Report: Prosecutors consider fresh inquiry into death of Marco Pantani

Marco Pantani died in 2004, but questions about his case continue to churn on.

According to media reports in Italy, local prosecutors have re-opened an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death.

Officials are reportedly investigating “unknown persons” who might be linked to the death of Pantani, who died alone in a hotel room of an apparent cocaine overdose on Valentine’s Day in 2004.

This will mark the third investigation into Pantani’s tragic death. Official accounts, that Pantani died alone of an apparent cocaine overdose, have been challenged by Pantani’s family, which insists there remain unanswered questions.

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The initial investigation came in the wake of Pantani’s high-profile death, which continues to rattle across the Italian peloton. A second inquiry was opened in 2014 following the family’s insistence that Pantani could have been murdered. No charges were ever filed in that investigation.

According to the newspaper “Quotidiano Nazionale,” local prosecutors met with Pantani’s mother for several hours, who handed over more than 50 pages of what she called new evidence.

“I went over the whole story. I was—and I remain—convinced, that the whole truth about Marco’s death has not yet come out, about what happened at the hotel in the hours and days before his death,” the paper quoted Pantani’s mother.

Pantani’s mother has long tried to prove that her son’s death was more than a drug overdose, telling the paper, “We are not interested in revenge. We just want truth and justice.”