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.

History

San Marino Team The team began as Mercatone Uno-Zucchini in 1992 and was based in San Marino. Riding with the team Adriano Baffi won the points classification in the 1993 Giro d'Italia. During the 1995 season the General Manager of the team was Franco Gini and the directeur sportifs were Antonio Salutini, Franco Chioccioli, Olivano Locatelli and Bruno Vicino. This team closed the 1995 season with the withdrawal of the sponsor: the new team had the same sponsor but was a totally different team.

Team built around Pantani When Carrera Jeans manufacturers stopped sponsoring the famous Italian cycling team at the end of 1996, it was reported that manager Davide Boifava would be building a team around Marco Pantani with Mercatone Uno as the main sponsor. However Luciano Pezzi became the President of that new team, taking with him as directeur sportifs Giuseppe Martinelli, Davide Cassani and Alessandro Giannelli and ten of the riders from Carrera including Pantani. In this way a new team based in Italy was formed with Marco Pantani as the team leader, who rode Bianchi bikes. According to former cycling champion Felice Gimondi the team was built exclusively around Pantani with directeur sportif: Martinelli refused to sign a sprinter, as this could have created other objectives for the team. According to Gimondi, the team was conceived similarly to the way the Bianchi cycling team was conceived in the mid-1940s as a team built around Fausto Coppi. In the 1997 season, Pantani finished third overall at the 1997 Tour de France and won several stages including the stage to the Alpe d'Huez. The following year Pantani won the 1998 Giro d'Italia and then won the 1998 Tour de France – becoming only the seventh rider in history to achieve the Giro–Tour double. Pantani dedicated his win to the recently deceased General manager of Mercatone Uno Luciano Pezzi. After achieving this great success, the head of the branch of the Mercatone Uno supermarkets, Romano Cenni, said that the sponsor would remain in cycling as long as Pantani was still cycling. In the 1999 Giro d'Italia, Pantani dominated the race until he was suspended from due to a high haematocrit level. As a result, the entire Mercatone Uno team withdrew from the race. The following year the team won the 2000 Giro d'Italia with Stefano Garzelli, for which he thanked Pantani for help. Although Garzelli had a contract that run until the end of the 2001 season, he left the team at the end of 2000. When Pantani abandoned the 2002 Giro d'Italia, there was immediate talk of Mercatone Uno stopping its sponsorship after the 2002 season as the team had not been invited to the 2001 and 2002 Tour de France. However, the team continued during the 2003 season where Pantani rode to 14th overall in the 2003 Giro d'Italia. The team was disbanded at the end of 2003 due to the probable retirement of Pantani with several riders going to the South African team Barloworld.

