The excitement preceding tomorrow's Giro d'Italia start built to a fever pitch today, as the teams, including Britain's Linda McCartney Foods Cycling Team, were introduced to the Pope at a private Vatican ceremony.

As a coach arrived to collect the team from the Rome Holiday Inn this morning, the talk amongst the various squads was centred on the "will he, won't he" debate. Marco Pantani, the world's greatest climber who was sensationally thrown out of last year's Giro after failing a blood test after the penultimate stage. In a seemingly invincible position at the time, the defending champion was suddenly out of the race in disgrace, and it appeared possibly out of the sport. Not having raced since that fateful day nearly 12 months ago, Pantani's participation in this year's event seemed a remote occurrence to say the least. Yet, when the team bus pulled up outside the Mercatone Uno hotel, the last man to step from the lobby and join the party was little "Il Pirata" himself.

And so on, amidst the din and speed of a police escort, the convoy cut through the Roman streets mobbed with fans, until we reached the stately setting of St Peter's Square and the Vatican itself. The pious surroundings of one of the innermost sanctums inside the wonderful palace, the chapel of Clement XIII was the setting for the race's audience with his holy eminence. After the various introductions had been made, he spoke about the great history of the race, of man's eternal struggle, and wished God's speed and fortune to all those about to take to the roads of Italy for the next three weeks.

He posed with the great Giro champions, men such as Eddy Merckx, Laurent Fignon, Felice Gimondi and Andy Hampsten, and the more recent stars like Mario Cipollini, Pavel Tonkov and defending champion Ivan Gotti.

This afternoon, the Linda McCartney team have gone out en masse for a gentle training ride, then tomorrow afternoon, the real business begins. A 6km time-trial starting from the Vatican will form the race's prologue, and enable the first coveted pink jersey to be awarded. Then Sunday will see a short 125km dash down to Terracina, south of the capital.

Though the Linda McCartney squad doesn't feature a time-trial specialist, all nine riders will be keen to show they are in good shape for the coming onslaught. Sunday will be a day when they will look to get involved in the racing and mix it up with the world's best. Don't forget you can follow all the action on Eurosport tomorrow and for the duration of the Giro.