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Cycling great Pantani dies
15/02/2004 07:53 - (SA)
Rimini - Marco Pantani, the former Tour de France and Giro d'Italia winner who has been plagued by doping accusations and suspensions in recent years, has been found dead in a Rimini residence.
Italy's most popular cyclist was found in a room at the apartment-residence "Le Rose". in this seaside city, said receptionist Paolo Buccellato.
Buccellato said he saw medicines strewn about Pantani's room _ on the bed and floor _ and that Pantani was found lying on the ground, wearing just pants. The room, he said, was in disarray.
No explanation of the death has been provided, although news reports said it was not a violent death. Buccellato said there were no visible signs of injury.
Italian television broke into regular programming to announce the death and ran file footage of some of the bald cyclist's more memorable victories.
"I'm devastated, it's a tragedy of enormous proportions for the entire cycling world," fellow cyclist Mario Cipollini, himself a former world champion. "I'm at a loss for words."
In 1998, Pantani became the last cyclist to win both the Tour de France and the Giro in the same season. Since then, he has been beset by doping accusations, which he has long denied.
He spent several weeks in a health clinic specialising in treatment for depression and drug addiction last year.
In 1999, he failed a random blood test and was kicked out of the Giro he was dominating.
After turning professional in 1992, Pantani won eight Tour de France stages and eight Giro stages. He wore the yellow jersey as Tour leader in six stages and donned the Giro's pink jersey 14 times.
He registered 36 victories overall, the first coming in a 1994 Giro stage and the last in the 2000 Tour de France, when he rode wheel-to-wheel with Lance Armstrong.
- AP
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