Marco Pantani: Italian cycling hero's mysterious death and maverick life

Pantani answers questions from the media aft signifier 10 of the 1998 Tour de France

It's Valentine's Day - Saturday, 14 February 2004 - but Marco Pantani is alone. He's holed up successful Room 5D of the Residence Le Rose edifice successful the Italian seaside edifice of Rimini having arrived, retired of season, connected the erstwhile Monday. Other guests accidental he's been behaving erratically.

Back successful his prime, helium was nonrecreational cycling's swashbuckling people hero. In the 2000 Tour de France, helium raged against Armstrong's dominance and his ain waning power, surging wide of the American to assertion a signifier triumph successful the clean, alpine aerial of Courchevel. It remains the most-watched time of cycling successful Italian tv history.

Mid-morning, an progressively disturbed Pantani has 3 telephone conversations with reception. He's complaining of being bothered by radical successful the country adjacent doorway - which is empty. The past clip helium calls them, conscionable aft 11:00, helium asks unit to telephone the police.

Pantani had the classical climber's physique - skinny, small, crisp cheekbones, and almighty lungs. His quality to thrive successful the bladed upland aerial carried him to triumph successful some the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France successful 1998 - a treble achieved by lone six different riders successful history. It carved his sanction alongside the likes of Fausto Coppi, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault successful the pantheon of greats.

By 2004 though, a batch had changed. Pantini's framework had filled out, helium was 20kg implicit his racing weight. He was inactive a superstar personage but his image, for a fewer astatine least, had been tainted.

Leading the 1999 Giro d'Italia by much than 5 minutes with conscionable 2 stages to go, his contention had ended successful ignominy, alternatively than victory.

On the greeting of the penultimate stage, helium was frogmarched retired of the squad edifice by Italian police. He had failed a humor test, with the results suggesting helium had been doping.

From the edifice balcony, Pantani's team-mates had cheered their leader. Fans blocked the roadworthy successful protestation astatine his expulsion from the race.

"I've returned from 2 large accidents, but this time, morale-wise, we've touched the bottom," said Pantani astatine the time.

This was the fork successful the roadworthy that led Pantani to Rimini. His satellite was plunged into acheronian that adjacent helium couldn't ascent retired of.

Later that evening, aft consulting the hotel's owner, the receptionist goes up to Room 5D connected the pretext of providing caller towels. Knocking connected the door, there's nary reply from inside. After different speech with his boss, the receptionist tries again. He unlocks the doorway with a maestro key, forces speech the furnishings that's been utilized to barricade the doorway from inside, and finds Marco Pantani lying by the furniture connected the room's mezzanine level, dead, successful a excavation of his ain blood.

He near down a bequest of glory, played retired successful beforehand of an adoring public. But determination are besides questions. Because not everyone adored Pantani. Some whitethorn adjacent person wanted him dead.

• LISTEN: Pantani - the decease of a Pirate

Marco Pantani came from an mean working-class household successful Cesenatico, 14 miles up the Adriatic seashore from Rimini.

As a youngster helium didn't ever premix good with different children, truthful a neighbour suggested to his parents that helium joined the section cycling club. It was a proposal that created 1 of the sport's top climbers.

A young Pantani (front left) earlier a cycling contention successful the Cesenatico area, adjacent Rimini

When Pantani came connected to the scene, helium was seen arsenic a enactment of caller aerial successful examination to riders similar Miguel Indurain and Jan Ullrich, who had dominated done their quality successful clip trials. They were regarded by the sport's much romanticist fans arsenic 'winning machines' - hard to beat, but besides hard to love.

Pantani was the antidote - a climber who near his rivals gasping for enactment successful the mountains.

Whether it was his fondness for eating Nutella, his refusal to deterioration a helmet oregon bosom complaint monitor, oregon his predilection for being retired precocious astatine nighttime singing karaoke erstwhile different riders were tucked up successful bed, Pantani was different. He was an outsider.

"He wanted to bash with his bicycle what an creator did with his paintbrush," said Pantani's biographer, cycling writer Matt Rendell, on BBC Sounds documentary Pantani: Death of a Pirate.

It wasn't conscionable the occurrence that had millions successful his thrall, it was the mode Pantani won. It was the style, the panache, the distinctive mode helium rode up mountains, hunched implicit the handlebars with his hands connected the drops. It was the mode helium soared distant from the rest, seemingly without breaking sweat. The Pirate rode with his bosom connected his sleeve - each oregon nothing, decease oregon glory.

After winning a important 1998 Giro signifier connected the acme decorativeness astatine Montecampione, helium explained his all-in contention strategy, specified arsenic it was.

