"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Pantani Dead

no details yet, but it has been reported on the daily peloton (http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=5656) that marco pantani has been found dead in a rimini hotel room.

no details yet, but it has been reported on the daily peloton (http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=5656) that marco pantani has been found dead in a rimini hotel room.

CyclingNews also has a late breaking story on it too.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/feb04/feb15news1

CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/SPORT/02/14/cyclin.pantani/) has about the same story.

Someone posted it on usenet, I swear I thought it was a joke from some troll. Then I checked eurosport.com.

RIP Il Pirata. So very, very sad. :(

Sad day for the world of pro-cycling

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/3489569.stm

RIP marco

Well, dang!

I was never a fan of the Pirate, though I liked his presence in the sport. I thought he brought color to cycling.

Thirty-four years old. This is sad.

I wonder what the cause was.

Wow.

Couldn't stand the guy but hate to see anyone go through the mental health issues he apparently dealt with.

Wow.

Couldn't stand the guy but hate to see anyone go through the mental health issues he apparently dealt with.


Ditto here..... Didn't Lance used to tick him off by calling him Elephantino, or something like that?

That sort of shocked me.
Today I was trying to read a lot about Pantani (before this), coincidently.
I found a couple of interviews to read, for example.
I looked back at that picture of his face on the TDF website as he was on the podium after winning the stage into Courchovel in 2000. 'Look at that face,' (again, this was before I knew of this)
Damn.

Definately a big loss.

Damn, I'm still in shock.

Some reports are now stating that a note and some drugs were found. However, we won't know for sure for some time. Mental illness / depression is so devastating. I think there is sometimes a very thin line between greatness and illness. Pantani gave us all much to think/type about. I hate to see this as his final legacy.

RIP Marco - you were a racer, and a character that I won't soon forget.

The giro is going to be so sad this year. It was really sad seeing the vuelta from last year, with poor Jimenez gone as well. Italian fans love their heroes, everyone must be just devastated!

I am sad this evening- I really liked the Pirate and I was glad to see him ride at least once in the Giro. I was looking forward to seeing him ride again in this year's Giro, and I'd hoped for some pictures.

The Italians must be so upset by this- I know they loved Pantani, but then again, a lot of Europeans did. The first time I heard about the Tour de France was from Europeans who came over to my dorm room for the cable tv because they wanted to see the Pirate- they were so excited that I watched him too, and I thought he was very motivating and exciting.

I'm saddened and disappointed... RIP Pirate... :(

Koffee

It was funny how much he was like Chiappucci.

Both talented, egotistical Italian climbers with a grudge against a talented American racer.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=1735252

R.I.P.

This is VERY sad news for the cycling world.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/feb04/feb15news1

http://www.uci.ch/images_2000/watson/tdf_2000/st15_Pantani4.jpg

Pantani and Armstrong in rarified air:

don d,
nice, classy tribute. That's what it's all about.
Thanks.

:( He was one of my favorites, even though he fell on bad times. :(

+
rip il pirata

:(

For me, he seemed to have exploded onto the season in the Indurain years. You couldn't help but root for the little guy, pulling away from everyone on the big climbs. Later, he got cocky even megalomanical and I lost interest in him.

As I recall, elephantino was the nickname given to him very early in his professional career. After he started promoting himself as il pirata, Lance kept tagging him as elephantino to get a rise out of him.

He did make the game interesting.

This had to have been the devastating results of depression resulting in overdose. Sad that a 34 year old would end their own life.

Damn. :(
I thought he was the angry type and wouldn't bottle himself up like that.

Such a pity....he was an awesome rider to watch, attacking on the steepest of climbs. I dont think that he will be forgotten, in particular by me as I have a team Polti thermal jacket.

Brendon

I'm still waiting for someone to say that this was just a bad joke. It just doesn't seem real. How very sad.

