Marco Pantani, dead at 34

According to cyclingnews.com, Marco Pantani was found dead in an apartment in Rimini. The details of his death are unknown, but rumors will no doubt swirl that it was related to use of performance-enhancing drugs. Deaths of cyclicts are always met with such speculation, and I suspect that Pantani, given both repeated allegations of cheating and his fame in the cycling world, will garner a storm of attention.

Pantani will likely be remembered most for his astonishing performances in 1998, winning both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, a rare feat that, with increasing specialization and focus on individual races, is unlikely to be repeated any time soon.

His reputation will forever consist of healthy doses of respect (probably the best climber of his generation) and suspicion (his expulsion from the 1999 Giro while wearing the leader's pink jersey and just days away from victory). In an ideal world, the cycling community will eventually learn if, and to what extent, Pantani did use EPO and other performance-enhancing drugs and thus be able to better judge his accomplishments. I have no clue whether that'll come to pass.

UPDATE: Here's story on Pantani in La Repubblica (in Italian).