Since all cycling is canceled, let’s just watch Pantani climb again

The 1999 Giro d’Italia. Unfortunately, this turned out to not be a positive time for Marco Pantani, but the Italian climber was truly at the height of his powers.

And there’s no better example of the great champion’s riding than the 20th stage of that year’s race, taking riders from Predazzo to Madonna di Campiglio.

Pantani punctured at the base of the final climb. His teammates assembled and led him one by one until he launched himself away like a rocket. The peloton hadn’t waited for him, and he sent them a message, passing every single rider one by one before winning the stage by a minute.

Here’s the footage, with some random noise from the Batman soundtrack over the top of it for some reason:

Yeah, we know how the story ends, beginning almost immediately after the video finishes. Let’s not dwell on that.