ROME, 16 February 2004 — Marco Pantani, the Italian cycling great who fought his way back from injury to win the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, was found dead in a hotel room in central Italy on Saturday night, the hotel manager said.
The news of the death of the 34-year-old Pantani, who was called ‘The Pirate’ because of his trademark shaved head and bandana but was tainted by doping accusations later in his career, shocked the Italian sports world. “This is a tragedy of enormous proportions for the whole cycling world,” said Mario Cipollini, winner of the 2002 world road race championship. “I can’t find the words.”
The cause of death was not immediately known but it appeared that no violence was involved. The Italian news agency Ansa said police had found medicines in the room. Pantani, who had been suffering from depression, was found dead in a hotel in the Adriatic coastal resort city of Rimini, made famous by the late director Federico Fellini, who used it as a setting for some of his most famous films.
Pantani, a fine climber, won both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in 1998. He was the first Italian to win the Tour de France since Felice Gimondi in 1965. The last years of his life were spent in legal battles fighting to see doping bans overturned. “He paid a very high price. For four years he was at the center of a storm,” said Gimondi, who was Pantani’s manager for two years. Pantani was the subject of a major scandal in 1999 when he was thrown out of the Tour of Italy. Leading the race, he failed a test for haematocrit — an indicator, though not proof, of the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
He was also banned in 2002 for using insulin during the previous year’s Giro. He rode in the 2003 Giro, finishing a disappointing 14th, and was later treated in a drugs and depression clinic. Pantani’s team, Mercatone Uno, were not invited to take part in the centenary Tour de France last year.
Pantani, who was born in the same central coastal region where he died, made his professional debut in 1992 and shot to fame three years later by daring to attack the great Miguel Indurain of Spain in the mountains of the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.
He also took the bronze at the World Championships after recovering from the fall. The same year, he shattered his left tibula and fibia in a crash after being hit by a jeep and injured his collarbone, wrist, arms, foot and ribs as well as suffering from concussion and a dislocated shoulder.
He made his first comeback in 1997 but three months later he returned to hospital after a crash caused by a cat running across his path during the Giro, leaving him badly bruised. Starting from scratch once again, the next year he won both of the world’s cycling classics — the Giro and the Tour.
An autopsy will take place today to determine the cause of death of Pantani, who was found in a hotel room in central Italy with sedatives near his bed.
The cause of death of the 34-year-old rider was not immediately known but investigators ruled out violence. Magistrate Paolo Gengarelli told reporters yesterday that there were no illegal drugs in the room when Pantani’s body was discovered on Saturday night but tranquilizers were found near the body and in the kitchen section. Pantani was found by a member of staff at the hotel in Rimini on the floor of his room near the bed, naked from waist up.
Belgian Rider Sermon Dies in Sleep
Belgian cyclist Johan Sermon has died in his sleep at the age of 21, news agency Belga reported in Brussels. Sermon, of the Daikin team, appeared to have died of natural causes, Belga quoted team manager Ernest De Vuyst as saying.
“An autopsy has been carried out and we are now awaiting the results. But I can already say with certainty it was a natural death,” said De Vuyst, who added that he believed Sermon had died of heart failure. Belga quoted former French Minister of Youth and Sports Marie-George Buffet as saying: “I am devastated by the announcement of the deaths of Marco Pantani and Johan Sermon.”
