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Marco Pantani (Wikimedia Commons:Hein Ciere)"Marco Pantani was murdered" - shock claim from Italy as magistrates reopen case
“Marco Pantani was murdered.” That’s the front page headline of today’s edition of Italian sports La Gazzetta dello Sport, which reports that more than 10 years after the cyclist’s death on St Valentine’s Day 2004 in a Rimini hotel room, investigating magistrates have reopened the case into his death.
Officially, Pantani’s death at the age of 34 was due to cocaine poisoning, but during the decade since his death at Le Rose hotel in the Adriatic resort, many have felt that there was more to the case than met the eye, including his family.
Their lawyer, Antonio De Rensis, has now submitted new evidence to the public prosecutor’s office in Rimini which claims that prior to his death, Pantani let people he knew into his room who subsequently beat him then forced him to drink cocaine diluted in water.
Once he was dead, the room was deliberately put in disarray to make it look as though his death had been an accident, claims the family’s lawyer, who also pointed out that no forensic analysis was ever undertaking of a water bottle discovered there, nor were fingerprints taken at the scene.
The newspaper says that the case has been assigned by the chief prosecutor of Rimini, Paolo Giovagnoli, to a junior colleague, Elisa Milocco, who will lead the new investigation to try and get to the bottom of what happened.
In 2005, three men were found guilty of supplying the cocaine to Pantani that supposedly caused his fatal overdose, although the verdict against one of them, Fabio Carlino, was reversed on appeal in 2011.
Prior to Vincenzo Nibali’s victory in the Tour de France last weekend, Pantani was the last Italian to win that race, and his win in 1998 also marks the last time any rider completed the Tour-Giro double.
The following year, Pantani was thrown out of the Giro d’Italia while leading the race after his haematocrit level was found to exceed the permitted 50 per cent.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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For anyone who saw Pantani racing back in the days, the question of doping remains very very secondary... drugs can probably make you good, but he was fabulous...
Cyclingtips has a good interview with Matt Rendell on this new investigation: http://cyclingtips.com.au/2014/08/rendell-pantani-biographer-says-murder...
Yeh, right ... and I guess Lance Armstrong wasn't a liar and perhaps Mr Bean assassinated President Kennedy. Cmon - he was a cheat, straight and simple, got found out, tipped himself over the edge and it ended as it always would - a tragic human waste in pursuit of what ... ? Some greater glory? There is no honour in cheating to win - it's as hollow and meaningless as the memory. And that's where this should be left - in the distant and cobwebby past. A hero he was not.
Agreed. You ever tried cheating? I tried cheating on video games as a kid, it took all the fun and challenge out of it, to the point that playing them was a waste of time and money.
The only compensation for cheating in professional sport is called ... 'money'. Other than that, it must all feel such a hollow sham.
Unfortunately ten years is a long period for real evidence to be found.
Pantani, legend - RIP.
From the little bits I've read about Pantani, he was used and (indirectly) abused by the various interested parties who had a stake in him - doing all they could to keep him on a bike when he should have been getting medical and psychological treatment.
But, as to what happened in that hotel room, it will be difficult to prove anything 10 years on.
The state of the room alluded to in the article - I understand noises were heard over a few days of furniture being moved (especially to barricade the door) and things being smashed, so reasonable to assume that was Pantani's doing.
However, by that point he was moving in some very dodgy circles!
Another drug cheat no better than Armstrong
[DELETED]
Cheating, cheating, cheating... always refraining the same. Taking PEDs is illegal and it was unfair for the (few) riders that did not take them but it is not actually cheating if everybody is taking them, and they did in some or another way, so do not try to put more shit into the memory of a great rider that rode and won in the same conditions as others while giving enormous spectacle to the public.
In any sport if you do something against the rules that is cheating. It does not matter if everyone else is doing it, it is still CHEATING.
Go and buy a dictionary!
Yes it is still cheating. If one person reacts better to a drug than another, how is that fair and not cheating?
Taking PEDs is not illegal in most countries, it is however against the rules in sport which is not the same thing. Winning money, gaining contractual advantage through use of PEDs may however be fraudulent and that fraud would generally by illegal.
Cheating is always cheating even if loads of people do I it and whether or not it is penalised. You may even consider it to be justified but if it breaks the rules then it is still cheating.
As for Pantani comparison to Armstrong May or my not be valid; we know what Armstrong did especially since he told us, Pantani on the other hand was found to have a haemocrit level over 50 and under the rules applicable at the time received a temporary suspension for health reasons. The level of 50 was set by the UCI to protect riders' health and to try to clamp down on the use of EPO which was not testable at that time, in spite of efforts to justify the number it was really arbitrary and there was always going to be the chance of an individual over the haemocrit level who had not used EPO.
I'm not saying Pantani didn't use EPO but then I can' say he definitively did so as I can with Armstrong and numerous others.
Regardless of all the above the whole issue is full of sadness and regrets.
But unlike Armstrong who is now getting everything he deserves, Pantani never hurt anybody other than himself. Armstrong is a nasty bit of work who has destroyed others lives/careers and condemned other riders when caught doping when all the while he was doing the same himself, probably on a whole other level to the others.
Whatever people think of Pantani, he was a great champion who hurt nobody else and entertained millions by riding a bike in a great attacking style but ultimately died in tragic circumstances alone either by his own hand or maybe someone else's which may or may not be true or ever proven.
Enough of the abusive comments and RIP Marco!
Pretty sure Rapha were just a brand new company no-one had heard of when I thought that Pantani was killed. So take you f*cking stupid comments to another forum.
Touched a nerve? Seeing as it is generally you who dives in first on most subjects with some bombastic BS and perverts the thread to replies about what you said. You probably take as many drugs as Pantani, you might need a pill to calm yourself down tonight before you rupture something. Which forum would you suggest, you lead the way.
I am not sure under English Law you can insinuate and accuse people take drugs even in on an internet forum and it seems childish to resort to that kind of behaviour on a respected web site. I am sure if you wrote to Raphas Lawyers and put your point of view you may well be able to argue your insinuations in a court of Law.
Ooh. That's a tad strong, isn't it?
Finally, always thought this anyway. So glad it is going to be looked at
Pffff, cause you did. It is all a conspiracy to sell commemorative jerseys, arrest the founders of Rapha now!
It's going to be tricky to prove then.
And it would appear that the chief prosecutor doesn't hold out much hope either.
Probably best not to comment on this...
Oh, if only I'd seen that before I commented. Hey ho.