By Andrew Benson

Pantani's chances of greatness disappeared in a fog of scandal

The cyclist Marco Pantani, who has been found dead in a hotel in the Italian seaside resort of Rimini, had come to personify his sport's troubled relationship with drugs.

The Italian, who was 34, had the talent to go down as one of cycling's greats, but after winning the Tour de France in 1998 his life and career spiralled out of control.

That year was the zenith of his career - as well as the blue riband Tour title, Pantani also won the Giro d'Italia.

Pantani, known as "The Pirate", had been expected to become a major force in cycling since he made a name for himself taking on the great Miguel Indurain in the mountains of the Tour and Giro in 1995, and now he had well and truly arrived.

But that nickname was to come to reflect more than his bald head, goatee beard, earrings and bandana.

The year Pantani won his greatest triumph also saw cycling rocked by a massive drugs scandal, when a masseur with the Festina team, one of the best and most famous in the sport, was found to have performance-enhancing drugs in his car.

Pantani was not involved in that controversy, but he was to brew up plenty of his own.

A new force arrived in cycling in 1999, as Lance Armstrong returned from a headline-grabbing battle with cancer to win the first of what has become a record-equalling run of five Tours de France.

Pantani chased the great American all the way, but the Italian had already become embroiled in the scandal that would overwhelm his career.

Pantani, a tiny man who excelled on the toughest mountain stages, was thrown off the 1999 Giro d'Italia after failing a test for haematocrit - an indicator, though not proof, of the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

MARCO PANTANI FACT FILE 1970: Born on 13 Jan in Cesena, Italy 1992: Makes professional debut 1995: Bronze in World Championships 1998: Won Giro d'Italia and Tour de France 1999: Thrown out of Giro for failing blood test 2001: Syringe of insulin found in Pantani's room during Giro 2002: Banned for eight months but wins appeal 2003: Spends year battling for reputation in court. June - books into clinic for depression and drug use. October - acquitted of sporting fraud

It marked the start of a battle from which Pantani will now never emerge.

From that point on, scandal seemed to follow Pantani everywhere he went - on and off the cycling stages.

A titanic battle with Armstrong followed on the 2000 Tour.

It started innocently enough, when the two men rode side-by-side at the head of the field up the daunting Mont Ventoux stage, with Armstrong allowing Pantani to win in an apparently sporting recognition of his rival's ability.

But the American later said he regretted giving up the stage, and angered Pantani by referring to him as "Elefantino" - the little elephant - in reference to his prominent ears.

Pantani was furious, and set about trying to destroy Armstrong's Tour by powering ahead on a later stage. He failed, but made an enemy for life, at a time when he badly needed friends.

At this time, cycling's reputation was perhaps as low as it had ever been, as a series of top names became embroiled in a seemingly never ending run of drugs scandals.

And Pantani was never far from the headlines.

In 2001, a syringe containing traces of insulin was found in his hotel room in a police raid.

Armstrong and Pantani fought a brief, but intense rivalry

Pantani insisted the syringe had been planted and that he did not stay in the room on the night in question. But a court did not believe him and he was suspended for six months.

Pantani was refused an entry on the Tour de France in 2002, and his life soon appeared to be heading downhill fast.

That year saw him embroiled in a series of court cases springing from the doping allegations, and he marked the beginning of 2003 with cosmetic surgery to pin back his ears.

An attempted comeback last year foundered when he failed again to secure a place on the Tour, and in June he booked himself into a clinic that specialised in depression and drug addiction.

Pantani's court battles appeared to have reached a conclusion when he was acquitted of sporting fraud by an Italian court in October last year.

But a tragic story came to its wretched end on Saturday with his death, alone, in an apartment in a seaside resort in winter.