Major wins

1992 Stage 18 Vuelta a España, Enrico Zaina 1993 Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda, Enrico Zaina Profronde van Made, Adri van der Poel Profronde van Surhuisterveen, Adri van der Poel Stages 2, 8 & 18 Giro d'Italia, Adriano Baffi 1994 Giro di Toscana, Francesco Casagrande Criterium d'Abruzzo, Michele Bartoli Firenze–Pistoia, Francesco Casagrande Trofeo Luis Puig, Adriano Baffi Stages 1 & 6 Paris–Nice, Mario Cipollini Stage 1 Tirreno–Adriatico, Adriano Baffi Brabantse Pijl, Michele Bartoli Grand Prix Pino Cerami, Michele Bartoli GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano, Francesco Casagrande Stage 13 Giro d'Italia, Michele Bartoli Stage 15 Tour de France, Eros Poli Stages 2 & 3 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Simone Biasci Stage 6 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Massimo Donati Giro della Romagna, Giuseppe Petito Giro dell'Emilia, Francesco Casagrande Milano–Torino, Francesco Casagrande 1995 Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda, Massimiliano Lelli Profronde van Oostvoorne, Mario Cipollini National Time Trial championships, Massimiliano Lelli Overall Driedaagse van De Panne, Michele Bartoli Firenze–Pistoia, Francesco Casagrande Coppa Placci, Francesco Casagrande Trofeo Luis Puig, Mario Cipollini Stages 4 & 5 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Mario Cipollini Stages 2 & 5 Tour de Romandie, Mario Cipollini Giro dell'Appennino, Francesco Casagrande Stages 1 & 3 Giro d'Italia, Mario Cipollini Stages 2, 3 & 5 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Mario Cipollini Stages 2 & 4 Tour de France, Mario Cipollini Milano–Vignola, Angelo Canzonieri 1997 Ronde van Pijnacker, Marco Pantani Giro del Mendrisiotto, Beat Zberg Overall Giro di Toscana, Sergio Barbero Coppa Placci, Beat Zberg Stage 7 Tirreno–Adriatico Stages 13 & 15 Tour de France, Marco Pantani Stage 19 Tour de France, Mario Traversoni Urkiola Igoera – Subida Urkiola, Beat Zberg Stage 7 Tour de Pologne, Markus Zberg 1998 GP Tell, Marco Velo De Draai van de Kaai, Marco Pantani Profronde van Surhuisterveen, Marco Pantani Firenze–Pistoia, Marco Velo Gala Tour de France, Marco Pantani Stage 4 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Dimitri Konyshev Overall Giro d'Italia, Marco Pantani , Mountains classification, Marco Pantani Stages 14 & 19, Marco Pantani Stage 16, Fabio Fontanelli Overall Tour de Suisse, Stefano Garzelli Points classification, Stefano Garzelli Combination classification, Stefano Garzelli Stages 5 & 6, Stefano Garzelli National Time Trial championships, Marco Velo Overall Tour de France, Marco Pantani Stages 11 & 15, Marco Pantani Urkiola Igoera - Subida Urkiola, Simone Borgheresi Boucles de l'Aulne, Marco Pantani 1999 Firenze–Pistoia, Marco Velo Roma Maxima, Sergio Barbero Overall Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia – Costa Calida, Marco Pantani Stage 4, Marco Pantani Stage 2 Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme, Marco Pantani Stage 5a Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme, Fabiano Fontanelli GP Miguel Induráin, Stefano Garzelli Stage 3 Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco, Stefano Garzelli Paris–Camembert Lepetit, Fabiano Fontanelli GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano, Massimo Podenzana Stages 8, 15, 19 & 20 Giro d'Italia, Marco Pantani Giro dell'Appennino, Simone Borgheresi National Time Trial championships, Marco Velo Stage 14 Tour de France, Dimitri Konyshev Tre Valli Varesine, Sergio Barbero GP Llodio, Marco Velo Giro della Romagna, Roberto Conti Grand Prix de Fourmies, Dimitri Konyshev Coppa Sabatini, Dimitri Konyshev Japan Cup, Sergio Barbero 2000 Acht van Chaam, Marco Pantani Profronde van Stiphout, Marco Pantani Overall Giro del Trentino, Simone Borgheresi Overall Giro d'Italia, Stefano Garzelli Stage 18, Stefano Garzelli Overall Tour of Sweden, Michael Andersson Stage 2, Michael Andersson Stage 8 Tour de Suisse, Stefano Garzelli Mountains classification Stefano Garzelli National Time Trial championship, Michael Andersson National Time Trial championships, Marco Velo Stages 12 & 15 Tour de France, Marco Pantani 2001 Klasika Primavera, Igor Astarloa Stage 7 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Daniele De Paoli National Time Trial championships, Marco Velo 2002 GP Città di Rio Saliceto e Correggio, Fabiano Fontanelli Giro della Provincia di Lucca, Fabiano Fontanelli National Time Trial championships, Andrey Mizurov 2003 Giro del Friuli, Joseba Albizu Stage 2 Ster Elektrotoer, Eddy Serri Stage 4 Ster Elektrotoer, Luca Solari Stage 5 Ster Elektrotoer, Enrico Degano

Supplementary statistics Sources:

Note: The team did not exist for the 1996 Season. Race199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003 Giro d'Italia 14 11 22 10 – 9 1 DNF 1 11 37 14 Tour de France – – 42 43 – 3 1 32 37 – – – / Vuelta a España 54 39 13 9 – – – – – 46 – – Race199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003 Tour Down Under colspan=7 rowspan=1 – – – – – / Paris–Nice – 68 22 6 – – – – – – – – Tirreno–Adriatico 17 20 15 7 – 3 – 3 22 23 19 – Volta a Catalunya – – 9 30 – – 4 12 – – – – Tour of the Basque Country – – 4 – – 3 15 8 28 26 – 49 Tour de Romandie – – – 2 – 3 20 39 – – – – Critérium du Dauphiné – – – – – – – – – – – – Tour de Suisse – – – – – 8 1 – 9 – – – Tour de Pologne – – – – – 8 – – – – – – Ronde van Nederland – 34 15 51 – – – – – – – – Monument199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003 Milan–San Remo 30 11 2 5 – 12 38 4 7 24 68 – Tour of Flanders 35 33 36 7 – – – 31 55 DNF – – Paris–Roubaix – 5 – 32 – – DNF DNF – – – – Liège–Bastogne–Liège 25 80 17 3 – 7 28 13 19 11 21 – Giro di Lombardia 39 36 11 3 – 21 11 5 35 38 24 65 Classic199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003Omloop Het Volk 26 – 69 – – – – – – – – –Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne 26 25 – – – – – – – – –E3 Harelbeke 21 6 3 21 – – – – – – – –Gent–Wevelgem 27 9 19 4 – – – – – – – –Amstel Gold Race – 6 34 10 – 3 23 10 16 15 – –La Flèche Wallonne – 7 6 4 – 5 47 7 15 27 81 –Clásica de San Sebastián 32 25 36 11 – 7 49 14 79 20 – –Paris–Tours 27 5 4 9 – – 15 53 40 – – –

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish NH Not held

Notes

Famous Mercatone Uno cyclists Marco Pantani Michele Bartoli Francesco Casagrande Dmitri Konychev Bruno Leali Adriano Baffi John Talen Roberto Petito Mario Cipollini Dario Frigo Eddy Mazzoleni Stefano Garzelli Daniel Clavero Sylvester Szmyd

References