Marco Pantani Bianchi Team Mercatone Uno 1998

The story of Marco Pantani is one of struggle, triumph and tragedy. Few riders of recent history have inspired cycling fans around the globe to a point that would be comparable with Marco Pantani's influence in the late 1990s.
His story has often been told and we will not try to repeat it. If you are not familiar with his life, we recommend you watch the documentary "Pantani: The Accidental Death of a Cyclist"

When Pantani, il Pirata, won the double of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in 1998, he was the first Italian to achieve this triumph after Fausto Coppi almost 50 years before. And like Fausto Coppi, he did so on a Bianchi.
Many people admired the Pirate for his fighting spirit and the way he pushed up the alpine switchbacks on his Bianchi Mega Pro XL. To no surprise, there rose a certain desire among his fans, to own something which belonged to this star or his team or at least to build a replica of his bike.

And here we present a bike which is all of the above!
This Marco Pantani Bianchi Team Mercatone 1998 has it all.
It is built around a frame which reportedly once was in the possession of Pantani himself and then was passed on to the former manager of the team, Franco Gini.
Some of the parts are completely crazy stuff, like the original Tour de France 1998 racing number of Pantani, or the original TdF bottle.
The PMP parts on the bike were sourced by visiting the PMP factory, where they amazingly still had a box of spare parts stored for Pantani since the 1990s. So the parts came straight out of the Pantani box and went onto the bike!
Some other parts were compiled by collectors of Pantani memorabilia. The rest was built from components which had provably been used by Bianchi in 1998. Even the right bike computer is mounted.

When it comes to Pantani replica bikes, this should be the best one in the world. Simply because it crosses the border between replica and original. There is actually so much original Mercatone Uno and Pirata spirit in it, that it is more than halfway a real Bianchi Pantani bike from 1998.
Sourcing the parts alone obviously took so much time that this build is almost beyond price.
Exquisit, absolutely unique and as Pantani as a Replica gets.