Marco Pantani?

[DominicDecoco]

Marco made the races richer in many ways. lance and Millar didn't.

 

[gustienordic]

Marco made the races richer in many ways. lance and Millar haven't.

What about Ricco? Where does he rank on this.

 

[SafeBet]

What about Ricco? Where does he rank on this.

I'm not sure you get the extent of Marco Pantani's phenomenon.
People who didn't give a fudge about cycling, even people who didn't know how to ride a bike, started watching the TdF for the sole presence of Pantani. The country was crazy about him.
I remember playing tennis at that time. In May we'd stop training and run to the TV if we heard he attacked on Mortirolo. It was collective madness.

Riccò is nowhere close to this. Cycling fans know about him. There might be someone remembering the blood bags in the fridge thing if they heard it in the media (but I'm pretty sure most of the standard dudes have already forgotten the name and labelled the whole thing as "usual dodgy rider").


And if we wanna speak about real cycling, the comparison doesn't even begin. Clinic related issues aside, Pantani won two GTs, podiumed three more, podiumed at Worlds. He has won more TdF stages than all italian riders combined in the last 7 years. What has Riccò achieved?

I'll repeat myself: Pantani was a national hero. And as Eshnar said: somewhat he still is, thanks to the martyr effect.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

ac cesena fans chanting his name http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQyvnlR9DdI

 

[Carols]

Il Pirata remains my favorite all time rider...his passion, excellence, daring and PANACHE still enthrall me.

An Excellent but very sad book is Man On The Run by Manuela Ronchi his manager for the last 5 years of his life.

In the winter on the trainer I watch Pantini's rides....he is a Legend!!!

 

[Caruut]

Wouldn't trust Ronchi's account though, she made him race when he shouldn't have been anywhere near it all.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

I'll repeat myself: Pantani was a national hero.

I was in Italy when Pantani died. The office was full of grown men in tears.

 

[Carols]

I was in Italy when Pantani died. The office was full of grown men in tears.

I certainly cried when I heard the news...I had friends calling me to see how I was...I didn't Know until the first call....a Very Sad day

The man was Magic!!!

 

[Forunculo]

Pantani is an ideal, the King of panache, a simbol on this days of the "marginal wins" and watts

 

[gustienordic]

I'm not sure you get the extent of Marco Pantani's phenomenon.
People who didn't give a fudge about cycling, even people who didn't know how to ride a bike, started watching the TdF for the sole presence of Pantani. The country was crazy about him.
I remember playing tennis at that time. In May we'd stop training and run to the TV if we heard he attacked on Mortirolo. It was collective madness.

Riccò is nowhere close to this. Cycling fans know about him. There might be someone remembering the blood bags in the fridge thing if they heard it in the media (but I'm pretty sure most of the standard dudes have already forgotten the name and labelled the whole thing as "usual dodgy rider").


And if we wanna speak about real cycling, the comparison doesn't even begin. Clinic related issues aside, Pantani won two GTs, podiumed three more, podiumed at Worlds. He has won more TdF stages than all italian riders combined in the last 7 years. What has Riccò achieved?

I'll repeat myself: Pantani was a national hero. And as Eshnar said: somewhat he still is, thanks to the martyr effect.

Oh, I wasn't comparing him to Pantani... I was comparing him to Millar/LA/Vino as someone brought up.

Pantani is a hero, Ricco... not so much!

 

[Caruut]

Pantani wins on Alpe D'Huez in 1997 - celebration at 22:57

 

[ultimobici]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2FQqHF8x5I
Nuf said.

 

[gatete]

What about Ricco? Where does he rank on this.

Ricco? well the copy is never better than the original, Ricco wanted to be il pirata so much even his pedaling style and carried (according to RAI Italia)a photo of Pantani when he raced, he had nor the charisma nor the talent Marco had.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Leaving all the clinic issues aside for a second.

Pantani was just one heck of a climber. He was the prototype of the climber. He's style of riding was just so unique. He was never feared to attack. He attacked from way before the finish line. He took the risk to blow up, no tactical rider at all. I guess Panatni was everything a climber lover can ask for. He simply was head and shoulders above any climber we saw in the last 30 years. If he saw a chance, he went for it. He didn't comlpain about the routes and flat parts or downhills after climbs. He simply took the route as it was and went for it.
Marco wasn't a pure climbe rlike Jiminez, though. Marco was no sluch in TT, too for example. If he really tried hard, he was a descent TTler considering his weight.
If it wasn't for some bad crashes and the 99 Giro drama, surely Marco would have won a few more GT.
I am pretty sure he would have beaten Armstrong in 99m for example.

Apart of that, Marco had this charisma. It 's hard to tell what it really was. But the guy was simply electrifying as hell.

It's so sad how it all at to end.
I remember the 2003 Giro as it was yesterday. Marco was back and for some moments there was real hope that he could make it to the top again.
I rember there was some talk after this Giro that Bianchi wanted to sign Marco as a helper for the 2003 Tour for Ullrich. This would have been the ****. And i am sure it would have won Ullrich the Tour, and it might have saved Marcos life.
But sadly w e know it all came differently. Marco wasn't invited to the Tour and many say that this was the final nail in the coffin of Marco Pantani.

 

[Marco Pantani]

If it wasn't for some bad crashes and the 99 Giro drama, surely Marco would have won a few more GT.
I am pretty sure he would have beaten Armstrong in 99m for example.

Man, I don't even wanna think about it for a single minute more. Too bad.

