolo and broke free at the Valico di Santa Cristina to win the stage at Aprica and place second in the overall classification.[14] He ultimately finished the race behindEugeni Berzin but ahead ofMiguel Induráin, who had won the two previous Giros. That same year Pantani made hisTour de France debut, coming in third and winning theyoung rider classification along the way. In 1995, he was hit by a car while training, preventing him from riding the Giro, but he rode theTour and won stages atAlpe d'Huez andGuzet-Neige. He also finished thirteenth and claimed his second successive best young rider prize. He also won a stage at theTour de Suisse and finished third in the1995 World Championships road race inDuitama, Colombia, behind SpaniardsAbraham Olano andMiguel Induráin. Shortly after returning to Italy, he collided head-on with a car during the ItalianMilano–Torino race, sustaining multiple fractures to the lefttibia andfibula,[15] injuries that threatened his career and forced him to miss most of the 1996 season.
When Carrera Jeans manufacturers stopped sponsoring the Italian cycling teamCarrera Jeans–Tassoni at the end of 1996, a new team based in Italy was formed with Marco Pantani as the team leader.Luciano Pezzi foundedMercatone Uno, taking with him asdirecteur sportifsGiuseppe Martinelli,Davide Cassani and Alessandro Giannelli and ten of the riders from Carrera.[16] Pantani returned to the Giro in 1997, but he was injured when a black cat caused an accident in front of him during one of the first stages.[17] Even though he completed the stage, he was treated at a hospital for a muscle injury in the same leg he had hurt in 1995.[18] He returned to action at the1997 Tour de France and won two stages in theAlps, establishing a record time for the climb ofAlpe d'Huez and winning two days later atMorzine. Jan Ullrich won, with Pantani third behindRichard Virenque.[19] In 1997, Pantani rode the final 14.5 km to L`Alpe d`Huez in 37'35" minutes, which is the record to this day based on 14.5 km. Since the actual climb is just 13.8 km long, Pantani's time in 1997 was 36'55" minutes based on 13.8 km. His personal record for 13.8 km was in 1995, when he rode the climb in 36'50" minutes, which remains the fastest ascent time to this day. He also holds the second and third fastest time at 36'55" in 1997 and 37'15" in 1994, followed byLance Armstrong at 37'36" in 2004 andJan Ullrich at 37'41" in 1997.[20]
In 1998, Pantani was considered a favorite to win theGiro d'Italia. Other contenders includedAlex Zülle,1996 winnerPavel Tonkov and1997 winnerIvan Gotti.[21] Zülle won the initialprologue in Nice and also won the sixth stage toLago Laceno, but Pantani recovered some time in the mountain stage toPiancavallo. Pantani lost further time to his main rivals during the fifteenth stage, an individual time trial inTrieste. By that point, Pantani faced a disadvantage of almost four minutes to Zülle before theDolomites mountain stages and an individual time trial on the penultimate stage, a discipline that favored Zülle and Tonkov. In the seventeenth stage toSelva di Val Gardena, Pantani took themaglia rosa, the leader's jersey, for the first time in his career after attacking Zülle on theMarmolada climb.[22] Although Pantani crossed the finish line behindGiuseppe Guerini, he finished over four minutes ahead of Zülle, maintaining an advantage of thirty seconds on the general classification over Tonkov, thirty-one seconds on Guerini and over a minute on Zülle.[23] In the following stage toAlpe di Pampeago, he finished second behind Tonkov but maintained the general classification lead over him and gained further time on Zülle and Guerini.[24] In the eighteenth stage toPlan di Montecampione, he repeatedly attacked Tonkov, dropping him in the last three kilometers and winning the stage to face the individual time trial on the penultimate stage with a lead of almost a minute and a half.[22] Zülle lost contact with the favorites in the first climb and ended up losing over thirty minutes.[25] Having won over two minutes on Pantani in the previous time trial, Tonkov was considered superior to Pantani on the time trial discipline, but the Italian finished third in the penultimate stage, gaining an additional five seconds on Tonkov.[26] Pantani was thus able to maintain his lead to win the Giro d'Italia with a minute and a half over Tonkov and more than six minutes over Guerini. He also won theMountains classification and finished second in thePoints classification.[27]
In theTour de France, Pantani started the race by finishing 181st of 189 riders in the opening prologue, and losing over four minutes in the firstindividual time trial to1997 Tour de France winnerJan Ullrich. Pantani pulled back these early time losses to Ullrich, first in thePyrenees by taking 23 seconds off Ullrich in the stage toLuchon[28] and winning the stage toPlateau de Beille, where he took an additional minute and forty seconds from Ullrich.[29] Although he was still three minutes behind Ullrich after the Pyrenees, he defeated him by almost nine minutes in the first mountain stage in theAlps, fromGrenoble toLes Deux Alpes, via theCol de la Croix de Fer andCol du Galibier. Pantani launched an attack on the ascent of Galibier, forty-eight kilometers from the finish. He stopped to put on a rain jacket at the summit to win on the final ascent to Deux Alpes.[30] Pantani turned his three-minute deficit on Ullrich into a six-minute advantage that he maintained in the following stages to win the Tour de France ahead ofJan Ullrich andBobby Julich. Pantani became the first Italian sinceFelice Gimondi in 1965 to win the Tour and the seventh rider in history to achieve theGiro-Tour double, a feat which no one had achieved sinceMiguel Induráin succeeded in 1993. UntilTadej Pogacar in 2024, Pantani was the last person to win theGiro-Tour double in the same year. Following his success in the Tour, he stated that he may have won the cleanest Tour because of the fear of police following theFestina affair.[31] Although he had just ended what would be his most successful season and he had always dreamed about winning theyellow jersey, he later stated that he felt more alone than ever.[13] French cycling magazine Vélo Magazineawarded him theVélo d'Or as the best rider of 1998.
