Self-Chosen: Il Pirata & Il Giro
We continue our Six Days of the Giro series with a look at the troubled bond between Marco Pantani and the Giro.
Some were meant to be tormented, as though it were preordained that their brilliance should be balanced with fatal flaws. These are tortured souls, whose dramatic highs are equalled only by the devastating depths of their lows.
Cycling drinks its fill of these personalities, and climbing seems to attract more than its fair share. Shakespeare himself couldn’t divine a better premise; the discipline most focussed on suffering in a sport totally focussed on suffering will always attract the most enigmatic of sorts. Charley Gaul, José MarÃa Jiménez, Marco Pantani; the list goes on.
Italy’s geography seems to lend itself to climbing and therefor suffering. There are mountains from north to south, and it being a narrow stip of a country, there is no occasion to avoid them for very long before any parcourse is once again forced to go over them. Already Monday’s Stage 3 of this year’s race is a lumpy thing with two categorized climbs and Stage 4 has an uphill finish. This will be a race for those able to suffer.
Pantani in particular seemed inextricably bound to the Giro. Even before winning in 1998, he found himself winning some of the hardest mountain stages, though his temperament dictated that for every great day on the bike, he would be pay at least V bad ones. In 1999, he looked to be the sure winner before registerring a hematocrit over the UCI 50% limit at Madonna di Campiglio. In 2000, he returned once again, but was far from his best and rode in support of his teammate and eventual winner, Stefano Garzelli.
He struggled on for a few more years, but always tried to shine in Italy. In 2003, in a heart-wrenching display of defiance, he gave the last of himself in vain before disappearing from the sport for good.
It reminds me of a song written by a man who’s life was similarly tormented, Layne Staley. Perhaps Layne and Pantani were two parts of the same whole.
My pain is self-chosen
At least, so the prophet says
– Layne Stayey, River of Deceit
Maybe Layne could have been a Cyclist in another life.
@TBONE
No, but they’re fucking awesome.
@piwakawaka
Who do you propose his records be given to?
His rides, informed by context, were the best of his generation.
I loved, loved watching that little dude go uphill, doping be damned. Passion, in cycling, is not something you can inject into your thigh.
As to the other rantings about slang above, well, I’m the least qualified person on the site to discuss that. I can’t tell people’s gender apart anyway……………
@TBONE
Can you make sure your jersey is sleeveless when you wear the disco arm warmers? Also, you may want to throw in a Bentobox for good measure?
@starclimber
You can email [email protected] and I can tell you what I know and what you can do to (hopefully) prevent problems like this on your own site. I’m still digging into the root cause and still learning more about the attack.
@Tobin
And make sure that you put your helmet on backwards coming out of the first transition zone. That really sets the rest of the outfit off perfectly.
@ChrisO Jeesh, I really need to find this as it sounds funny as hell. Is it out there on youtube anywhere? Cannot really search for that one at work!
@Buck Rogers
This one?
@frank
That is a classic. As a bonus, I had never noticed the “how to put on a wetsuit” tutorials that are linked at the end. WTF?
Some of the “advice”:
Put both feet in first
Pull the wetsuit up fully to the waist before trying to insert your arms
Glad some hard-hitting investigative journalist finally took the complexity out of getting dressed. I don’t know how we figured out the wetsuit dilemma back in my surfing days.
@anthony sands
As an unqualified dork, I find your use of the word dork offensive.
@razmaspaz
As a medically diagnosed offense, I find your use of the word offensive offensive.
@frank
Could not the same be said of a certain Texan ?
The reason, I believe, that we feel differently about Pantani is because of his humanity and his failings. He was an artisan and wore his heart on his sleeve. It may well be a double standard but i think it’s that he embodied all that we find romantic about the sport in the exact same way that certain said texan could never ever do.
@paolo
Absolutely, and I am not / was not in support of stripping his titles. I am, no the other hand, glad the truth is out about him – but that’s mostly because he’s such a fucking asshole, not because of his doping.
Very well put.
@ChrisO
I got it!
@Marcus
You fuck. You are the one person who makes me burst out laughing here, consistently, as my wife stares at me from across the room.
Pantani was the master of the Three Point System and perching sunglasses up on that noggin of his. Masterclass in Looking Fantastic.
That was one good thing of the EPO Era; the riders were so juiced, they could allot a proper amount of energy to aesthetics.
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Also, he was hands-down the best-looking Yellow Jersey in ages, with his team kit and bike setup matching it beautifully.
