First Edition Cycling News for February 17, 2004

Edited by Jeff Jones

Pride goeth before a fall: Pantani's passing causes much pain

By Tim Maloney, European Editor

Pantani and father
Photo: © AFP

As Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted" echoed through hotel dining rooms on the eve of Italy's Trofeo Laigueglia race, topic one for conversation at every professional cycling table this Monday was Marco Pantani. On Sunday, every race on Planet Earth seemed to start with a minute of silence for Il Pirata, while soccer coach Paolo Maldini of FC Milan arranged for a minute of silence for Pantani before the team's match with Lecce. Pantani was a devout fan of the red and black Milan team and when they took the pitch, each player wore a black armband to mourn their fallen fan. Outside the Pantani family villa in Cesenatico, legions of Marco's brokenhearted fans left notes, messages and bouquets to commemorate their hero.

In an emotional Domenica Sportivo on Italy's main TV channel last Sunday night, RAI-TV's main cycling commentator Auro Bulbarelli evoked Pantani by saying "from 1995-2000, in order to win in those days, any rider had to take something to win... so Pantani took these things but it was only to maintain his place. Pantani was still the best climber in cycling and he didn't need to take these [products] to win." As his fellow RAI cycling commentator Davide Cassani glowered with emotion over the tragic loss of his good friend Pantani, Bulbarelli poignantly evoked Pantani's feelings about his comeback, speculating that "perhaps Pantani felt that people didn't trust him anymore after all the doping accusations and felt almost embarrassed to come back."

In Pantani's chaotic, topsy-turvy room in his Rimini residence, where the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia winner was found dead Saturday night, police investigators found three types of pharmaceuticals: Control, Flunox and Surmontil. Control and Flunox are anti-anxiety drugs based on benzodiazepine; Control is usually prescribed for short term anxiety and insomnia as is Flunox, while Surmontil is an anti-depressant used for the treatment of chronic depression. According to Italian pharmacologists, the first two drugs were low-dose and didn't have lethal contraindications, but the anti-depressant Surmontil could have more serious side affects.

Although suicide has been all but ruled out in Pantani's death, the 34 year old left some quixotic notes that revealed something of his tortured inner psyche. "I'm all alone," said one note, which contrasted sharply with Pantani's many friends who tried to help him snap out of his profound depression. "No one can understand me, not in the cycling world or even my family." Marco's parents left for a month-long hunting trip in Greece with friends last week after seeing that his condition had improved. His mother Tonina told Corriere della Sera, "we decided to go on our trip last week because Marco seemed to be doing much better." But he wasn't "doing better" and when the news of their son's death reached the Pantanis on Saturday night, they were devastated.

"We are ruined," lamented Marco's father Paolo from Greece. "Tonina can't stop crying and we're just trying to get home as soon as we can, but with two campers full of hunting gear, it's not that easy. The ferry was full and the sea was really rough."

Finally, Mr. and Mrs. Pantani reached their home in Cesenatico Monday evening, but not soon enough to identify the body of their son Marco. That grim task was left to Marco's Aunt Gloria. "Now Marco is at peace... he was skinny even. It's not true that he was fat," she told Tuttosport's Beppe Conte. "Marco had a bruise on his face, maybe from where he hit his face on the closet door when he passed out. I don't believe he killed himself. I kissed and hugged (his body) for everyone who wished him well."

But other than his profound depression, Pantani may have also been suffering other consequences from his alleged use of EPO. According to Corriere della Sera's Mario Pappagallo, Italian prosecutor Guariniello has documented medical evidence in his case against Pantani for sporting fraud in 1995 subsequent to his crash in Milano-Torino that the Italian climber had "fried" his bone marrow. When an organism is given too much synthetic EPO, which is usually used to cure severe anemia from kidney failure or chemotherapy / radiation for cancer, the result can be (one in ten thousand cases) that antibodies against EPO are created in the bone marrow, where red blood corpuscles are created. Guariniello's investigation found that Pantani was not producing sufficient red blood cells and suffered from "aplasia of the bone marrow", perhaps from a surfeit of EPO. However, Pantani was never found positive for any banned substance nor EPO.

But Tuttosport's Beppe Conte's opinion rings loud and clear as Pantani's body lies in the University of Bologna's Hospital morgue. "Marco Pantani wasn't a doper, in the sense that he found a special elixir that gave him a longer life. And for sure, his triumphs didn't come from chemicals and pharmaceuticals."

The words of Pantani's most faithful team rider Roberto Conti, who recently retired after 17 years in the pro peloton, also volumes about Il Pirata. "My dear friend Marco was betrayed by his hard-headedness. It's just not fair that he should go like this. Marco was a good guy, he was generous and he knew how to help his friends. But the same hard-headedness that won him the Tour and Giro also screwed him in the end."

Pantani wouldn't let any of his old friends, including Conti, help him in the last few months of his life. He felt he was all alone and perhaps rightly, saw a conspiracy to get him, make him an example and keep him out of the sport.

Pantani's stubborn personality certainly never helped him adapt to the changes in his life after his crushing 1999 expulsion from the Giro d'Italia. Perhaps Marco should have taken a page from the playbook of Lance Armstrong, who was his rival of sorts a few years ago. After Armstrong supposedly let Pantani win on le Mont Ventoux in 2000, the too-proud Italian couldn't accept that "l'Americano" let him win, while the equally proud Texan was pee-ohed that he had let the seemingly ungrateful "Elefantino" win on the Giant of Provence.

