This week the Giro d’Italia kicks off in Northern Ireland and begins surprisingly on a Friday – not a Saturday. The biggest controversy however could be off the course as Rapha has launched a memorial jersey in honor of Marco Pantani. While a percentage of each jersey will go to the Pantani Foundation, which encourages troubled teens to get into cycling, the choice of jersey still remains a bold choice – given that Pantani was disqualified from the 1999 Italian classic for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.
However, some are seeing that Pantani still brought a certain level of panache to the sport, and through the foundation could perhaps some youngsters to steer clear of trouble.
[Via BikeRadar: Commemorative Rapha Pantani Jersey launched]
The four-day “Celebration of Cycling,” which takes place every April in Laguna Beach will go Gran in 2013. The largest cycling festival in the world will see a new partnership with RCS Sport, the organizers of the highly esteemed Gran Fond Giro d’Italia event series, which include mass participation cycling events.
Giro has built a not so small empire with its line of helmets and shoes, and at Interbike last week the company unveiled the Empire, a new custom shoe developed specifically for Taylor Phinney to use in the 2012 Giro d’Italia and Olympic Games. 
