While the cause of death, or more accurately, the factors precipitating the official cause of death, of Marco Pantani may not be made public (or perhaps they may...) it is a tragedy regardless of the circumstances.

It would appear he died after a period of depression and anxiety. To most of us, it seems odd that a man so recognizable, so famous and so physically fit would succumb to depression. But depression is a serious, common, and sometimes fatal medical condition. Treatment for it is often successful, but not always. Sometimes a person cannot endure the treatment- they are simply too tired or too depressed.

During his life Pantani had to endure more than just difficult climbs and long, hot days in the saddle against the best cyclists in the world.

The press and the tifosi could be brutally cruel. While his nickname "elefantino" may have been amusing to some, Pantani found it so distressing he had cosmetic surgery on his ears to modify his appearance. He was frequently harangued by the press about drug allegations. He was tried in the courts and in the public. I think it drained the soul of the little man with the massive cycling ability.

It is sad that Pantani died alone, the ultimate fear of every human. I think Pantani was a man first- a normal man with strengths and dreams and fears and frailties- and a sports star a distant second. The burden of his fears and frailties may have gotten the better of him. It is too bad. He was a legend before he expired. Now he is an immortal legend. Hopefully history will remember him for his accomplishments on the bike rather than his untimely end.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Tom, you have put it far better than I could have described. Certainly, going from the spotlight of winning the Tour-Giro double, to not even making the start line in the centenary Tour, to rehab and depression is a long downward spiral that even the best might find difficult to endure. I think for those going from a sporting life to being a regular Joe is difficult at best. I have not read Tinley's new book, but from the book reports, a lot of what Tinley talks about likely applies to Pantani and Jiminez.

I smell an editorial coming on.... And am looking forward to it. Tom, you have a definite way with words, and I'm eagerly awaiting your editorial on this.

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One thing any sports fan or a researcher of great athletes quickly realizes is that elite athletes almost seem bipolar in their moods.

We hear things like winning is living and losing is dying, but they don't ring true for us, b/c we play for "fun". There are those that do not play for fun, there are those that play b/c to win means they are alive, and they'd rather die a physical death than to live through losing.

We see this with coaches all the time. After the loss, they go into their shell (office) and ignore loved ones while they prepare to avoid another loss (death). The high are never high enough and the lows are always too low.

I won't pretend to know much about Pantani, but he seems from the little amount I have read to fit the bill. The highs are higher than high, and the lows are lower than low. Once you mix in some drugs, the extremes get ever worse. It's not too hard to get "too low", so low you can't seem to come out of it.

One thing a lot of althletes have in common is insecurity. Insecurity drives people to train so that they don't "look stupid" in front of thousands ... if not millions. It sounds amazing to hear an all-time great say his biggest fear is to fail in front of thousands, but it's true. Whether it's Donnie Moore committing suicide because he gave up a game-losing home run to Dave Henderson in '86 or a cyclist never being able to re-establish his once greatness ... it is tragic.

Sometimes we forget that underneath all of that ability, personality and drive, is just a fragile person like the rest of us with very basic needs. Obviously, for whatever reason, Pantani's basic needs were not met.

It is sad when anyone feels so hopeless that they take their own life (if that is indeed what happened), it's even sadder when they die alone.

The old saying is true, if Pantani didn't exist, we'd have to invent him. He seemed like a great character.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

What has been said seems to come from the heart and I agree this is a sad and lonely thing.

One thing that was said I don't agree with is they don't hurt anything but their own health which is true directly but then you have impressionable people mainly youngsters that see the success and want to copy what their heros have done which includes drugs and this is as sad as his death.

my 0.02 mike

Very well said!

Yes: It is sad to see a wasted talented life. But I felt that way before his death. He was torn up inside by all accounts that I have read of his recent past. I use to admire him when he was on his game... man could he climb... but that was tarnished when "on his game" was chemically induced! Was he as good as we thought he was? Was he just another juiced athlete who cheated himself and his sport? Personally, I still don't want to cut him any slack because he has died!

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Shawn Skene

Reports in the press indicate he was never found to have used a performance enhancing drug. Ever. Not once. Even after an exhaustive, two year formal investigation. A syringe containing a trace of insulin was found in his room during a search years ago and he once tested over the UCI legal limit for hematocrit.

Two of my employees have normal hematocrit levels that exceed the UCI limit. Neither has ever used a performance enhancing drug.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

That's true. I am in no way condoning his actions of taking illegal substances. However I don't believe that it is a capital offence either.

Untimely deaths are always sad.

I have only ever seen him on TV as I imagine most people have, but I still felt a pang of sadness when I heard of his death on the radio.

To go from the heights he was at, to the state he was in at his death is indeed sad.

Everybody seemed keen to prosecute and persecute him; but if he was so depressed what about helping him!!!!!

he was a human being first, a disgraced sportsman second.