Another master of Looking Fantastic and in the “I don’t care he was doping” club. Der Kaiser.
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Look at those canons!
@frank Frank VanDB looks pretty good next to Der Kaiser, but he was a VERY naughty boy
@frank
FAAAARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lay down that much power and the EPO comes straight back through the pores. oVerdose.
His jaw is even flexing the sides of his helmet.
Yeah we need a few more pics of Der Kaiser earlier in the season, beer belly proudly still in place. A true Velominati, I suspect….
VDB was a master of style on the bike in my less than humble opinion. He was even able to look awesome despite bleach blond hair and a Rule #50 breaking goatee. In fact, I think he looked so fucking awesome that I think Rule #50 should have a VDB exception.
Just noticed photo #3 is Frank’s Look Fantastic Masterclass handout above – Pantani looked pretty badass sans goatee!
@Tobin
Oh, the fucking bento boxes. And those compartments that they now have just above the chainstays. My guns will be looking like Cipo’s in no time. Just not as unctuous.
@frank
Done, I’ll see if I can dig mine up.
I wouldn’t make it out of the swim. I’d sink like Ulle into the foliage on a certain descent.
@Coulee country
@Deakus
Right, won’t happen again.
@frank
I’d like to point out I have recently acquired a short sleeved 1997 Telekom jersey to compliment my long sleeved one. I’d like to find the shorts but at this point in time the odds of me finding some that are unused are disconcertingly slim.
@ped
heheheee, yessss. He was a very naughty boy indeed. He must have loved the pot belge.
@frank
Great article. EPO be damned, Pantani was a born climber stud and a badass. I still admire him and Ulrich for their style and passion. These guys would have been champions without dope.
exactly.
@frank Imagine that species of humanity if they were allowed to drive cars or vote!
@Joe
@scaler911
Huh? You? I never, do tell us more….
@Tobin
Seriously. Its no fucking wonder we rag on the poor sods.
@minion
It amazes me how willing he is to keep bringing it up…
Looking for that shot of Ulli with the brewski I came across this. Ulli shoved Jiménez into the pain cave, took his flashlight from him, and then cracked it in two. The only way he’s getting out of there is crawling on his hands and knees and feeling his way.
And more Ulli/Marco awesomeness. Great photo.
Read this a while back and it stuck in my mind
Ullrich’s body was unlike any other rider’s I’d ever seen. I’d sometimes try to ride next to him just so I could watch: you could actually see the muscle fibers moving. He was the only rider I’ve ever seen whose veins were visible under the Lycra.
Coyle, Daniel; Hamilton, Tyler (2012-09-19). The Secret Race (Kindle Locations 1967-1969). Bantam Press. Kindle Edition.
@frank
Brilliant!
Thread of year so far for me. What’s not to love – masterclass across the board, and some of the best archive pics yet . Chapeau to the keepers. Trihards, upstarts and those who need to relax : know when to shut the fuck up, watch and learn. I ride with an ‘ironman’ – discussed this topic today, he agreed wholeheartedly that tri and cycling kit / aesthetics are distinct and never the twain should mix. Class act this guy. And fucking strong rider.
@Nate
I think he just dropped one….the gasp for fresh air behind says it all…forgive the purile humour but there is a little benny hill in all of us!
Dario Pegoretti’s homage to the Pirate: Cocaine Can’t Kill My Pain
@frank
He is one of us!
@Chris
Cannons? Oh… yes. I keep getting distracted by the awful condominium on his head.
@frank
@Gianni
there is a vignette in that Dan Coyle book about Cotho’s ’05 season. Cotho is talking about bumping into Der Kaiser somewhere – after Armstrong has beaten him hands down. Ully comes over and gives him a hug. The thing that reveals character is not so much Ulle’s niceness once the contest is done, but Armstrong afterward expressing incredulity that his rival would hug him.
One is one of us. And What a COTHO the other guy is!
Think I would rather share some pilsners and horse stew with Ulle and Vino (yes, pony is Vino’s favorite – cant believe he never blamed the dope on hopped up horse meat) than bud and burgers with Armstrong and Hamilton.
@TBONE
OH my eyes!! The burn,the burn. Time to retreat to 2003 TDF and watch Ullrich in MY opinion crush COTHO!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=relmfu&v=N-pZn5wwr9A
@Russ
We were at that time trial. Total Awesomeness. Like, insanely. Got to sit on Ulli’s bike (its amazing what you can get on a hot day when you give the security guard a sandwich and soda), then watched him crush COTHO!
