Marco Pantani: Death of a Pirate is a new podcast series on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live that investigates the death of one of cycling’s biggest icons and his tragic downfall, focussing on the murky and unresolved circumstances surrounding his passing in February 2004.
Hosted by Mock the Week comedian (and cycling enthusiast) Hugh Dennis with help from fellow comedian (and cycling enthusiast – listen to him on the Cyclist Magazine Podcast) David O’Doherty, it’s a ten-episode series with each about 25 minutes long, which breaks down the whole story into bite-size chunks, from introducing Pantani and his career to concluding with an episode that discusses whether it was possible that the Mafia were involved in his death.
Let’s get this out the way first, as part of the BBC’s ‘Sport’s Strangest Crimes’ collection of podcast series, Death of a Pirate is first and foremost a true crime podcast, it’s aimed at a widespread audience including but not exclusive to cycling fans, so if you’re a cycling fan with an in-depth knowledge of Marco Pantani, don’t come expecting exclusive new information – if there was news you’d know about it.
That said, as a cycling fan with a knowledge – but not an exhaustive one, as he was before my time – of Marco Pantani, I found the series to be thoroughly enjoyable. It’s well-produced, with good hosts (I’ll count O’Doherty as a host here), good guests and a great narrative. I was slightly nervous about the prospect of consuming a ten-episode podcast series in a day to write this review but the approximately 25-minute run-time per episode was a good length to get really in-depth without overdoing it.
With input from writers, experts and people close to Pantani, it’s a very well backed-up series that, although it concludes with speculation, isn’t just theorising.
Beginning with an introduction to Pantani, it then details the highs and lows of his career with an explanation of the sport of cycling at the time and the doping culture that dominated before beginning to tell the story of his downfall from episode four. From here the conspiracies begin, firstly with doubts over the circumstances with which he was kicked off the 1999 Giro d’Italia.
Episode six introduces the Mafia into the story, explaining why people think they’d be involved, with each speaker hammering home the ‘this is speculation’ message. The investigation into Pantani’s death follows that and then begins the mystery. Was there foul play? If so, who would do it? Could he have died from cocaine poisoning as is the consensus? And could the Mafia have been responsible or at least have a part to play?
Obviously I’m not going to spoil what is said but as you can imagine, no one at the BBC is going to call out the Mafia and if they’d happen to have discovered the truth behind Marco Pantani’s death we’d know about it prior to the release of a 5 Live podcast series, but it comes together like any worthwhile conspiracy: you’re leaving with doubts, with nothing certain.
The fact that the case isn’t even closed today makes it more intriguing. Whether we’ll ever find out the truth is anyone’s guess, but while there’s no answer, Marco Pantani: Death of a Pirate does a good job at explaining the possibilities and I would recommend diving in, cycling fan or not.
Listen to ‘Marco Pantani: Death of a Pirate’ now on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts
