Gianni Bugno, Michele Bartoli, and Mario Cipollini will be among the former professional riders leading a "virtual" stage of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday to raise money for the Italian Red Cross during a coronavirus outbreak.

The "Giro d'Italia Legends" event is open to anyone with a Garmin Edge cycle computer compatible with a Smart Trainer, and participants will tackle the final 37.4 km to Vieste for stage 9 of the 2020 Giro.

The event will serve as a "prologue" to the Giro d'Italia Virtual, which will take place over seven stages between April 18 and May 10; RCS Sport will announce details of the event next week.

"It's like winning a classic, I'm very happy," Cipollini told La Gazzetta dello Sport. [I am convinced that cycling's greats like Coppi, Bartali, Magni, Gimondi, and Martini were shouting something along the lines of, 'Open your heart to people and help them. Cycling is suffering, and in this moment of suffering, cycling must be present. We all want to show how important this sport is to our country."[7

Sunday's event will feature past Giro winners Francesco Moser, Ivan Gotti, Stefano Garzelli, former world champions Cipollini, Bugno, Paolo Bettini, Maurizio Fondriesto, Alessandro Balan, Monument winners Michele Bartoli, Claudio Chiapucci, Filippo Pozzato, and Andrea Tafi, among other riders, are confirmed to participate in the event.

The event will start at 5 p.m. CET on Sunday, and donations to the Italian Red Cross can be made through the Rete del Dono portal. This is the second "virtual" event that RCS Sport is organizing after postponing most of the 2020 races. On March 20, when La Classissima was scheduled to take place, more than 4,000 people participated in a virtual ride with Vincenzo Nibali on the final 57 km of the Milan-San Remo route.

Sunday's ride will take participants on a virtual ride through Puglia's scenic Gargano peninsula. Riders will tackle the short, sharp climb of Chiesola (1 km, average gradient 9.3%, maximum gradient 17%) twice.

No new dates have been set for the postponed Giro and Spring Classics, as the COVID-19 epidemic will suspend all racing until at least June 1.