"I conscionable thought, either it works, oregon I'm going to stroke everything. I had nary alternative. I had to see, to cognize who was the strongest," he said.

At the 1994 Tour de France, Pantani smashed the grounds for the fastest ascent of Alpe d'Huez, a near-mythical ascent into the heavens, up 21 choky hairpin bends.

In 1995, helium produced different exhilarating thrust to interruption it again. In 1997, helium came wrong 4 seconds of his ain record. Those 3 rides up Alpe d'Huez person ne'er been bettered by immoderate rider successful the Tour de France.

His crowning glory came 1 twelvemonth later.

The 1998 Tour was a arguable one: a Festina squad authoritative had been caught carrying performance-enhancing drugs and the squad were expelled, riders were arrested, and the peloton went connected strike.

The contention was successful situation and needed a hero. Enter Pantani, 3 minutes down defending champion Ullrich successful the yellowish jersey.

On a cold, bedewed time successful the Alps, Pantani turned the contention connected its head.

Pantani attacked Ullrich connected the Galibier, gaining astir 3 minutes, and flew down the different broadside of the upland - taking hazard aft hazard successful what indispensable person felt similar apocalyptic weather. In his wake, Ullrich played it safe, believing Pantani would ace connected the last climb. He didn't.

Pantani climbs into Les Deux Alpes en way to his decisive triumph connected signifier 15 of the 1998 Tour de France

As the unrecorded tv representation chopped successful and out, Pantani could beryllium seen storming thorough the fog, up into Les Deux Alpes and to the finish. By the extremity of that 15th stage, he'd gained 9 minutes connected Ullrich, whose calculation had proved horribly misjudged.

Pantani's gamble paid off. He would deterioration the yellowish jersey each the mode to Paris.

It didn't consciousness similar it astatine the time, but 1998 would beryllium to beryllium the acme of a vocation that plummeted unexpectedly 10 months later. Pantani had dominated the 1999 Giro, and looked definite to triumph with 2 stages to go, erstwhile helium was ejected from the race.

The peloton, the property battalion and the 'tifosi' - Italy's anxious fans - alike were successful shock. The Pirate had been denied his coronation successful beforehand of the Italian public. His haematocrit levels were 2 percent points implicit the 50% bounds which - successful the lack of a reliable trial for banned blood-boosting cause Erythropoietin (EPO) - was imposed for riders' health.

Some cyclists who failed tests simply accepted the bans meted retired to them arsenic an occupational hazard, served their time, and resumed their career. Others, similar Scotland's David Millar, became advocates for cleanable cycling.

But for Pantani - lone temporarily stood down from racing for failing a 'health check' - it was the opening of the end.

Those adjacent to him accidental it was past that helium started utilizing cocaine connected a regular basis.

Indurain, speaking aft Pantani's decease successful 2004, summed up the adjacent 5 years successful 2 elemental sentences:

"When helium had the trial for haematocrit helium was yet banned for lone 15 days, but it ended up complicating his full beingness and helium was ne'er capable to get implicit it. He was ne'er the aforesaid again."

Fans astatine the 1999 Giro protestation astatine the expulsion of Pantani, who had been starring the contention erstwhile helium failed a wellness cheque humor test

Pantani, portion retaining overmuch of his popularity with the public, recovered himself perpetually successful quality with the authorities - cycling's governing bodies and the Italian authorities - and became progressively paranoid, convinced helium was being unfairly targeted arsenic cycling attempted to cleanable up its act.

He was treated successful a drugs and slump clinic, and successful October 2003 told his fans to 'forget astir Pantani the athlete'.

While connected vacation successful Cuba, Pantani scribbled successful his passport.

"The champion I was exists nary more," helium wrote.

"He is acold from the antheral that I person become. If my fans inactive cheer me, it's not done affection, but of request of a personality.

"I've been humiliated for nothing. For 4 years, I've been successful each court. Rules, yes - but the aforesaid for everyone."

Four months aboriginal helium was dead, and those words became nationalist cognition aft the passport was recovered successful his edifice room.

His decease was front-page news. At his funeral, his parent Tonina denounced the media who'd turned up, shouting: "You're each to blasted for my son's death. What are you doing here?"

Over 20,000 lined the streets of Cesenatico arsenic his coffin was carried retired of the church.

An archetypal probe into Pantani's decease ruled helium died of an accidental cocaine overdose. But it was not the last connection connected his demise.

A 2nd enquiry began successful 2016, prompted by Pantani's family's claims that helium had been beaten by a radical of men, forced to portion cocaine and murdered. It dismissed their mentation arsenic "fanciful conjecture".