 

[irongrl]

Leaving all the clinic issues aside for a second.

Pantani was just one heck of a climber. He was the prototype of the climber. He's style of riding was just so unique. He was never feared to attack. He attacked from way before the finish line. He took the risk to blow up, no tactical rider at all. I guess Panatni was everything a climber lover can ask for. He simply was head and shoulders above any climber we saw in the last 30 years. If he saw a chance, he went for it. He didn't comlpain about the routes and flat parts or downhills after climbs. He simply took the route as it was and went for it.
Marco wasn't a pure climbe rlike Jiminez, though. Marco was no sluch in TT, too for example. If he really tried hard, he was a descent TTler considering his weight.
If it wasn't for some bad crashes and the 99 Giro drama, surely Marco would have won a few more GT.
I am pretty sure he would have beaten Armstrong in 99m for example.

Apart of that, Marco had this charisma. It 's hard to tell what it really was. But the guy was simply electrifying as hell.

It's so sad how it all at to end.
I remember the 2003 Giro as it was yesterday. Marco was back and for some moments there was real hope that he could make it to the top again.
I rember there was some talk after this Giro that Bianchi wanted to sign Marco as a helper for the 2003 Tour for Ullrich. This would have been the ****. And i am sure it would have won Ullrich the Tour, and it might have saved Marcos life.
But sadly w e know it all came differently. Marco wasn't invited to the Tour and many say that this was the final nail in the coffin of Marco Pantani.

Thank you for this post! I have always appreciated Marco Pantani and I've always felt he could have done so much more in cycling. He was a very unique cyclist and it is very sad that his life ended the way it did.

 

[42x16ss]

I nearly proposed on the spot when my GF said she was a Pantani fan. 99.99999% of Australians wouldn't know him from a bar of soap!

 

[Mshengu]

Pantani was and always will be a legend. He rode in the old tradition, attaching relentlessly, you will not find many riders in the peleton who do that anymore. It has nothing to do with clinical issues, its just the style of riding

 

[jens_attacks]

coming from rendell's book...i might be disappointed.that senna doc was just extremely good though and i loved every piece of it

there are already dozens documentaries on pirata's life,the best is tutto pantani,7 hours of joy and tragedy,the best sports documentary i've ever seen.i don't think it has any subtitles though,only in italian

there are all of them on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvMWkb5v66k


grande marco!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Cookster15]

To me the attraction of Pantani was of the underdog. He came along after Indurain's reign of dominance followed by Riis and Ulrich - all time trialists who could climb with sheer strength. However, none of these guys could accelerate mid climb like Pantani, which made them boring in comparison (like Sky & Wiggins now). Pantani however was as pure a climber as you could possibly find. His L'Alpe d'Huez records speak for themselves even if "assisted". 57kg versus 70+kg. A modern day David versus Goliath. Anyone who's cycled competitively couldn't help but marvel at his ability to dance away from the strongest riders when the gradient went over 8% - simply inspirational. His unusual ears / head and lack of hair, bandanna just added to his mystique.

I'm Australian but since in the '90's we had no GC riders I was rooting for Pantani. I will never forget watching him destroy Jan Ulrich on in the 1998 Tour stage 15 over the Galibier to Les Deux Alpes. Bobby Julich summed it up well saying Pantani made them all look silly. I still had the video tape until last year when my 4 year old found it. Anyhow, thank goodness for Youtube

 

[Cookster15]

Leaving all the clinic issues aside for a second.

Marco was no sluch in TT, too for example. If he really tried hard, he was a descent TTler considering his weight.
If it wasn't for some bad crashes and the 99 Giro drama, surely Marco would have won a few more GT.
I am pretty sure he would have beaten Armstrong in 99m for example.

Apart of that, Marco had this charisma. It 's hard to tell what it really was. But the guy was simply electrifying as hell.

Well said. But I wouldn't agree in you saying he was not a pure climber. At end of the day climbing is about maintained power to weight rather than power to wind resistance. To set those L'Alpe d'Huez times he was generating some pretty impressive power - even for 57kg. That power was still handy come TT time. I recall 420 watts being mentioned for Pantani, if so that's 7.4 watts / kg

 

[TeoSheva]

Well probably you don't know but official name is the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza ( if you an Inter Milan fan ) or the San Siro ( the stadium is in the San Siro district ) if you an AC Milan fan because they don't want to use Inter's iconic player ( Giuseppe "Peppino" Meazza ) for the name of their stadium

that's not true... this is what people outside Italy think, in Italy the official name is always Giuseppe Meazza, but all the supporters (both from Milan or Inter) call it San Siro.

 

[TeoSheva]

I never saw him race so I don't really understand why he is so likable.

I'm sorry for you: you will never understand it.

 

[TeoSheva]

You guys should watch some of the videos on youtube with him, and then ull see what made him a star

that's not enough... every race with Pantani and an hill in it, was something special! All the people were looking at him, waiting for something, and already that time was great. Then, something was happening, and you could just admire him...

 

[Bavarianrider]

Well said. But I wouldn't agree in you saying he was not a pure climber. At end of the day climbing is about maintained power to weight rather than power to wind resistance. To set those L'Alpe d'Huez times he was generating some pretty impressive power - even for 57kg. That power was still handy come TT time. I recall 420 watts being mentioned for Pantani, if so that's 7.4 watts / kg

When i say he was not a pure climber, i ment that he was not only god in climbing like Jiminez for example. But he was an overal strong rider who could perform well in TTles if he really gave it all.