He was a great climber, no doubt about it. And he certainly was colorful. ANd his fans just love him, and he seems to be really devoted to them. And for all his controversy, he does good stuff- he auctioned off one of his yellow jerseys for charity, etc.

He seemed to come back and do pretty well this season, after bailing out of the giro last year. He was high in the standings for a while. That stage on the Zoncolan was one of the best mountain stages this year, with him and Garzelli suffering together, and the fans going crazy! They were screaming and cheering them on, it was just great. And then Pantani finished in fifth, a great ride. ANd then he looked so dejected after crashing but he continued on even after losing like 15 minutes. If that was his last giro, at least he had a pretty exciting one.