In part, it's excruciating to watch. Pantani seems like a shy guy who hides behind the cartoonish mask of The Pirate to protect himself. The snapshots we get of him as a child growing up in the small Adriatic town of Cesenatico show a humble boy with a simple love for his bicycle. His mother speaks of him obsessively taking it apart and putting it together again; of giving it surreptitious baths after she's gone to bed. Once old enough to race, Pantani finds himself drifting naturally to the front – but only after a quiet word from his father does he shed the embarrassment of winning and start to finish out in front, alone. Later in his career, Pantani would be considered a romantic and quixotic rider, but not once in Accidental Death of a Cyclist do you get the impression that he wanted to do anything other than ride his bike fast.