Alpe d'Huez said:
Ahhh, the good old days.
That 1999 Giro was something. Marco, all three jerseys and a hefty lead with just a couple days to go...
This was taken from the final TT of the 1998 Giro, Alpe, not 99. Got it off my WCP 98 Giro Vid. It was the penultimate day i think, the same tt that Pantani miraculously beat Pavel Tonkov over a something like 30km tt. Got second that day i think.
Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen were spewing the same crap then as they are now and were even more oblivious to doping back then, then now. During that TT the were saying crap like: The Maglia Rosa is making him ride like two men, Look what the Pink fleece does to your TT ability, Marco Pantani is riding the TT of his life, all whilst painfully oblivious to what was going on. (Paraphrasing obviously as i can't remember whole quotes)
The same year he did the double. Giro and Tour. The year he won it in the mountains alone. He got something like 180th in the prologue
Thoughtforfood said:
Wow, I have never seen that picture before. Speechless.
I guess it could have been easily explained though, As back then IV fluids were the norm and still allowed (I think?). I remember something in the 95 or 96 WCP Tour de France Vid where Gary Imlach commented how Miguel Indurain must have been getting his IV meal, because he couldn't get an interview with him at the Banesto team dinner table and also because he was sick during that days ride and he said he probably wouldn' t be able to keep proper foods down.
Haven't had my WCP vids that long and that comment was what made me really notice that IV fluids were very much the norm and that it seemed most were probably doing it.