Uin the sculpture of Marco Pantani attacker, grabbed from below, on the pedals, crowns the plaza Marconi de Cesenatico. The town that today hosts the start of the second stage of the Tour de France does not forget the Piratedramatic champion of Italian cycling.
The pilgrimage and offerings are constant on the undaunted figure of the last cyclist capable of being drawn in pink and yellow in the same season, in 1998. Today, 20 years after his death, the Pirate receives the penultimate tribute in the town where he began to take his first pedal strokes and where his remains now rest.
In the Cesenatico cemetery, The pantheon of the Pantani family stands out with its spiral shape, in homage to the impossible climbs that the Italian signed and which is crowned with a cross created from a bicycle tire.
Inside, a white marble sculpture stands out with the now famous epitaph:“On the highest box of the podium and forever”. Above him, a bronze bust, his portrait and a book of dedications and poems. Today, Cesenatico, at the end of June, with suffocating heat and humidity, he will live a special day. Emilia Romagna is preparing to honor its great champion again.
Very intense day
New leg-breaking day marked by the heat with an undulating route of 1,886 meters of elevation that is divided into five short and intense ascents. The final part, with the double climb to the Santuario de San Luca (1.9 km at 10.6%), traditional goal of Giro Dell’Emilia in which Enric Mas triumphed In 2022, it will mark the last 40 kilometers.
