Feb 14, 2006
Two Years Since Pantani’s Death
Today marks the two year anniversary of Marco Pantani’s death in a hotel in Rimini. Here are a few pics that highlight Marco Pantani’s career.
(Marco and Miguel Indurain in 1995 Bour D’Oisans)
This is when Marco Pantani made a big splash by terrorizing Indurain and other riders in the mountains. This is the year that Pantani broke out of Claudio Chiapucci’s shadow and made his own name.
(2000 Tour De France Mt Ventoux.) This was Pantani’s comeback in the Armstrong Era. Although he wasn’t the Pantani of 1997-1999 he was still able to take Armstrong to the top of Ventoux. Pantani’s win was marred by controversy between the two riders when Lance mentioned that he “gave” the win to Pantani. Pantani was furious that Armstrong would say the stage was a gift and insisted that he won on his own merit.
The next day Pantani took the win on the stage to Courchevel to show that the Ventoux stage was not a gift.
(You can buy a T-Shirt of this win at the Velochimp T-Shirt shop)
Pics from http://www.geocities.com/veloepododo/Pirate/acc.html