One of the many bicycles from the Italian bicycle brand Bianchi that have made history is Marco Pantani's Bianchi Mega Pro, with which he won both the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia in 1998. Pantani then rode for the Mercatone Uno – Bianchi team, which took over most of the riders from the Carrera Jeans cycling team after a break of 1 year, including Pantani.
The model is a Bianchi Mega Pro XL Reparto Corse with an aluminum frame built with Deddaciai Series 7000 tubes. The frame weighs less than a kilogram, to be precise only 850 grams, which was very exceptional for that time. For many riders this low weight would not be safe and the frame would not be strong enough, but for Marco Pantani who weighed only 50 kg this was not a problem.
The color is a mix of yellow and the typical Bianchi celeste color because the colors of the sponsor Mercatone Uno were yellow. One of the designers of Mercatone Uno had designed a bicycle in the colors yellow, celeste green and brown, but the result was apparently not to be seen.
Initially, the model with yellow and celeste green also received few positive reactions, but when Marco Pantani started to win competitions, it was accepted more and more.
The wheels are Campagnolo Shamal, one of the first generations with high rims in aluminum. The rear wheel has 16 spokes and the front wheel only 12. However, Pantani also used Campagnolo Electron wheels.
The group is Campagnolo Record with 9 gears, sprockets 53/39 and cassette 12/23. The front fork is in carbon and is from the French Time as well as the pedals: Time Equipe Pro. For Marco who was nicknamed il pirata, the saddle was personalized by Selle Italia.
Handlebars and stem are of the ITM brand: stem ITM Big One and handlebar ITM Super Italia Pro. Pantani's Bianchi weighed 8.10 kg, which was very light for that time.
In 2018, Bianchi released the Specialissima Pantani to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France double. Lotto Jumbo rode this bike, among other things.
There is also a story to this bike. Marco Pantani gave the bike, along with the Willier he rode in 1997, as a gift to a friend who owned a restaurant in Cesenatico, Marco's birthplace. In 2011, the restaurant went bankrupt and both bikes were sold at auction in 2012. A collector bought the bike for €18,000
