The Memorial Marco Pantani will have a strong line up today as Italians honour the memory of former Giro d’Italia and Tour de France winner Marco Pantani. Amongst those expected to take part are Michele Scarponi, Vincenzo Nibali, Ivan Basso and Italian champion Giovanni Visconti.
One rider who is bound to draw a lot of attention on the start line is Juan Jose Cobo because of his recent antics at the Vuelta a España. The Spaniard joined an elite group of cyclists who’ve won a Grand Tour in their careers when he won his home tour earlier this month.
"After the Vuelta I put the bike away for a few days to recuperate, even if it was not easy because the commitments were very many,” said Cobo. “The official celebrations for the victory, the party in my country with friends and fans, commitments with sponsors, interviews and many other commitments that until now I had never been properly addressed. All that attention, however, made me very happy. Day to day contact with people and the media attention received helped me to fully understand the importance of this victory, a great result for me and for the team. But the season is not over yet and now I am very happy to return to race riding in the group."
Alessandro Petacchi is also on the start list and will hope to be involved if the race comes down to a sprint. Despite being 37 years old, the veteran rode all three Grand Tours this year. He picked up a stage win in the Giro d’Italia but since then, results have been very quiet.
Manuel Belletti who finished third last year, will be racing one of his final races for Colnago - CSF Inox before moving to AG2R-La Mondiale next season. Last year the race was won by first year professional Elia Viviani.