the late Pantani

[bikerchick68]

I'm sure many of you have already heard this but I just found out today that Marco Pantani was found dead on Feb 14 in a hotel room... he was only 34 yrs old. He is the last pro to win both the Tour and the Giro de Italia in the same season... cause of death was undetermined and I haven't heard anything since...

Last summer he spent several weeks in rehab dealing with drug addiction and depression.... in 1999 he was removed from the Giro, which he was winning, after he failed a random drug test...

He was truly an incredible cyclist and was Italy's most popular cyclist....

so young... such a shame...

[Trek420]

cardiac arrest acording to Bicycling mag

http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,5...ategory_id=501

[MightyMitre]

Myself and many of my friends have been totally devestated by Pantani's death. Although I never met him it feels as thought I've lost a personal friend.

www.cyclingnews.com has a lot of information about it, written by a friend of mine who lived out in Italy for several years and was also a big fan. There's also some pictures from the furneral and a letters page with peoples thoughts and reactions.

I happened to already have the day booked off work, on the day of the funeral and I wore my Pantani Mercatone Uno team jersey all day.

[ChainsOflove]

There's also a Belgian cyclist, named Sermon, who died on the 15th.

What's with these cyclists, they're dropping like flies!