麻豆社

It鈥檚 1999, and Marco Pantani is riding high after his Tour de France victory - both the bad boy of cycling, and the saviour of the sport. The 1999 Giro D鈥橧talia seems to be made for him, and he leads the race by over 20 minutes - until a late-stage disqualification stops the pirate in his bike tracks.

With the other riders overjoyed, rumours about criminal betting, conspiracies - and even the mafia - abound, but the pirate refuses to go down without a fight.

As Pantani flies too close to the sun, who might be watching from the shadows?

New episodes released Thursday. If you鈥檙e in the UK, listen to the full series of Sport鈥檚 Strangest Crimes - first on 麻豆社 Sounds - bbc.in/3PbXQxv

Narrated by Hugh Dennis, with the voice of Iain Ferrier

Sound design: Rich Evans
Additional production: Lorenzo Bodrero, Matt Kenyon and Ed Morrish

Writer and producer: Katie Sayer
Executive producer: Jon Holmes