But successful November 2021, it was sensationally announced that the Italian authorities were opening a 3rd enquiry into events surrounding Pantani - his disqualification from the 1999 Giro, and his decease 5 years later. Its peculiar absorption was whether the mafia were involved.

It was sparked by caller evidence, uncovered astir by accident.

"In 2016, determination was a wiretapping by a constabulary probe wholly unrelated to Pantani's case, successful which 1 of the 2 guys having a speech mentioned the engagement of the Naples mafia - the Camorra - successful Pantani's death," investigative writer Lorenzo Bodrero told Pantani: Death of a Pirate.

Rumours of mafia engagement successful Pantani's decease - supposedly connected to the ample magnitude of wealth the organised transgression syndicate was acceptable to suffer connected unlicensed gambling markets had helium won the 1999 Giro - person persisted for years.

Now the constabulary had stumbled connected grounds that seemed to enactment the theory.

There was besides grounds from Fabio Miradossa, a trader who had supplied Pantani with drugs towards the extremity of his beingness and got to cognize him.

"This feline was his pusher, the 1 who sold the cocaine to him," explained Bodrero.

"He's convinced that Marco did not dice of earthy causes. Miradossa said Pantani did usage cocaine, but helium was not specified a idiosyncratic that would bring himself to decease successful a substance of a fewer days."

Pantani's yellowish and pinkish jerseys from his 1998 Giro and Tour de France successes were carried successful beforehand of his coffin successful his ceremonial procession successful Cesenatico

When it came to Pantani's failed humor trial astatine the 1999 Giro, a well-known transgression claimed his mafia contacts had foreseen the race's melodramatic finale.

"If you person money, stake against Pantani due to the fact that he's not getting to [the decorativeness in] Milan" was their reputed advice.

Matt Rendell, Pantani's biographer, has ever been dubious astir the rumours of mafia involvement.

"When the Camorra wants to hole something, what it does not bash is someway found interaction with the employees of the haematology section of a infirmary successful Como," helium told BBC Sounds. "That is not the modus operandi. It's somewhat cruder than that, connected the whole."

But a authorities committee looking into mafia activities was little sure.

"Today, aft this time, the anticipation that the mafia whitethorn person altered the Giro d'Italia's results remains an unfastened hypothesis," said Nicola Morra, the president of the Parliamentary Anti-mafia Commission, successful December.

"We person not been capable to adjacent arsenic we would person liked. That is, by being capable to exclude it."

The committee had recovered "several and serious" anomalies astir the humor illustration taken astatine the 1999 Giro. They recovered that the trial conduit containing Pantani's humor had been marked with his sanction when, nether rules imposed to warrant riders' anonymity, it should person been lone identifiable by a fig to a prime fewer officials.

The committee had besides recovered that Pantani's humor illustration was taken an hr earlier than indicated successful a erstwhile tribunal case, opening a model of clip successful which his illustration could person been tampered with.

"By correctly placing the clip of the sampling from Marco Pantani astatine 07:46, It is imaginable to manipulate the trial tube," the committee stated.

Of course, it could beryllium that Pantani's trial effect was wholly self-inflicted. That the cause testers caught up with a doper.

Christophe Bassons, a French nonrecreational cyclist who insisted connected riding clean, estimated that 95% of riders were connected EPO astatine the time.

As detection exertion improved, his estimation was somewhat backed up by retrospective investigating of urine samples collected from the 1998 and 1999 editions of the Tour de France.

Eighteen riders were recovered to person tested affirmative for EPO - Pantani among them - with different 12 riders' results labelled arsenic "suspicious".

However, immoderate riders of that epoch were besides adept astatine managing their haematocrit humor tests to enactment wrong the prescribed limits, by dodging cause testers and timing their depletion of EPO.

Pantani was highly improbable to beryllium a wholly cleanable rider, but it seems helium felt, connected the time helium was led retired of his squad edifice and retired of the 1999 Giro, that helium wasn't cheating immoderate much than his rivals.

His parent says Pantani near notes that backmost this up.

"He didn't constitute 'I didn't instrumentality it', helium ne'er wrote that," she told BBC Sounds. "He said he'd bash what helium was allowed to do, but helium ne'er said 'I didn't instrumentality any'. He said that [on that day] helium was OK."

The perceived injustice of being incapable to implicit the defence of his rubric successful beforehand of his location fans could person been the commencement of Pantani's downward spiral into cocaine addiction and isolation.

There are different anomalies astir the circumstances of his decease that person ne'er been afloat explained.

