Monday 22 November 2021
17 years after the death of the cycling star
Was tour winner Pantani murdered after all?
Marco Pantani has been dead for more than 17 years. After two investigations in the past few years have come to the conclusion that the former cycling star did not die from outside influences, there are now new indications. The murder investigation is resumed.
After the death of former cycling star Marco Pantani in 2004, the murder is again being investigated. The Rimini public prosecutor opened a relevant file, Fiorenzo Alessi, lawyer for the bereaved, told the Ansa news agency. Two public prosecutor’s investigations had previously come to the conclusion that the 1998 Tour de France and Giro d’Italia winners had not died as a result of outside interference. Pantani was found dead in a hotel room in Rimini on February 14, 2004. According to the autopsy, the then 34-year-old died of a cocaine overdose.
But now there is new knowledge from the former dealer of the athlete, who was one of Jan Ullrich’s big rivals. According to Ansa, the dealer testified in a parliamentary hearing in early 2020: “Marco was killed. I knew him five or six months before his death and he didn’t look like someone who wanted to kill himself.”
The man said that Pantani had been looking for the truth about the incidents in Madonna di Campiglio: There Pantani had been excluded from the Giro d’Italia in 1999 because of a suspicious doping result. Pantani always protested his innocence. Investigations, however, clearly suggested doping abuse.
After the dealer’s statements were passed on to the prosecutor, the prosecutor resumed investigating the murder against unknown persons. Pantani’s mother also reportedly called on the prosecutors. “Mamma Tonina wants to know once and for all whether her son died of a mix of antidepressants and cocaine or whether there are other reasons,” said lawyer Alessi of Ansa.
It had already been determined in 2004 and 2016. An investigating judge said at the time that the murder theory was pure fantasy. The Supreme Court then confirmed the archiving of the cause.