Context : Pre-processing within small groups has been proposed to explain several of the properties of galaxies inhabiting rich clusters .

Aims : The aim of the present work is to see whether pre-processing is acting in the nearby universe , where the structures that are merging to form rich clusters are rather large and massive .

Methods : We study the HI gas properties of a large sample of late-type galaxies belonging to the Coma I cloud , an association of objects close to the Virgo cluster .

Results : Contrary to what previously claimed , late-type galaxies in the Coma I cloud are not deficient in HI gas ( HI - def =0.06 \pm 0.44 ) .

Conclusions : If the Coma I cloud is representative of infalling groups in nearby clusters , this result suggests that , in the local universe , the evolution of late-type galaxies belonging to loose structures with high velocity dispersions ( \geq 300 km s ^ { -1 } ) associated to rich clusters such as Virgo is not significantly perturbed by pre-processing .