Pantani eulogy link

"Tom Paterson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Could someone re-post this, please? TIA --TP

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Final addio for Pantani in Cesenatico "Goodbye Marco, goodbye baby, goodbye beautiful boy." By Tim
Maloney, European Editor

After an all-night funeral procession and vigil Tuesday by his faithful tifosi, where thousands
passed by his coffin in the church of San Giacomo, Marco Pantani was laid to rest Wednesday in his
hometown of Cesenatico, Italy. An estimated twenty thousand mourners, with many arriving by bicycle
and clad in Pantani's team wear, bid him a final farewell today.

Pantani's funeral was held in the small portside church, where he wore a new blue suit and his
trademark bandana in black. Bishop Antonio Lanfranchi of Cesenatico celebrated a private
funeral mass for Pantani, while outside, the incredible press of Marco's most ardent tifosi
rode an emotional roller-coaster as perhaps the last people's champion in the sport of cycling
was put to rest.

Among those present besides Pantani's mother Tonina, father Fernado and sisters were his good friend
and manager Manuela Ronchi, skier Alberto Tomba, Pantani's confidant and former sports director
Giuseppe Martinelli, former teammate, world champion Igor Astarloa, Davide Cassani, Gianni Bugno,
Francesco Moser, Marco Velo, Michele Bartoli and his good friend Tour de France winner Charly Gaul
were among the sport and political figures who came to honour the memory of Marco Pantani today.

Bishop Lanfranchi invoked a blessing of godspeed for Pantani, saying "God, give [Pantani] the
strength to cross the finish line of his most important race, to get to heaven." Amid the tears,
Mamma Tonina Pantani hugged Marco's coffin and poignantly wished her son farewell on his final
journey, saying "goodbye, goodbye, goodbye Marco, goodbye baby, goodbye beautiful boy."

As part of Pantani's eulogy, Manuela Ronchi read the former champion's bitter, cutting and confused
declarations scribbled in the empty pages of his passport, illustrating the tortured state of mind
that Pantani faced in his final days.

"For four years, I've been in every court... I've lost my desire to be like other sportsmen. I've
been humiliated for nothing, I want to be like the other sportsmen but I'm going through humiliation
like all my colleagues. But cycling is paying for this because a lot of guys have lost any hope of
justice. And I'm suffering with this declaration of truth, writing in my passport-because the world
has to decide whether all my fellow cyclists have gone through humiliation, in their rooms with
hidden cameras that will destroy families. I don't know why I stopped myself in these moments of
anger if I made mistakes I'd like to know that there is proof, but when my sporting life and above
all my private life was violated... I lost a lot.

"Hasta la victoria is a great motto for a sportsman, but it's much harder to give your whole heart
for a sport. I hope my story is an example even for other sports; the rules should be the same for
everybody. I was always afraid of being spied on at home, in hotels and by TV cameras. I ended up
hurting myself to not give up my intimacy, the intimacy of my girlfriend and of other colleagues who
also lost, of other families who like me were attacked. Take a look what a cyclist is... they can't
hurt the families of the athletes. Someone's dreams can end up shattered by drugs, but only after
(ones) sporting life. If some humanity helps us understand and asks what makes us hope, when you
make a real mistake you understand and you fight with your heart.

"This document is the truth. My hope is that real men or women can read it and defend equal rules in
sport for everybody. I'm not a liar, I feel hurt and everybody who believed in me has to speak out."

Pantani's coffin finally emerged from the church into the cold, raw afternoon just before 4pm at the
end of an emotional funeral procession of elaborate bouquets of flower tributes and framed jerseys
from Pantani's career, including his maglia azzuro from his bronze medal ride in the 1995 world
championships in Colombia as well as maglie rosa from his Giro wins and the maillot jaune from his
historic 1998 Tour de France victory. For Pantani's final journey, his solemn funeral cortege
traveled two kilometers to the Cesenatico cemetery, with the way lined by thousands of mourners
paying final respects to Magico Pantani, Il Pirata, Marco Pantani.

Quoted message said:

From: "Chester Kuhn"

Quoted message said:

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Thank you, but somewhere was presented a longer section of Lanfranchi's words. Durn, meant to save
that. Digging. --TP