Above the limit

Man on the Run: The Life and Death of Marco Pantani. Manuela Ronchi & Gianfranco Josti. Trans. Daniel Friebe. Robson Books 2005. 231 pages hardback, £12.99. ISBN 1-86105-920-5

MARCO PANTANI WAS at once iconic, adorable, strong-willed, gauche, self-absorbed and ultimately doomed. In this detailed account of his last few years, his manager Manuela Ronchi, writing shortly after his death, attempts to 'loyally reconstruct the life of the champion'. Although she presents a fascinating read, Ronchi is too close for a definitive account, and this lack of detachment is the book's Achilles heel.

Pantani's crash in the 1995 Milan - Turin race nearly ended his career and the months of painful rehabilitation and recovery stretched his determination to the limit. Later it emerged that his haematocrit was above legal limits on either side of the accident. As well as an injury and a stain on his character, he picked up a girlfriend, Christina. She financed her studies as a 'podium dancer', and he was besotted with her.

Following Carrera's withdrawal, Pantani joined Mercatone Uno, a team built around him for the Giro and the Tour de France. In 1998 he became the first Italian since Coppi (1952) to achieve the Tour - Giro double, in the year when the Festina scandal revealed the extent of doping among professional cyclists.

He also met Manuela Ronchi. He was a cycling legend, idolised, cosseted. They seemed to hit it off immediately, although a woman managing such a star aroused suspicion and envy in this testosterone-charged world. Her job specification turned on how much Pantani's image could bring to existing and prospective sponsors.

In the pink jersey at Madonna di Campiglio on the penultimate stage of the 1999 Giro, Pantani tested above the 50% haematocrit level. He was thrown out. Confusion and disbelief engulfed the Mercatone Uno camp - and thousands of others. People played with words: the blood test was a 'health test' and not a 'dope test'; Pantani's haematocrit was 48.6 % the evening before the test. Later in the same day of the test, a UCI-accredited laboratory showed his haematocrit in a different sample to be below the threshold.

The shadow of doping now dominated Pantani's personal life and damaged his relationship with Christina, who lacked a grasp of what was going on. He was convinced that CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) was victimising him to prove the efficacy of their anti-doping policy.
In an effort to put Madonna di Campiglio behind him Pantani announced that he would ride the world championships, held in Italy that year. The organisers wanted him and he could reassert his authority on the road. But injury forced his withdrawal. Without the discipline of cycling his life lacked direction. He blamed everyone for his downfall and saw conspiracies everywhere.
Later that year the events of Milan - Turin four years ealier brought him to court for 'sporting fraud', and he later served a six-month suspension. At this moment, Pantani confessed to Ronchi that he had a cocaine habit and needed help. Ronchi was his support throughout this time and, indeed, until his death: Marco and Manuela against the world. He came to rely on her so much that, at his behest, she became for a time the directeur sportif of Mercatone Uno. She had her own style of managing her maverick team leader. She pandered to Pantani, Mercatone Uno said, and failed to bring in new sponsors. The book drifts cloyingly into Manuela's story. She is sometimes as paranoid as the Pirate.

In fairness, Pantani was sinned against as well as sinning. After a police raid during the 2001 Giro the riders agreed to stop the race in protest but in an amazing volte-face elected to ride through to the finish. Mario Cipollini, an original dissenter, changed his mind and 'saved' cycling by denouncing the proposed stoppage. Pantani, a bystander, was identified as the ringleader.
At the end of 2001 Pantani declared his drugs dependency to his team. They were supportive but it took little to push him back to the white powder. The team espoused a 'transparent approach': testing would be done in public hospitals and not in private, the usual custom. Pantani, now generally regarded as a doper, failed to conform.

Poor organisation at Mercatone affected his mood. He trained consistently for the 2002 Giro but his form was patchy and it wasn't a memorable experience. Another drugs raid and Pantani, perceived as an offended party three years earlier, became the suspected perpetrator and 'sporting fraud' was in the headlines again. A visit to Norway for treatment, signs of improvement, then relapse. Health professionals, personal friends and charlatans came to Pantani's side but he couldn't be helped and wouldn't help himself.

Further efforts delivered new sponsorship for Mercatone Uno. Davide Boifava (Pantani's directeur sportif at Carrera with whom he had fallen out) was appointed manager of a new Mercatone Uno set-up. He claimed he could open many doors.

In 2003 The Pirate was a new man. He made a promising start and trained conscientiously. But visiting his girlfriend in Cesanatico, his home, the usual story of drug abuse unfolded. There was discord between Pantani and Boifava who lacked the influence in cycling that he had claimed. Ronchi, ever the apologist, says:'Marco's real problem for years was the stigma of being labelled a drug addict.' He never talked about cocaine. It was always his 'substance'.

Ronchi suggested a new home and life in Spain where he had previously found some contentment, but a cocaine-fuelled trip to Cuba tipped him into the spiralling decline that led to a lonely death in the Jolly Hotel Touring near Rimini. From the pomp of the maglia rosa to the desperation of cocaine addiction proved to be a short step.

Gordon Daniels