In 1999, Pantani started the season by winning a stage and the overall classification ofVuelta a Murcia as well as a stage at theSetmana Catalana de Ciclisme. Pantani was leading theGiro d'Italia, with only one mountain stage left, when a blood test atMadonna di Campiglio showed that he had a 52-per centhematocrit reading, above the 50-per cent upper limit set byUCI. He was expelled from the race and forced to take a two-week break from racing, with no further action taken. Although the hematocrit test is officially branded as a "health check", a high reading suggests that a rider may have beenblood doping withEPO.[32][33] At the time of his disqualification, Pantani had won four stages and held a comfortable lead of five minutes and thirty-eight seconds overPaolo Savoldelli and also led in the points and mountains classifications. As a result, the entireMercatone Uno–Bianchi team withdrew from the race.[34] 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 toBriançon, in which he helped his teammateStefano Garzelli to win. Pantani rode the2000 Tour de France. He was off the pace in thePyrenees, but matchedLance Armstrong onMont Ventoux, leaving the field behind. Armstrong eased and appeared to allow Pantani the stage victory. Pantani said that he felt insulted by the gesture, causing bad feelings between the two which were exacerbated when Armstrong referred to him asElefantino (Italian for "Little Elephant"), a reference to his prominent ears.[35] In that same Tour, he won another stage, toCourchevel, that turned out to be his last victory as a professional. At that point, he was sixth in the overall classification, facing a disadvantage of nine minutes to Armstrong. On the next stage, which featured thehors catégorieCol de Joux-Plane toMorzine, Pantani broke away with 120 km to go, trying to crush Armstrong, but he suffered stomach problems and withdrew the next day. He never raced the Tour again.[36] Later in the year, he represented Italy in theSydney Olympics Road Race, finishing 69th.
After that, he raced sporadically in 2001 and 2002, although he was demoralised from doping suspicions and had poor results. During the2001 Giro d'Italia,Italian police raided the rooms of riders from all 20 teams and a syringe containing traces ofinsulin was found in Pantani's room. He was banned for eight months by theItalian Cycling Federation but later won an appeal due to an absence of proof.[37] In 2003, Pantani made another comeback in theGiro d'Italia, finishing 14th overall. His best stage result was a fifth position after launching an unsuccessful attack on the slopes ofMonte Zoncolan,[38] while he launched his last attacks on the nineteenth stage toCascata del Toce.[39] It was the last time he rode a professional cycling race. After his team was not invited to the2003 Tour de France, it was speculated that he would joinBianchi in order to ride the Tour, but he made a plea for privacy in late June following his admission to a psychiatric clinic which specialised in nervous disorders, drug addiction and alcoholism.[40][41] After being released from the clinic, he was acquitted of a pending court case for sporting fraud regarding his blood values in1999 Giro d'Italia because doping was not considered a crime in 1999. Pantani told an Italian newspaper that cycling fans had to forget about Pantani as an athlete, while stating that cycling was the last thing on his mind and that he had gained weight.[42]
After being disqualified at the1999 Giro d'Italia for ahematocrit reading of 52 per cent, above the 50-per cent upper limit set byUCI, Pantani faced persistent allegations of doping throughout the rest of his career.[42] Pantani has never been found using doping and has never been disqualified for doping.[43]
The trial for the 1999 Giro d'Italia irregular blood values began in April 2003 and Pantani was eventually acquitted because doping was not considered a crime by the law at that time.[15] In early June 1999, a few days after Pantani was expelled from the 1999 Giro d'Italia, a court ordered the city ofTurin to compensate him for an accident in the 1995 edition of theMilano–Torino that forced Pantani to undergo several surgeries and a long recovery to get back on his bike.[44] A few days later, Italian prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello accused Pantani of a "sporting offence" after he discovered, by looking through trial and medical records, that Pantani's hematocrit after the accident was over 60 per cent.[45][46][47] Although the results did not surface until 1999, theUCI had decided to implement blood testing in early 1997, imposing a 50-per cent upper limit for hematocrit. A rider with a value above 50 per cent was given a compulsory two-week suspension. The test was designated as a "health test", although it was administered on suspicion that the athlete was using the banned blood-boosting drug,EPO.