Marco Pantani

Marco Pantani (13 January 1970 – 14 February 2004) was an Italian road racing cyclist, widely regarded as one of the greatest climbing 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) and Alpe d'Huez (36:50), and other cyclists including Lance Armstrong and Charly Gaul have hailed Pantani's climbing skills.

Pantani was born on 13 January 1970 in Cesena, Romagna, the son of Ferdinando (referred to as Paolo) and Tonina.

He joined the Fausto Coppi cycling club of Cesenatico at the age of eleven.

As an amateur, he won the 1992 Girobio, the amateur version of the Giro d'Italia, after finishing third in 1990 and second in 1991.

His success at the Girobio led to his turning professional for the remainder of the 1992 season with Davide Boifava's.

While signing the contract, barely above the minimum established, he asked Boifava what would happen if he were to win the Giro d'Italia or the Tour de France, requesting a change in the contract.

In 1993, his first full season as a professional, he finished fifth at the mountainous course of Giro del Trentino and debuted at the Giro d'Italia in order to help his team leader, Claudio Chiappucci.

In 1994, he finished fourth at the Giro del Trentino and the Giro di Toscana before his second participation at the Giro d'Italia, where he was supposed to help Chiappucci.

He won two consecutive mountain stages, earning his first victory as a professional in the fourteenth stage to Merano.

In the following stage to Aprica, which featured the renowned Stelvio Pass and the Mortirolo 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.

He ultimately finished the race behind Eugeni Berzin but ahead of Miguel Induráin, who had won the two previous Giros.

That same year Pantani made his Tour de France debut, coming in third and winning the young rider classification along the way.

In 1995, he was hit by a car while training, preventing him from riding the Giro, but he rode the Tour and won stages at Alpe d'Huez and Guzet-Neige.

He also finished thirteenth and claimed his second successive best young rider prize.

He also won a stage at the Tour de Suisse and finished third in the 1995 World Championships road race in Duitama, Colombia, behind Spaniards Abraham Olano and Miguel Induráin.

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.

Shortly after returning to Italy, he collided head-on with a car during the Italian Milano–Torino race, sustaining multiple fractures to the left tibia and fibula, injuries that threatened his career and forced him to miss most of the 1996 season.

When Carrera Jeans manufacturers stopped sponsoring the renowned Italian cycling team at the end of 1996, a new team based in Italy was formed with Marco Pantani as the team leader.

Luciano Pezzi founded, taking with him as directeur sportifs Giuseppe Martinelli, Davide Cassani and Alessandro Giannelli and ten of the riders from Carrera.

Other contenders included Alex Zülle, 1996 winner Pavel Tonkov and 1997 winner Ivan Gotti.

Zülle won the initial prologue in Nice and also won the sixth stage to Lago Laceno, but Pantani recovered some time in the mountain stage to Piancavallo.

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.

He returned to action at the 1997 Tour de France and won two stages in the Alps, establishing a record time for the climb of Alpe d'Huez and winning two days later at Morzine.

Jan Ullrich won, with Pantani third behind Richard Virenque.

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 by Lance Armstrong at 37'36" in 2004 and Jan Ullrich at 37'41" in 1997.

He is the last rider and one of only seven to ever win the Tour de France – Giro d'Italia double, doing so in 1998.

He is the sixth of seven Italians, after Ottavio Bottecchia, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Gastone Nencini and Felice Gimondi, and before Vincenzo Nibali to win the Tour de France.

Pantani's cycling style was off-the-saddle, and was a relentless climbing style.

In 1998, Pantani was considered a favorite to win the Giro d'Italia.

In the 1999 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 high haematocrit was the product of EPO use.

His early death caused by acute cocaine 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 the bandana and earrings he wore.

At 1.72 m and 57 kg, he was said to have the classic build for a mountain climber.

His style has been contrasted with that of time-trialling experts such as the five-time Tour winner Miguel Induráin.

Although Pantani never tested positive during his career, his career was beset by doping allegations.

Following later accusations, Pantani went into a severe depression from which he never fully recovered, ultimately leading to his death in 2004.

He finished 12th in his first professional race, the Gran Premio Città di Camaiore.

He was forced to abandon the race in the 18th stage due to tendinitis.