Could anybody please explain what the hell happened? This is the first I hear of this.

This explains most of it:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/...004/feb04/feb15news2

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

And this also:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/.../feb16pantaniletters

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Hey Khai,

The editorial is done, it is in my website administrators mail box for uploading tomorrow. It's called: "Cause of Death: Broken Heart."

-Seems like I've written a lot of editorials about dead cyclists. I'd like to get away from that.

Right now I'm going home to my cats.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I think it's a real shame. His passion and talent illuminated the sport. If he was one of the cyclists involved in illegal and performance enhancing drugs, that could have played a real part in his death. Here is an abstract from a cyclingnews article on drug use:

"Voet writes about how every evening he would go to the rooms of riders and give them 10 mgs of Kenacort "right in the buttock" It was to stop the drugs showing in the urine. Even in the event of a blood test finding some anomaly, the plan was to not allow the doctors to detect cortisone. The riders were also to always swear that they had not used any dope.

Voet made special bidons for the riders full with EPO covered with ice blocks. He also took stimulants himself. He used to inject himself with the "Pot Belge". It was a mixture of amphetamines, caffeine, cocaine, heroin and cortisone. The assistants of the riders used to take it during the long nights after the stages and also to remain awake on long journeys. The bidons with "Pot Belge" were used in the peloton and also sold. The evening of his arrest Voet had given himself a shot. "

Here is the full article:

http://au.cyclingnews.com/...99/may99/may14.shtml

Anyway, those are serious drugs. I have no idea if Pantani got mixed up in them, but if he did I can imagine they would have long lasting psychological and physical effects.

As Tom pointed out:
Pantani never tested positive to anything. He was once thrown out of the Giro was an HCT above 50%, when the testing was done 2' after the end of the stage, when very dehydrated.
There were some odd things but sport should be like real life, you are innocent until proven guilty not the other way round.

The french and italian justice have a huge piece of wood in the eye...they are running after bike racers, when murderers, thieves etc...run free...
They are probably to blame, but on the other hand, they are also trying to stop drug abuse.

But the real ones to blame are the media (be it the french, italian, etc...) they are transforming events to have a "story" for their papers. I am sure in the US, Pantani's family could sue the media for the death of pantani.
The way Virenque was hassled by the french media was not any better, but Virenque was probably stronger mentally and had better support around him.

As far as I am concerned these media are a bunch of murderers and hypocrits, one day glorifying the rider for an amazing stage, the next day burning him just to sell some crappy "news"paper...shame on you Gazzetta dell Sport...

As far as I am concerned these media are a bunch of murderers and hypocrits, one day glorifying the rider for an amazing stage, the next day burning him just to sell some crappy "news"paper...shame on you Gazzetta dell Sport...

We do the same thing here in the US. Build em up only to tear em down.

In the US, maybe it's different b/c we have "so many" pro sports. If we just had "one" or "two", every move the athletes made would be on ESPNews 24 hours a day. Well, that and we're so used to our athletes getting arrested, etc ... that the shock value is gone to the point where we (as a whole) basically don't care.

Kobe Bryant is on trial for rape. It will be a footnote is he's acquitted and the Lakers win the finals. That story will be over-shadowed by his free agency mayhem coming this summer.

Bill Buckner missed one ground ball (Game 8, 1986 WS) that erased a career where he nearly had 3,000 hits. (Hall of Fame numbers) Now, instead of a Hall of Famer, he's the butt of a long-running joke. Shame.

I guess I'm just saying that what you describe is also present here, we're just so used to it that it doesn't shock.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

I agree with everything you wrote Tom, but I think you forgot to mention a crucial point: Pantani was an incredibly talented athlete who never really fulfilled his potential because he never lived like a professional. I'm friends with Pantani's buddy Massimiliano Lelli (Cofidis), who often said that Marco never really trained as hard as the rest of the peloton because everything came so easy to him. He would go to a club the night before a race or a major training session with his team. He would try to be a normal guy even if he was a gifted athlete whom everybody looked up to. In other words even if it sounds strange, Pantani has always been a very fragile character, which is kinda puzzling, considering the fatigue and the struggle you have to endure and the resiliency you gotta have to be just part of the peloton. Pantani was so talented that he never had to suffer that much, he never built such a strong character which would ultimately allow him to actually say "go to hell" to his detractors (and he had many even here in Italy) and actually meaning it (see the Elefantino example). That he was on the verge of self destruction is no news for bike aficionados here in Italy, to say that anyone actually cared for his well being is a stretch and what I've been hearing and seeing in these last 36 hrs is mostly a bunch of hypocrites saying all the right things just to look good. Sad, really sad!