I'm still waiting for someone to connect the dots all the way to Jimenez and even that Belgian kid who just died and lift the OMERTA!
Unstable he may have been, but Pantani was scapegoated. People do it in different ways, what did VDB say recently, "I never used them in competition." On some level, the Pirate couldn't get back without dope or his body gave out because of dope, or he became psychogically dependent on substances. . .but I think in every cycling death of the last year, except for road accidents, doping could at the very least be an accomplice IN EACH CASE. It's killing the sport.

People do it in different ways, what did VDB say recently, "I never used them in competition." On some level, the Pirate couldn't get back without dope or his body gave out because of dope, or he became psychogically dependent on substances. . .but I think in every cycling death of the last year, except for road accidents, doping could at the very least be an accomplice IN EACH CASE. It's killing the sport.

I think Sunstorm makes an interesting point here. There seem to have been quite a few deaths in the last couple of years involving riders who simply died way too young.

Regardless of the cause, this puts the word "tragedy" into perspective. Even though I wasn't all that impressed with some of the garbage Pantani went on with in recent years, I did have a secret desire to see him fight his way back to the top of the sport one day, he was a character if nothing else. A very sad day for professional cycling. :(

Adding onto what Don D said, here's a picture I really liked of him and Armstrong battling it out in the mountains.

I really like what was quoted in Velonews by Claudio Chiappucci:

"There's not a lot to say. Marco has gone away. The only thing that I don't like is now that his death will be sensationalized. A few hours ago, lots of people were pointing their fingers against him, now everybody is saying he was a great cyclist. Pantani could have used more friends when he was alive."

I secretly hoped Pantani would return to cycling and once again push the pace on climbs forcing other riders to keep up.

Watching video of him climb help me better my own climbing abilities. I must admit that I kept my earrings because of Il Pirata.

Rest well, Pantani, but ride harder now that you can do so whenever you want...

BUMMER!!!
Marco was the reason I got the nerve to shave my bald head.
The Tour will never be the same without him!

wrench_meister, The painting is great. Thanks for posting it.

I thought what Chiapucci said was really sad, and true. Pantani probably felt abandoned. We don't think of athletes as being sensitive or emotional or feeling rejected or whatever.

This thread from cyclingforums.com, very sad news if this is true. El Pirate is no more. RIP

The body of 34 year old Marco Pantani has been found dead in a room in Le Rose di Rimini apartments in the Italian Adriatic coastal city of Rimini this afternoon.

According to reports on La Gazzetta dello Sport, Pantani went to Le Rose apartments in viale Regina Elena along the sea front in Rimini a few days ago. The last time anyone saw him was Saturday afternoon. When no-one saw him come down for dinner at 9:30pm, the desk clerk of the hotel called the police. They knocked on the door of his room and found it locked from the inside. They finally gained access and found Pantani's partially clothed body on the floor next to his bed.

Big H: I'm trying to figure out if you thought this thread started for something else other than to discuss the death of Pantani. You're a little behind the times. :p

I really hated the guy. He could climb like no one though and his last couple years sound really sad.

wrench_meister, The painting is great. Thanks for posting it.

That is a great painting of Pantani. Who is the artist? Where did you find it? I wonder what the artist had in mind when he/she depicted Pantani as though he was riding in the heavens? Somewhat prophetic.

Big H: I'm trying to figure out if you thought this thread started for something else other than to discuss the death of Pantani. You're a little behind the times.

There have been several threads started on this topic. The mods have merged the posts from all of them into a single thread, hence the discontinuity.

Speaking of great climbers, I was shocked to find out that Thierry Claveyrolat killed himself a few years back. I had no idea.

Speaking of great climbers, I was shocked to find out that Thierry Claveyrolat killed himself a few years back. I had no idea.

I remember somewhat vaguely that he had been convicted of vehicular manslaughter, and took his life before they could send him to prison. His post-retirement investment, a bar, was also doing badly if I remember correctly, and the problems just overwhelmed him. He was a top climber, and I believe he rode with Greg Lemond on the -Z- team.

All,

I just came across the painting on the artist's web site.

I thought it was one of the best images of Pantani out there.

