The Death of Marco Pantani: A Biography

Cyclist Marco Pantani’s death is one of the most tragic events in recent sports history. After winning both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia in 1998, he was expected to dominate cycling well into the next decade. Instead, he was caught in a blood-doping scandal, disappeared from view, and, in 2004, was found dead of cocaine poisoning. Matt Rendell tells Pantani’s story with an investigative reporter’s zeal for the facts and a novelist’s skill for depicting deeper truths. He debunks the conspiracy theories that have circulated about Pantani’s demise, and also reveals other startling findings about the dark underside of the cycling world.

Matt Rendell survived Hodgkin's Disease and lectured at British and Latvian universities before entering TV and print journalism. He is the author of A Significant Other and Kings of the Mountains. He has written for the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4, including British coverage of the Tour de France.