A new BBC Radio 5 Live podcast tries to uncover what really happened to the man known as The Pirate.
Widely regarded as the best climbing specialist in the history of cycling, Marco Pantani seemed unbeatable. The colourful life and tragic death of the cycling legend remains one of the most compelling stories in sport history.
The Italian national hero was rarely out of the press for his achievements, alongside allegations of doping, race-fixing and corruption.
When Italy’s greatest cyclist was mysteriously found dead, allegations of mafia involvement saw the world of cycling collide with the murky underworld of organised crime.
Narrated by cycling-obsessed Hugh Dennis, Pantani: Death of a Pirate travels from the mountains of rural Italy to the shady commercial underbelly of a sport on the rise, hearing from mafia experts, journalists, historians, the police and big names in the world of cycling, including Matt Rendell and Phil Liggett.
The podcast considers one of the most dramatic questions in sport history… would the mafia really kill a cyclist?
Hugh Dennis says: “‘Would the mafia really kill a cyclist?’ has to be one of the strangest questions ever asked in cycling… and yet, ten episodes later, here we are. Saddle in – sorry – for one of the craziest stories you’ll ever hear, about the mysterious death of one of the most incredible climbers the sport has ever seen.”
Pantani: Death of a Pirate will be released in full as a boxset this Thursday, 22 June, with all episodes available on BBC Sounds’ Sport’s Strangest Crimes feed.