[48][49] During the proceeding, investigators tried to find a reason for Pantani's high hematocrit values, including an hematocrit value of 57.6% recorded on 1 May 1995, at a hospital after he had an accident while training, an investigation in which the doctor pointed out the presence of abnormal hematological values. Upon Guariniello's request to see Pantani's medical record after his accident at the1997 Giro d'Italia, it was revealed that the blood test results had disappeared from the folder at the hospital and the police did not rule out "intentional removal".[50][51][52] Pantani was eventually indicted on a so-called "fraud in sport", but his lawyers argued that Pantani's hematocrit may have been elevated by a combination of training at high altitude in September, suffering fromdehydration during the race,trauma of his accident and amargin of error for thesampling method.[47] The original case started in Turin but was moved toForlì upon Pantani's lawyers' requests.[53] Although he initially received a three-monthsuspended sentence,[54] Pantani's lawyers appealed and the case was dismissed in late 2001 because the law itself had been passed only in 1999.[55][56]
In 1999, the Italian newspaperla Repubblicapublished information that linked Pantani to an investigation on the use of performance-enhancing substances in Italian sports. According to the information released by the newspaper,Francesco Conconi administered EPO to Italian athletes from 1993 to 1998, including Pantani and other cyclists ofCarrera.[57][58] It was revealed that Pantani's name appeared on a file marked "Dblab", seized from Conconi's Biomedical Research Institute atFerrara, which detailed athlete's hematocrit levels between 1993 and 1995. In 1994, his haematocrit values fluctuated from 40.7% on 16 March, early in the season, to 54.55% on 23 May, during the first stages of theGiro d'Italia. His values reached 58% on 8 June, after winning two stages of the race, and were 57.4% on 27 July, after theTour de France. In March 1995, his hematocrit values had dropped to 45%, but they reached 56% in July during theTour de France, where he won two stages; and over 60% in October, after the accident in the Milano–Torino.[59][60][61] In 2004, Conconi and his two assistants were acquitted by judge Franca Oliva because the actions were not deemed illegal at the time, although they were deemed "morally guilty" of promoting doping.[62][63]
During the2001 Giro d'Italia, a syringe containing traces ofinsulin was found in Pantani's room. Pantani claimed that the insulin had beenplanted and that he did not stay in the room that night.[64] In 2002, he was banned for eight months by theItalian Cycling Federation, but he later won an appeal due to an absence of proof.[37][65]
In 2006, two years after his death, Pantani was linked to theOperación Puerto doping case. According to documentation released by Spanish radio networkCadena SER, Pantani was allegedly given the code name "PTNI" byEufemiano Fuentes, with a detailed program in 2003, his last season, includingEPO,growth hormone,Insulin,Levothroid andIGF-1.[66] Italian newspaperCorriere della Seraindicated that he was administered over 40,000 units of EPO, seven doses of growth hormone, thirty doses ofanabolic steroids and four doses of hormones used to treat menopause.[67] In 2006,Jesús Manzano, a Spanish professionalroad racing cyclist whose statements led theGuardia Civil to conduct the Operación Puerto investigation, disclosed in an interview with French television channelFrance 3 that Pantani was a client of Fuentes.[68]
On the penultimate stage of1998 Giro d'Italia, Pantani's teammateRiccardo Forconi was expelled from the race for an haematocrit value above 50 per cent. Ivano Fanini, the manager ofAmore & Vita–Giubileo 2000–Beretta, suggested during the early stages of 1999 Giro d'Italia that Pantani and Forconi had exchanged their blood samples in order to avoid Pantani's disqualification. According to Fanini, Forconi's haematocrit value was only 47 per cent the previous day.[69] In 2008, Fanini further claimed that Forconi had received a house for the exchange but Forconi refuted these claims.[70][71]
Matt Rendell's biography of Pantani suggests he usedrecombinant erythropoietin (rEPO) throughout his professional career. It alleges that seasonalhematocrit levels from several sources showed variations which exceeded those possible naturally, and that Pantani's main victories were probably won also thanks to blood hematocrit levels which could have been up to 60%.[72]
A French senate report into doping released in July 2013 conjectured that Pantani, Jan Ullrich, Bobby Julich, Erik Zabel, Jacky Durand, Laurent Desbiens had tested positive for EPO during retroactive testing of samples from the 1998 Tour de France conducted in 2004 but the tests aren't valid because the samples taken didn't conform to antidoping standards.[73][74]
