Pantani Obituary in The Economist

[dbrk]

This is a short, thoughtful piece and the URL includes a good picture of him riding:
http://www.economist.com/people/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2459045

May he rest in peace.

dbrk

[Andreu]

I am afraid I think that the Pantani obituary has appeared for the wrong reasons. If he had died an old man without the drugs controversy hanging over him the Economist would not be interested in him.
A

[slowgoing]

Very nice piece. I loved that guy, warts and all. Thanks.

[Climb01742]

thanks, douglas. i wonder what the overlap between people who read sanskrit and the economist is? :p

[Kevin]

He will be missed.

Kevin

[saab2000]

.... is not less tragic because of the dark clouds surrounding his life and death. In fact, it makes his life and death more tragic because now it becomes obvious that he was not just blowing hot air when he fought his personal demons in a public arena.

He remains one of my all time favorite riders and his death was striking to me as someone whose family has also been touched by the curse of depression, a terribly misunderstood disease. That a Spanish rider, Jimenez, died more or less of the same thing shows that Pantani was not an isolated case.

As a rider Pantani was the only climber I have ever seen who practically could make time trial stages irrelevant due to the fact that in his prime he could win so much time in a mountain stage. Certainly, in my mind at least, he was the most exciting rider of the past 10 years.

[Andreu]

Totally agree.
Just depresses me when drugs seem to be more important than the riders.
I have seen countless articles in newspapers and TV (particularly in the UK where there is generally less fan base than the rest of Europe) where cycling is now only mentioned in conjunction with the dreaded D word as if other sports don't suffer from these problems. And the true greatness and talent of a rider like Pantani gets lost. Anyway, I am starting to rant.....
A great tribute to a great rider.
He will be sorely missed.
A

[victoryfactory]

After the demise of Pantani, reading that obit brings back the drama of that day on Ventoux 2000.
When Armstrong "let" him have the stage. Whatever the reason, That is the moment. For me, that was his last summit. Imagining back to that moment gives me CHILLS. Somewhere deep in our souls, didn't we know that point in time was more than just another race? It just took the next four frustrating, painful years for the conclusion. Like other great souls before him, Pantani burned brighter, and flamed out earlier.

VF