Marco Pantani, cycling legend

Marco Pantani, Italian cycling champion, with his legendary fame helps make Cesenatico the cycling capital and a destination for many Italian and foreign cyclists, who choose the seaside village for its countless attractions, services, and itineraries dedicated to bike sports, and especially to participate in the famous “9 Colli” race. Let's retrace the steps of his formidable career together.

The stages on his bicycle
Marco was born in Cesena on January 13, 1970, and lived in Cesenatico: he tried various sports, including football, fishing, and hunting, before discovering his talents in cycling as a pure climber and becoming passionate about it, winning many races right from the start.
Professional from 1992 to 2003, he won a Giro d'Italia, a Tour de France, and was a bronze medalist at the 1995 World Road Championships, despite being forced to miss the Giro that same year due to a serious road accident. Nicknamed “the Pirate,” he achieved his best results in stage races; to this day, he is the last Italian to have won the Tour de France, in 1998 (33 years after Felice Gimondi), and the last cyclist overall, after Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Stephen Roche, and Miguel Indurain, to have won the Giro and the Tour in the same year.

The last years of his career
Excluded from the Giro d'Italia in 1999 due to a hematocrit value above the permitted limit, Pantani returned to racing shortly after, but only sporadically reached the levels he was accustomed to. Falling into depression, he died on February 14, 2004, in Rimini from cardiac arrest.

In his career, he achieved a total of 46 victories. Marco Pantani is considered, along with Gino Bartali, Charly Gaul, and Federico Bahamontes, one of the greatest climbers of all time.

If you wish to delve deeper into the life of “the Pirate” and visit all the places dedicated to him in Cesenatico, also read the article In the footsteps of Pantani: itinerary in Cesenatico.