Before abandoning the Giro, Cipollini set an all-time record of 42 stage wins in the Italian race, improving by one win a 70-year-old record by Italian great Alfredo Binda.
Gilberto Simoni, the current Giro leader, and sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, who clinched his sixth stage victory in this year's Giro on Wednesday, are expected to start in the French race featuring Lance Armstrong's attempt to capture his fifth title.
RSS