In March of 2001, La Gazzetta dello Sport's Pier Bergonzi set up a meeting (reportedly on Lance's behest) to clear the air between the two champion riders at the Tour of Murcia. Armstrong fondly remembered when Pantani had called him in 1997 as he recovered from cancer to offer the American a place on his team.

The dynamic duo met in the bar of the Hotel Rincon di Pepe in Murcia and Bergonzi reported that "there was this meeting between two men who wanted to look each other in the eye and tell each other just what they thought. At a certain point, Lance looked Marco in the eye and said "don't keep beating yourself up over things... just forget everything that happened. Think about winning. In a few years, we'll meet up on a beach somewhere and have a few margaritas and have some laughs." But Pantani simply couldn't take l'Americano's advice, he could never forget and in the end, it caught up with him in the most sad and tragic way. The final results of Pantani's autopsy are expected by late February, 2004.

Pantani's autopsy results

An autopsy carried out on the body of Marco Pantani has shed some more light on his mysterious death on Saturday afternoon, however the question still remains as to exactly what caused his death. At a press conference in Rimini on Monday afternoon, Professor Giuseppe Fortuni declared that Pantani had died of "cardiac arrest caused by a cerebral and pulmonary edema, and any type of traumatic event is excluded."

"There are is still not enough information to confirm or exclude the utilisation of toxic substances, and we need to wait a few weeks before the results of the histological and toxicological tests are known. It has not been established where and when these examinations will be carried out," concluded Professor Fortuni.

The date for Pantani's funeral has been set at Wednesday, February 18, and will take place in the church of San Giacomo, Cesenatico. A day of mourning has been declared by the town, and special traffic measures will be put in place so that the thousands of fans will be able to get into Cesenatico to pay their last respects to the fallen champion.

30th Volta ao Algarve

The southern Portuguese region of Algarve will play host to the 30th edition of the Volta al Algarve between February 18-22. The race, which will mark the season debut of Lance Armstrong (US Postal presented by Berry Floor), consists of five stages and includes a 24 kilometre individual time trial on the second last day, put in especially by the organisers as a favour to Armstrong.

The Volta opens with a 149 km stage starting and finishing in Albufeira, travelling along the coast before heading inland and back to Albufeira in a large loop. The second stage starts in Castro Marim, on the eastern Portuguese/Spanish border, and heads west towards Portimao, with a few small climbs en route. Stage 3 is from Lagoa, on the outskirts of Portimao, to Lagos, passing via the southwestern tip of Portugal and featuring the Cat. 2 climb of Fóia (940m).

The fourth stage is an almost dead flat time trial between Vila Real S.Antonio and Tavira, again along the coast line. This should be a fast and important stage, but the race will not be decided until the final day. The fifth stage from Parque Das Cidades to Malhão is generally hilly and finishes with a Cat. 2 climb. Although only 2.5 km long, the Alto do Malhão rises over 240m and will be a real challenge.

Apart from the US Postal-Berry Floor team, which also includes Portuguese rider Jose Azevedo, Floyd Landis, Michael Barry and Victor Peña, there are a number of other teams and riders to watch. Portuguese hopes will probably be pinned on the Milaneza-Maia team with David Bernabeu, Angel Edo and Vitor Gamito. Candido Barbosa (LA Pecol) will be looking to follow up on his recent GP CTT victory, and the remainder of the Portuguese squads will doubtless be motivated to do well against Armstrong and co.

The stages

Stage 1 - February 18: Albufeira-Albufeira, 149,4 km
Stage 2 - February 19: Castro Marim-Portimao, 182.0 km
Stage 3 - February 20: Lagoa-Lagos, 180 km
Stage 4 - February 21: Vila Real S.Antonio-Tavira ITT, 24 km
Stage 5 - February 22: Parque Das Cidades-Malhão, 178.5 km

Steels and Gilmore endure falls in Moscow

Belgians Tom Steels and Matthew Gilmore found it hard going representing their country in the madison at the first round of the Track World Cup in Moscow. Steels fell twice and Gilmore once during the heat and final, and Steels finished up with a 7cm splinter of wood in his back.

"It was a race for real kamikazes, hence the falls," Steels was quoted on VRT Teletekst. "After the race the doctor had to remove a seven centimetre splinter from my back. Fortunately my road campaign is not endangered."

Unperturbed, Steels is still hoping for an Olympic spot with Gilmore. "We found that we still have to improve a lot. Our opponents haven't finished with us yet."

Spinning for cancer in Mississauga

The fifth annual Gears 24-Hour Spin for the Ring kicks off this Friday at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Over 2,500 participants will ride stationary bikes (some for a full 24 hours) to help raise funds for the Betty Wallace Women's Health Centre, part of the Trillium Health Centre in Etobicoke.

The event raised over $300,000 last year, and this year's goal is to raise $1,000,000 for the cause. The wheels will start spinning at 10 p.m. Friday, with Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion welcoming participants and starting off the event.

XXX Racing-AthletiCo announces 2004 lineup

XXX Racing-AthletiCo, based in Chicago, Illinois, USA, has announced its lineup for the 2004 season. The team continues to expand following a 2003 campaign that included 103 podium finishes and 'Team of the Year' honours from the Northbrook Velodrome. Identified by its distinctive red and black kit, XXX Racing was founded in 1999 by professional couriers in Chicago. The team has steadily increased in size since its inception and its current roster of 70 athletes will compete in a broad range of cycling disciplines in 2004.

Click here for the full team roster.

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