On Valentine's Day 2004, one of Italy's greatest cyclists was found dead in mysterious circumstances.

Initially, there's growing mystery about the death of one of the country's sporting heroes.

Antani, known as the Pirate, because of the yellow bandana he wore around his head.

In November 2021, new evidence had supposedly come to light,

alleging that the Italian mafia were involved in Marco Pantani's death.

Five other top European cyclists have died mysteriously in the last year.

The maficles were money years.

Nearly 20 years on, are we any closer to knowing for sure what happened to the pirate?

It's a very dark story, the Pantani story. It's a tragedy.

I'm Hugh Dennis and this is Sports Strangest Crimes, Marco Pantani, Death of a Pirate.

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