[Deathwatch] Marco Pantani, former Tour de France winner, 34

[Deathwatch Central]

Former Tour de France winner Pantani found dead
	
Sun Feb 15

RIMINI, Italy (AFP) - Former Tour de France winner Marco Pantani was
found dead at the age of 34 in a hotel room in the chic Italian seaside
resort of Rimini. 

Pantani's half-naked and cold body was found on the floor near to his
bed in "The Roses" hotel on the Adriatic coast, ANSA news agency
reported.

The cause of the Italian's death was still unknown early Sunday.

Medication was found in the fifth floor room but it was not immediately
known if it had played any part in the death.

Staff at the hotel said Pantani had checked in alone several days ago,
and had appeared "strange and not quite there".

The hotel porter raised the alarm at around 9.30pm local time on
Saturday after Pantani failed to appear for the evening.

Hotel staff knocked on his door, which was locked. When they finally
entered the room, Pantani was found lying on his back, ANSA reported.

An investigating magistrate and a doctor were in attendance at the
hotel just after midnight (2300 GMT) as police stood guard at all the
doors to the building.

Last July, Pantani was admitted to a clinic specialising in nervous
disorders, drug addiction and alcoholism.

In October, an Italian court cleared him of the charge of sporting
fraud linked to the doping scandal that engulfed the 1999 Tour of
Italy.

The flamboyant rider, who won both the Tour de France and the Tour of
Italy in 1998, made an emotional comeback to cycling last year after
years of wrangling with the authorities over alleged drug-taking.

He took part in last year's Tour of Italy, finishing in 14th place
overall, over 26 minutes behind winner Gilberto Simoni.

Italian cycling star Mario Cipollini was saddened by the news of
Pantani's death.

"I am devastated, it's a tragedy of enormous proportions for everyone
involved in cycling. I'm lost for words."

Another Italian cyclist, Stefano Garzelli, compared Pantani to the
legendary Fausto Coppi, who in 1949 became the first rider to win the
Tour de France and the Tour of Italy in the same year - a feat Pantani
repeated 49 years later.

"Forty years on they remember Coppi, in 40 years' time they will still
be talking about Marco," said Garzelli.

"Certainly he came under a great deal of pressure, not just from
cycling.

"He was very strong but also very sensitive and took refuge in things
he shouldn't have.

"The pressure he was exposed to would have been difficult for anyone to
cope with.

"I remember our past together. Of the present, I know he was quite
isolated and nobody knew much about him."

Nicknamed the 'Pirate' for the earrings and colourful headbands he
wore, Pantani was one of the most popular riders in the professional
peloton.

However his wrangles with the authorities left him largely on the
sidelines in recent years.

The 1990s saw Pantani forge a reputation as one of the best climbers in
the peloton, but his career hit the skids in the wake of the tough
anti-doping laws introduced in Italy after the 1999 Tour of Italy when
he was targeted in a police swoop on riders' hotels.

Tests showed his blood haematocrit levels during the race to be
abnormally high - an indicator but not proof that a rider may be using
endurance-enhancing drugs and he was disqualified from the race only 36
hours from winning the event for a second time. He was only cleared of
criminal charges last year.

Pantani returned to compete in the 2000 Tour de France where he scored
his last major victory on the stage to Courchevel.

He was then banned for eight months in June 2002 by the Italian Cycling
Federation after a syringe containing insulin was found in his hotel
room during the 2001 Tour of Italy.

A month later, to the annoyance of the sport's ruling body the UCI, he
won a successful appeal due to a lack of proof.

The International Cycling Union appealed to the Court of Arbitration
for Sport to reinstate the eight-month ban, which if upheld would have
ruled Pantani out of the 2003 Tour of Italy.

However in March of last year CAS ruled he should only serve a
six-month ban, effectively paving the way for a comeback.

Pantani made an emotional comeback in the Settimana Coppi-Bartali race
last March, then went on to finish the 2003 Tour of Italy.

He had joined the Mercatone Uno team in 1997.