In the early evening of 14 February 2004, Pantani was found dead at a hotel inRimini, Italy. Anautopsy revealed he hadcerebral edema and heart failure, and a coroner'sinquest revealed acutecocaine poisoning. Pantani spent the last days of his life isolated from his friends and family and barricaded himself inside his hotel room.[75][76] Pantani's ex-girlfriend Christina Jonsson, in an April 2004 interview to Swiss news magazineL'Hebdo, indicated that following his expulsion from the1999 Giro d'Italia, Pantani had confessed to her he had started using cocaine.[77] In 2008, Fabio Carlino was convicted of supplying Pantani with a dose of ultra-pure cocaine that caused his death. The conviction was overturned in 2011 by theCourt of Cassation after the acting Prosecutor expressed doubts regarding the verdict, while stating that he "had the impression that the exaggerated media publicity surrounding Mr. Pantani's death led the judges to an excessive attribution of responsibility."[78] In 2016 the case was opened again,[79] but shelved, and then yet again; with Italian prosecutors citing about fifty pages of new evidence to consider, in November 2021.[80]
Pantani was buried in his hometown,Cesenatico. Twenty thousand mourners were at his funeral, which was attended byFranco Ballerini,Alberto Tomba,Azeglio Vicini,Mario Cipollini andDiego Maradona among others.[81] During the funeral, his manager Manuela Ronchi read notes that Pantani had written in his passport during a trip to Cuba:
For four years I've been in every court, I just lost my desire to be like all the other sportsmen, but cycling has paid and many youngsters have lost their faith in justice. All my colleagues have been humiliated, with TV cameras hidden in their hotel rooms to try and ruin families. How could you not hurt yourself after that?[15][82]
Miguel Induráin, five-timesTour de France winner, praised Pantani 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."[83]
In the years following his death, Pantani was the subject of several articles, books, songs and a film. Biographies and accounts on the life of Pantani have been written by sports journalists John Wilcockson and Matt Rendell, among others.[84] Manuela Ronchi, Pantani's manager for five years, published an account on the last few years of Pantani's life titledMan on the Run.[85] His mother Tonina Pantani also published a book in 2008 titledEra mio figlio (He Was My Son).[86] Agraphic novel titledGli ultimi giorni di Marco Pantani (The Last Days of Marco Pantani) was released in 2011, chronicling the events that led up to Pantani's death. It was based on a book published by French journalist Philippe Brunel, a friend of Pantani, suggesting that Pantani may have been murdered.[87] Italian televisionRAI aired a television film in 2007 titledIl Pirata: Marco Pantani, a biographical film which starredRolando Ravello as Marco Pantani.[88] A documentary on Pantani's life titledPantani: The Accidental Death of a Cyclist was released in May 2014 in cinemas.[89]
TheMemorial Marco Pantani has been organised annually since 2004 in his memory. The race starts inCesenatico, Pantani's hometown, and follows a route towards his birthplace,Cesena.Giro d'Italia's organisers decided to dedicate a mountain pass to Pantani's memory every year. Inthe 2004 edition, the firstCima Pantani wasMortirolo Pass, a mountain that played a key role in Pantani's history. When Mortirolo was included in the Giro for the third time in 1994, Pantani attacked and left everyone behind to earn a win atAprica. The 16th stage of2004 Tour de France was dedicated to Pantani's memory. This stage was anindividual time trial up toAlpe d'Huez, where Marco Pantani won in1995 and1997.[90]
A number of monuments and memorials have been erected in his honor at, among other places,Mortirolo Pass,[91]Colle Fauniera,[92]Col du Galibier,[93] Poggio Murella in Tuscany where he had a house, and his hometownCesenatico.[94]
OverallGirobio
Road race,UCI Road World Championships
OverallTour de France OverallGiro d'Italia
Mountains classification
OverallÀ travers Lausanne
Mountains classification OverallVuelta a Murcia Mountains classification| Grand Tour | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro d'Italia | DNF | 2 | — | — | DNF | 1 | DNF | 28 | DNF | DNF | 14 |
| Tour de France | — | 3 | 13 | — | 3 | 1 | — | DNF | — | — | — |
 Vuelta a España | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
... bad luck struck him again in the Giro in June 1997, when a black cat – yes, really – crossed the road and caused a mass crash of riders trying to swerve around it. Pantani went down and was out until the Tour a month later.
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