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Pantani: Loss of a lonely champ
15/02/2004 22:34 - (SA)
Rome - Italian newspapers devoted their entire front pages on Sunday to the sudden death of Marco Pantani, and fans walked the streets of the cyclist's hometown in a day of mourning for one of Italy's biggest and most troubled sports stars.
The Italian Cycling Federation instituted a moment of silence in every cycling event in Italy on Sunday as athletes and fans alike awoke to the news that one of the sport's greatest climbers had died.
"A champion who made us experience emotions important to Italian and world cycling has left us," federation president Giancarlo Ceruti said. "It's difficult to explain what happened and what is gone in this sad moment."
The Gazzetta dello Sport ran a banner headline reading "He's gone" across its front page. The country's most respected sports newspaper is the organiser of the Giro d'Italia race that Pantani won in his magical 1998 season, when he also captured the Tour de France.
Former Gazzetta editor Candido Cannavo entitled his front-page editorial, "Lost hero: we adored you."
Doping
Dragged down by doping accusations in recent seasons, the 34-year-old Pantani was found dead late on Saturday in a hotel in the seaside resort of Rimini, where he had been staying for a few days.
Known as the "pirate" for the trademark bandana covering his bald head and the earring he wore, Pantani's popularity here rivaled that of the country's biggest soccer stars.
Another sports daily, the Rome-based Corriere dello Sport, called the death "a tragedy that shocks cycling and the entire sports world."
The mass-circulation Corriere della Sera ran a front-page editorial titled "The hero that wanted to beat himself." La Republica, another mainstream daily, referred to "the champion that said 'I win everything and I feel alone."'
TV stations devoted the first half of their Sunday afternoon newscasts to the story, running footage of his victories, interviews with fellow cyclists and fans and speculation about the possible cause of death.
Last summer, Pantani spent several weeks in a health clinic specialising in treatment for depression and drug addiction. Prosecutors say they are looking into whether medicines found in his hotel room might have played a role in the death.
In Pantani's hometown of Cesenatico, fans filled the Bar del Corso and the Bar dei Pini, locales where they used to congregate to talk about the diminutive climber's many mountain victories.
"It's an extremely tough blow, nobody expected this tragic ending," Arrigo Vanzolini, president of the local cycling club in which Pantani first rode, was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency. "We were all aware of his problems, but we hoped that he could finish with professionalism."
Jean-Marie Leblanc, the Tour de France director, told France Info radio that Pantani "marked the history of cycling by being the last great climber of the generations of climbers that we've known over the past ten years."
- AP
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