Marco Pantani was an Italian road racing cyclist, widely regarded as one of the greatest climbing specialists in the history of the sport by measures of his legacy, credits from other riders, and records. He recorded the fastest ever climbs up the Tour's iconic venues of Mont Ventoux (46:00) and Alpe d'Huez (36:50), and other cyclists including Lance Armstrong and Charly Gaul have hailed Pantani's climbing skills. He is the second to last rider and one of only eight to ever win the Tour de France – Giro d'Italia double, doing so in 1998. He is the sixth of seven Italians, after Ottavio Bottecchia, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Gastone Nencini and Felice Gimondi, and before Vincenzo Nibali to win the Tour de France.
Stefano Garzelli is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional between 1997 and 2013. The high point of his career was his overall win in the 2000 Giro d'Italia, after a close three-way competition with Gilberto Simoni and Francesco Casagrande.
Paolo Bettini is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the former coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classics specialist of his generation, and probably one of the strongest of all times, he won gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics road race and in the 2006 and 2007 World Road Race Championships. He is nicknamed Il Grillo for his repeated sudden attacks and his sprinting style.
The Giro d’Italia Women is an annual women's cycle stage race around Italy. First held in 1988, the race is currently part of the UCI Women's World Tour, and is currently organised by RCS Sport, the organisers of the men's Giro d'Italia. The race was previously branded as the Giro d'Italia Femminile prior to 2013, the Giro Rosa from 2013 to 2020, and the Giro Donne from 2021 to 2023.
Andrea Tafi is an Italian former road bicycle racer who retired from his professional career in 2005. Tafi's propensity to perform best in the harder races earned him the nickname "Il Gladiatore".
Francesco Casagrande is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist. Casagrande was a professional cyclist between 1992 and 2005.
Cannondale Pro Cycling Team, previously known as Liquigas, was an Italian professional road bicycle racing team in the UCI ProTour.
Michele Bartoli is a retired Italian road racing cyclist. Bartoli was a professional cyclist from 1992 until 2004 and was one of the most successful single-day classics specialists of his generation, especially in the Italian and Belgian races. On his palmarès are three of the five monuments of cycling—five in total: the 1996 Tour of Flanders, the 1997 and 1998 Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the 2002 and 2003 Giro di Lombardia. He won the UCI Road World Cup in 1997 and 1998. From 10 October 1998 until 6 June 1999, Bartoli was number one on the UCI Road World Rankings.
Silvio Martinello is a retired road bicycle and track cyclist from Italy. He won the gold medal in the men's points race at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by the bronze medal in the men's madison in Sydney, Australia alongside Marco Villa. He was a professional rider from 1986 to 2000.
Paolo Tiralongo is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2017 for the Fassa Bortolo, Ceramica Panaria–Navigare, Lampre–NGC and Astana teams.
Mercatone Uno–Scanavino is a former professional cycling team which was based in San Marino and then in Italy. Throughout the 1990s it was one of the strongest Italian cycling teams in the peloton. The team was sponsored by a chain of supermarkets in Italy.
Claudio Corioni is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer from 2005 to 2012. He notably was in the team which won the opening Team time trial of the 2008 Vuelta a España.
The Giro di Toscana is a road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was not held in 2015. On 4 April 2016 it was announced that the race will return in September 2016 as a three-race challenge, consisting in three one-day races held consecutively in Tuscany. Each race will award points to the best placed riders, and the rider who score most points will win the overall classification of Giro della Toscana. This new edition will be named Giro della Toscana – Memorial Alfredo Martini, in memory of Alfredo Martini, former cyclist and coach of the Italy national cycling team.
Dmitri Konyshev is a Russian former road bicycle racer. Throughout his 17-year professional cycling career, Konyshev won nine Grand Tour stages with at least one stage win in all three Grand Tours. He won 4 stages in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, while also claiming a single stage in the Vuelta a Espana. Konyshev was the first Soviet and Russian rider to win a medal in the Men's Road race at the UCI Road World Championships. He won a silver medal in 1989 behind Greg LeMond, and a bronze medal in 1992 behind Gianni Bugno and Laurent Jalabert, and he was the first to win a stage at the Giro d'Italia.
Alessio–Bianchi was an Italian professional cycling team which existed from 1998 to 2004. It was created in 1998 as Ballan. In 1999 Italian wheels manufacturer Alessio came in as co-sponsor, and in 2000 as main sponsor. The team was dissolved by the end of the 2004 season.
Zinaida Vladimirovna Stahurskaya was a Belarusian racing cyclist who was the world champion in 2000. Stahurskaya was born in Vitebsk. She rode at the 1992 Summer Olympics for the Unified Team and at the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics for Belarus.
Valerio Conti is an Italian cyclist who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Team Solution Tech–Vini Fantini. He has competed in every edition of the Giro d'Italia between 2016 and 2023.
Moreno Di Biase is an Italian former professional racing cyclist. He rode in five editions of the Giro d'Italia.
Mario Manzoni is an Italian former professional racing cyclist, who rode in nine editions of the Giro d'Italia, winning one stage in 1997. He now works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team Global 6 United.
Elio Aggiano is an Italian former racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 1997 to 2007.
Nicola Minali (ITA)
