In Stage 12 of the 2000 Tour de France, on the sunburnt alpine moonscape of Mont Ventoux, Lance Armstrong launched one of his most famous attacks, flying out of the ailing peloton on a brutal ascent like an e-bike delivery driver in order to track down the stage leader, the Italian folk hero Marco Pantani, who was on one of the rides of his career. As Armstrong caught Pantani and the two greatest climbers of their era spent the last few kilometers in a one on one duel, the contrast between them highlighted the yin and yang of pro cycling.
Armstrong was big and strong, and wearing the leader’s yellow jersey, the red-white-and-blue US Postal Service Nike kit, and Oakley M-frames looked every bit the dominant and invincible Texan stereotype, the kind of superhuman athlete capable of anything on or off a bike. Pantani, perched on his Bianchi frame like a bald little gargoyle in the all pink Italian kit of Mercatone Uno carried a vulnerability that reflected not only the struggle of fighting Armstrong and Ventoux, but also the drug scandals of his personal life. His nickname, “The Pirate,” suited him not only because of his bald head, bandanna, and earring but also because he so clearly looked like someone incapable of doing anything else in his life except swashbuckling a bike up a mountain.
A cycling phenom since childhood, there’s a story that after Pantani’s first day with a professional team in Italy, he returned home and told his mother that he would never go back. Presumably, he had seen the doping regimens common in professional cycling in the 1990s. But he did go back, and made whatever Faustian bargain he needed to with EPO and blood transfusions to have a career in cycling, and officially turned pro in 1992. He won the Young Rider classification at both the ‘94 and ‘95 Tours, building a reputation as a mountain specialist and fearless attacker, before peaking as a superstar in 1998, when he won both the Tour de France and the Giro D’Italia in the same season, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since. However, the following year, he was expelled from the 1999 Giro D’Italia for doping, and fell into a depression that he began self-medicating with cocaine. While he returned to the sport and continued competing through 2003, his mental health and drug addictions continued to plague him, and he died in 2004 of a cocaine overdose. 20,000 people attended the funeral at his hometown in Italy, including Diego Maradona.
Battling Armstrong to the top of Mont Ventoux, whenever it seemed as though Pantani was about to be dropped by the yellow jersey, he somehow found his way back to the wheel of Armstrong’s Trek. In the last 50 meters or so, they again pulled side by side and Pantani beat Armstrong across the line at the summit. Armstrong told the press later that he let Pantani have the stage out of respect, but which only infuriated Pantani. So three days later, he attacked Armstrong again and left him far behind on the side of another Alp.