According to Professor Giuseppe Fortuni, astatine the clip a lecturer successful forensic medicine astatine the University of Bologna, Pantani's assemblage contained much than six times the lethal dose of cocaine - a quantity that's astir intolerable to instrumentality recreationally. Fortuni was the pathologist who carried retired tests connected Pantani's body.

But termination had been ruled retired astatine the clip of Pantani's decease - the coroner felt that if that had been his aim, Pantani would person utilized the medicine drugs that helium had with him astatine the time.

While Miradossa, Pantani's cause dealer, whitethorn not beryllium an altogether reliable witness, helium formed uncertainty connected the circumstances Marco's assemblage was recovered in.

"I'm convinced that Marco was murdered. He was trying to find the truth. He was looking for something," helium told the Italian government's Anti-mafia Commission.

"From my acquisition and from the photos and videos I person seen, Marco did not instrumentality drugs successful that room.

"There was nary instrumentality for smoking cocaine, which was Pantani's preferred method of taking it. But determination was cocaine successful places connected his assemblage that suggested that helium had sniffed it."

Miradossa concluded: "Marco didn't sniff, truthful whoever did the transgression country wasn't alert of this fact."

Tonina Pantani has been cardinal to the propulsion for further probe into her son's death.

"I'm convinced Marco didn't dice close there. There were excessively galore things. Strange things…not his habits," she told BBC Sounds.

"He would autumn dormant successful beforehand of the TV. In that hotel, the TV was successful the hallway with couches. I'm definite helium didn't slumber supra [in the mezzanine of the edifice country wherever the furniture was and his assemblage found] but beneath instead.

"Upstairs was each tidy, nary mess. But beneath was chaos. The country was turned upside down. I asked the edifice manager whether determination were damages to beryllium paid; helium told me, 'No madam, thing was broken, everything was simply disassembled'. What the hellhole were they looking for?

"I saw Marco successful the coffin. I touched him, his hands. How connected world did helium marque specified a messiness successful the country without a scratch? There were scratches connected his look that made maine wonderment whether he'd been beaten earlier helium died."

Tonina besides claimed that her son's shot headdress was missing, portion 2 jackets that had been recovered successful the country didn't beryllium to him.

Italian constabulary successful the lobby of the Residence Le Rose edifice successful the aboriginal hours of 15 February 2004 aft the find of Marco Pantani's body

There are much details.

A 2007 publication claimed that 2 aluminium containers astatine the country appeared to beryllium takeaway containers that erstwhile contained Chinese nutrient - which Pantani was known to detest.

A 2nd entranceway to the edifice was reportedly unmonitored by CCTV, perchance enabling immoderate 3rd parties to participate and permission Residence Le Rose discreetly.

A sum of wealth - immoderate accidental 20,000 euros (£17,000), others accidental 12,000 euros (£10,000) - was allegedly missing from Pantani's room.

Any of these details mightiness beryllium the cardinal to what happened successful Room 5D. They each mightiness beryllium dormant ends.

There are other, contrasting explanations. Could Pantani, paranoid and nether the power of drugs, person taken the country isolated himself? On vacation successful Cuba, precocious the erstwhile year, helium had breached furnishings portion precocious connected cocaine.

John Foot, prof of modern Italian past astatine the University of Bristol, is 1 of those who is sceptical that determination was much to Pantani's decease than the archetypal accidental verdict.

"I felt a spot bittersweet astir the lawsuit being reopened," helium told BBC Sounds. "For maine it's a consecutive lawsuit of cocaine overdose and the grounds is beauteous powerful.

"I thought 'here we go, we're going to down a unsighted alley and he's not going to person immoderate peace'.

"They're going to proceed to rummage astir successful this communicative and determination wasn't overmuch to spell connected there."

The latest probe into Pantani's death, attempting to benignant mentation from reality, is inactive going connected down closed doors successful Rimini. It is chartless erstwhile it volition study its findings.

Perhaps the lone certainty is that it, we and possibly no-one isolated from Marco Pantani volition ever cognize for definite what happened wrong that edifice country successful Rimini.

The information whitethorn person died with the man, but the fable lives on.

"This bonzer kid; helium didn't breathe, helium didn't sweat, helium didn't panic… helium didn't adjacent look to try, but helium could conscionable alert away," remembers Rendell.

"What mightiness helium person been successful different world, successful different life?

"The beingness that helium led and the athletics helium competed successful astatine the clip prevented america from seeing immoderate further."

If you person been affected by immoderate of the issues successful this nonfiction you tin sojourn the BBC's Action Line for accusation and support.

Pantani's past Grand Tour signifier wins came astatine the 2000 Tour de France, including him memorably riding distant from Lance Armstrong to triumph connected Mount Ventoux