Was Marco Pantani's 1999 Giro d'Italia expulsion related to the Mafia?

New investigation into whether the Mafia were involved in Marco Pantani's exclusion from the 1999 Giro d'Italia

Marco Pantani

(Image credit: Watson)

Marco Pantani's 1999 Giro d'Italia expulsion is at the centre of a new investigation that opened in September in Forlì, Italy. Public prosecutor Carlo Sottani is examining if the Mafia and sporting fraud had a hand in the Italian cyclist's high haematocrit anti-doping test and dismissal while in the race leader's pink jersey.

Sottani opened his inquiry while a separate investigation into Pantani's death ongoing in Rimini, 33 miles away in the same Emilia-Romagna region.

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