“I remember riding alongside Pantani ten years ago; that was my first Giro, racing with the great Pantani” — Sir Bradley Wiggins
Ah, the great Marco Pantani. You do not have to spend long at the Giro d’Italia before his name crops up, always mentioned with an air of awe and reverence.
The cheat Pantani? The doper Pantani? He seems to have vanished so that only the best bits remain, which is one of the contradictions and double standards of drugs in sport and cycling in particular.
Lance Armstrong is demonised; Pantani romanticised. It is reputational suicide to discuss the Texan; Wiggins can speak admiringly of the Italian and how he “would love to be Pantani-esque”, and everyone nods and goes misty-eyed at the memories.