A pirate’s life: Tour de France sets sail for home of the great Marco Pantani

The tragic rise and fall of the controversial Italian cycling legend will be celebrated in stage two start in CesenaticoThose who like their history black and white, with coherent moral conclusions and all loose ends tied up, would do well to avoid looking too closely at the Tour de France in any year, but particularly this year. On Sunday morning, all the contradictions and messiness inherent in the way the Tour treats its past will be raised for the umpteenth time, when the race’s second