Below is the link:

http://www.penandthink.biz/cycling/cycling2.htm

I thought what Chiapucci said was really sad, and true. Pantani probably felt abandoned. We don't think of athletes as being sensitive or emotional or feeling rejected or whatever.

Abandoned by whom, I wonder?

I just remember being in Italy- the Italians loved him. Maybe the rest of the world turned their backs on him due to the doping thing, but regardless of circumstances surrounding his withdrawals, his disqualifications, his positive tests, etc., they really were fanatical for him. The only thing I can think was that he must have been so depressed not to have seen how many people just absolutely adored him.

I'm still upset over this. I really liked him and admired him and to see him in the Giro back in 2001 was one of the most exciting moments of cycling that I'd experienced. I didn't care what the scandal was, I thought he was a great cyclist and damn sexy too with that bald head of his.... but mostly, he was a phenomenal cyclist, and I'm going to miss seeing him this year on the circuit. I really thought he would make a comeback... damn, damn, damn!

Koffee

It´s obvious, I always have been routing for "il pirata". He was one of the greatest climbers ever, just remind his furious ride up to Les Deux Alpes back in 1998. It was foggy, it was raining, it was cold - and he was unstoppable.
I really liked him because of his climbing style and his colorful personality.
However, in recent years he got involved in those doping affaires (everyone here knows the story) and got a little bit too "exaggerated"...

So, the news of his death really hit me without any warning. It seems to be very strange and looks similiar to the recent tragic death of José Maria Jimenez.

I don´t think, Pantani killed himself. To me it seems he died in cause of pharmaceutical abuse (anti-depressiva), but the results of the autopsy are still not released.

Chiapucci is absolutely right. While he lived he was hated throughout the whole world out of Italy. Now he died and lot´s of people affirm how they admired him.
How shameful...

Appears to be a heart attack:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/3490761.stm

If it is indeed a heart attack, one has to wonder if it was brought on by years of doping.

If he wasn't doping or if the attack had nothing to do with doping, this simply reaffirms that cycling at a euro-pro level is simply not good for the body. First Jimenez and now Marco.

RIP Marco Pantani

They're so far looking towards heart attack, but of course a heart failure can be brought on by an intentional drug overdose.

In the article on velonews "Police begin Pantani investigation", I love that picture.

Half naked, history of depression, locked away in a hotel room for 5 days, tranquilizers next to him. Yep, he died of natural causes. I think we all know what the cause was. Lets just get past that, pay your respects however that might be and move on!

RIP +1 more

Cyclingnews.com has published the preliminary results of the autopsy performed on Pantani:

www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/feb04/feb17news

Cardiac failure brought on by acute pulmonary and cerebral edema are listed as the causes of death. These causes can be the result of a variety of factors. Pulmonary edema can be caused by pre-existing cardiac problems...:

http://health.discovery.com/diseasesandcond/encyclopedia/1730.html

...and cerebral edema can be a result of liver failure:

www.liver411.com/education/fulminant.html

So before we assume that we all know anything about something based on a person's dress or perscription drug regimen, we might do well to withhold judgement until the full testing results are in, which may not be for weeks.

I know that if I was watching tv in bed in my pajama bottoms in a hotel room seeking seclusion from constant media and fan pressure, and I had a heart attack and rolled onto the floor in pain, I would fit the description given by SuperTrooper above. Of course, my death wouldn't attract international media attention or comments from uninformed fans, but I hope people that do know me wouldn't jump to conclusions.

"Former Argentinian soccer star Diego Maradona, who had his own run-ins with the doping authorities, said he had met Pantani during the Italian’s recent visit to Cuba, and admitted his death was "very sad. All of us are to blame for what happened.""(procycling.com)
Well said. Finally.

I know I'm rather late on this, been away for the weekend. I'm surprised at how shocked I am. I'm the same height and (racing) weight as Pantani and he was always a great inspiration to me to get on the bike and go up hills fast. I'll be out tonight on the Bianchi with a Mercatone Uno jersey on...

The cycling world knew that he had big problems; how could this happen?

Ants