We were watching at the base of a climb and most riders were out of the saddle already:
But our boy Ulli was still in the fucking aero bars.
@frank still possibly the best tour ever. Since LeMond/Fignon anyway. That TT (the warm up in the aircon – how pissed off would COTHO have been that he didnt think of that?), Vino’s attacks and stage win, COTHO in the fields, Mayo dishing it out, Hamilton’s stage win, Armstrong’s stage win (did Ulle wait before he was told? Yes). Had it all. A veritable cornucopia of doped up cheats, but fuck it had some spark (remember the sparks off Ulle’s bike in the last tt when he binned it?).
I watch that DVD more than any other race. A brother of mine – who knows nothing of cycling, but is a racehorse vet (was a steward too) so has more than a passing knowledge of EPO – watched that race and couldnt believe how big all the riders were – looking back they look so very different (except for the Basques) from today’s GC guys…
Sorry folks, but the use of the word “retard” or any variation of the word “tard” that is meant to in anyway demean another person is wrong – period. Of course you have a right to use that word even though you are aware of its offensive nature and I fully support that right, but it does not make it ok and it means you are an asshole… but being an asshole isn’t illegal.
As the father of a child with down syndrome I believe I am in a position to speak on this.
My son is a wonderful little human being who’s capacity for love is immeasurable. He is an incredibly blessing on my life and the lives of those who know him. It may be hard to understand this, but I believe his down syndrome is actually an incredible gift. We talk about Rule V in relation to cycling, he has already shown more Rule V in his short existence than most of us ever will.
Sad to say as he gets older he will only have to show more of it as his disability begins to separate him more and more from his peers in life. He will most likely be the recipient of ridicule and bullying as kids his age begin to truly sense his difference from them…and I guarantee you that the most common hurt will some how be tied to the use of the word retard. Most of this will come from those who were not taught by their parents to understand how their words can hurt even when not specifically meant to.
I understand completely the technical meaning of the word retard, however, to claim that using it to describe some one else in a demeaning way was tied to that definition is a poor excuse at best, and condescending at worst.
I realize that this word has become commonplace in our culture and that it is tough to change mindsets. When friends and acquaintances use it I don’t get angry (When I was a kid I used it as well…) I simply explain its hurtful nature to those with disabilities and move on, no apology is ever required or requested. Most of them refrain from using the word (at least in front of me) and those that know my son often become similarly repulsed by its continued use.
You learn quickly to discern who is simply ignorant about the stigma and those who are truly assholes.
Better to determine for yourself which camp you want to be associated with… and perhaps your children as well.
This is (probably) the last time I’ll write about this subject here, I apologize for moving the direction so far away from cycling, but felt compelled to speak my mind – as most faithful Velominati are wont to do.
For anyone interested, take a look at http://www.r-word.org/ for a little more enlightenment… who knows, you may be compelled to take the pledge against its use yourself.
@frank
Now that is some cool hand luke action there. A soda and sandwich . The reward was well worth it and your spot on the road was perfect. I can almost feel the power they were dishing out. Chapeau!
Sorry, the grungehead in me is reborn at some point every year. Layne, at his best.
@LA Dave
I have the privilege to know a number of people who face similar challenges; some of them are people who like you have children with disabilities of some kind or another who will struggle their entire lives. Others are friends from childhood who themselves face these problems.
It seems to me that people who face real challenges in life and not the usual perceived ones are by and large the most generous and kind people I know. The less you have, the more it seems you are willing to give.
“Fag”, “retard” and other derogatory variations offend me to the bones.
That said, “Cunt” and “Gotard”, inexplicably, make me giggle like a child. Sorry I’m not a better person.
@Marcus
Plus one badge to you. Excellent.
@frank
Staley sure could belt it out, couldn’t he! My other great love, besides cycling, is music. I play guitar in cover bands with other geezers my age (I’m 56), and I’ve been writing for various music magazines since 1988. Back in the day, I had the privilige of interviewing Jerry Cantrell. Of the hundreds of interviews I’ve done with some of the biggest names in music, that interview sticks with me. Cantrell had no attitude or ego whatsoever. He didn’t consider himself a “rock star,” but just a guy who loves playing guitar. Truly a cool dude.
@Gianni
Thanks, I always knew I could be an inspiration to someone. You must follow me on Strava. Unless of course you’re talking about Ullrich.
@frank
Ulle.
Ulle. you got it right once.
@frank
Ulle.
Get it right. It’s Ulle. Not Ulli, Ully, or Ullr.
Sincerely, Ule.