To answer Devanshish Paul's original post, well I agree with you when you say italian justice went out of its way to burn the witch and to sacrifice pantani to the altar of hypocrisy (Francois said very well what actually happened), however I'm all for the stance taken by the Italians and the French with regards to illegal substances. I too wanna see homeruns every other pitch, football players flying instead of running and TdF mountain stages won at 24mph average. However the sad story is that professionals are just the tip of the iceberg and whatever they do is replicated to nth power by youngsters and amateurs. So, in my opinion the hard stance by the French and the Italians (whatever their true hypocritical reason is) is good to try to halt those underneath the ranks of pro "ballers." If you think that only pros have easy access to all sorts of shit, well, think again. When I was a walk on for a major college football team in the Southeast, even I had (third stringer at best) had access to whatever I might have dreamt of and then some more.
Sorry for being so long.
Have a nice week y'all.
Filippo

The saddest thing to me is that he died alone, both literally and figuratively. Throw out everything else written or said or done by him or anyone else involved. He was a human being. I have recently been in that place where I felt "alone." It isn't fun. And it isn't easy to see a way out. Call him fragile, say he had a "weak character." It doesn't matter. He was a human being and he deserved better. Not because he was a great cyclist. Not because he was a famous celebrity. Not even because we should all feel sorry for him. Only because he was one of us.

Tom, I live at sea level, and have a reasonably normal diet and my hematocrit is 48%. If the vampires were to test me first thing in the morning when I am somewhat dehydrated, I bet I'd be close to UCI illegal. My 62 year old mother who walks maybe 4 times a week for fitness is up near 45%, just 2% off what Genevieve Jeanson was tossed for at UCI World's in Hamilton. I am not saying anything about what Pantani was or was not on when he was tossed at the penultimate stage of the 1999 Giro with the Maglia Rosa in the bag, but either way, this event started a sad downward spiral. I'm glad that they have tests to can trace EPO and Darboproetin (sp) so they can nail the people with firm evidence.

Anyway, like Tom says, the guys was never "caught' red handed, but he never really came out and said that he was clean either. Kind of like Barry Bonds eh ??? Again, in 1998, when many the peloton were on all sorts of stuff, he excelled like no man since Indurain (i.e. Tour-Giro double). It's kind of like Ben Johnson's 9.79 in Seoul in a totally juiced up field. It took over decade before someone who was "clean" could beat that time and I still question all the times posted in between :-).

Fillippo, very well put. You are correct, that what pros do is replicated way down in the amateur ranks to the nth degree. Still, to me, this is only sport. Would the resources of the justice systems in any country not be better spent on thieves, murderers and slimy accountants that burn the life savings of many through securities fraud such as those running the likes of Enron or Worldcom ?

Your insight into Pantani's work ethic is good. It is like the kid in high school who never works for A's and then fails at 4th year engineering because he has no study habits. As Lance says, he wins the TdF in Feb and Mar, riding stage previews in the rain and snow while other may not work as hard !

I agree with you, but you also have to consider that he chose to be alone. Many people tried to help him many times, but (apparently) he always chose to be by himself. Many people were aware of what was going on with his life and yesterday evening Cipollini (apparantly one of his best freinds among riders) said that many times he tried to get in touch with him in the past few weeks, but that pantani was nowhere to be found. He didn't even answer his mobile, but the again, I guess that if you really wanna help someone you find ways to get in touch with this person (he didn't go hiding in Siberia). He also said that there was a plan (later confirmed by the actual promoter) to bring him over to Bolivia and have him check into a rehab center under the supervision of some missionaires.
What really puzzles me is how his parents could go on a vacation trip to Greece while their son was going through such hell. I don't wanna be too quick to judge people and situations I don't know, but it seems to me a bit strange to say the least.

A great shame and not the way anyone of us should have to bow out. I think in tragic and sad circumstances such as this we'll often look to the romantic and sympathetic side of a persons life - in this case Pantain's alledged drug use/innocence. What is also tragic is perhaps that we only seem to do this in death. If this wasn't the case, it's rediculous that athletes have to push the boundaries of performance enhancement to the point of death. Is this really what sport has boiled down to ?
As a sideline, pro Charly Wegelius was recently certified by the UCI to ride with a high hemocriit level.........

[quote]Still, to me, this is only sport. Would the resources of the justice systems in any country not be better spent on thieves, murderers and slimy accountants that burn the life savings of many through securities fraud such as those running the likes of Enron or Worldcom ? [/quote]

You're totally right about that, however call me cynical if you wish but I still think that authorities in France and in Italy have some sort of hidden agenda when they strive so hard to punish people for what are, in my opinion, petty crimes in sports. It might have to do with the fact that it's a lot easier and glamorous to pursue and prosecute sports people rather than actual thieves and murderers.
Who knows?
Francois is right though, SHAME ON YOU GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT, EQUIPE, etc...

While I never cared for a lot that came out of his mouth, I always enjoyed Pantani's flamboyance as a racer. Either way, it was a sad weekend for sports.

Read a report on Velo News that they're now thinking this was just a heart attack (not a suicide as originally theorized), but should know more later today after the autopsy.

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