Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia, also known simply as the Giro, is an annual multiple-stage road cycling race primarily held in Italy. The first race was organized in 1909 to increase sales of the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, and the race is still run by a subsidiary of that paper's owner. The race has been held annually since its first edition in 1909, except during the two world wars. As the Giro gained prominence and popularity, the race was lengthened, and the peloton expanded from primarily Italian participation to riders from all over the world. The Giro is a UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams that compete in the race are mostly UCI WorldTeams, with some additional teams invited as 'wild cards'.
The Giro is one of professional cycling's three-week-long Grand Tours, and after the Tour de France is the second most important stage race in the world. The Giro is usually held during May, sometimes continuing into early June. While the route changes each year, the format of the race stays the same, with at least two time trials, and a passage through the mountains of the Alps, including the Dolomites. Like the other Grand Tours, the modern editions of the Giro d'Italia normally consist of 21 stages over a 23- or 24-day period that includes two or three rest days.
The rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the general classification and wears the pink jersey. While the general classification gathers the most attention, stage wins are prestigious of themselves, and there are other contests held within the Giro: the points classification, the mountains classification for the climbers, young rider classification for the riders under the age of 25, and the team classification.
History
Origins and first race (1909)
The idea of holding a bicycle race that navigated around Italy was inspired by the Tour de France and the success that L'Auto had gained from it. It was first suggested when La Gazzetta dello Sport editor Tullo Morgagni sent a telegram to the paper's owner, Emilio Costamagna, and cycling editor, Armando Cougnet, stating the need for an Italian tour. At the time La Gazzettas rival, Corriere della Sera was planning on holding a bicycle race of its own, after the success they had gained from holding an automobile race. Morgagni then decided to try and hold their race before Corriere della Sera could hold theirs, but La Gazzetta lacked the money. However, after the success La Gazzetta had with creating the Giro di Lombardia and Milan–San Remo, the owner Costamagna decided to go through with the idea. Their bike race was announced on 7 August 1908 in the first page of that day's edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport. The race was to be held in May 1909.Since the organizers lacked the 25,000 lire needed to hold the race, they consulted Primo Bongrani, an accountant at the bank Cassa di Risparmio and friend of the three organizers. Bongrani proceeded to go around Italy asking for donations to help hold the race. Bongrani's efforts were largely successful, he had procured enough money to cover the operating costs. Prize money was supplied by a casino in San Remo who Francesco Sghirla, a former Gazzetta employee, encouraged to contribute to the race. Even Corriere, La Gazzettas rival, gave 3,000 lire to the race's fund.
On 13 May 1909 at 02:53, 127 riders started the first Giro d'Italia at Loreto Place in Milan. The race was split into eight stages covering. A total of 49 riders finished, with Italian Luigi Ganna winning. Ganna won three individual stages and the General Classification. Ganna received 5,325 lire as a winner's prize, with the last rider in the general classification receiving 300 lire. The Giro's director received only 150 lire a month, 150 lire fewer than the last-placed rider. The first Giro was won by Luigi Ganna, who had the fewest total points at the end of the race.
1910–1952
The same format was used for the next two years and resulted in Carlo Galetti winning.In 1912, there was no individual classification, instead there was only a team classification, which was won by Team Atala. The 1912 Giro is the only time the competition has not had an individual classification. For the 1914 Giro d'Italia, in which stages were up to long, the scoring format was changed from a points-based system to a simple time-based system, in which the cyclist who had the lowest aggregate time at the end of the race would win.
The Giro was suspended for four years from 1915 to 1918, due to the First World War. Costante Girardengo was the winner of the first Giro after the war in 1919.
The dominant figure in the 1920s was Alfredo Binda, who won his first Giro in 1925 and followed this up with another victory in 1927, in which he won 12 of the 15 stages. Victory in 1929 came courtesy of eight successive stage wins. At the height of his dominance Binda was called to the head office of La Gazzetta dello Sport in 1930; the newspaper accused him of ruining the race and offered him 22,000 lire to be less dominant, which he refused. Binda won five Giros before he was usurped as the dominant cyclist by Gino Bartali.
Nicknamed the "Iron Man of Tuscany" for his endurance, Bartali won two Giros during the 1930s, in 1936 and 1937. Bartali's dominance was challenged in 1940, the last Giro before the Second World War, when he was defeated by his 20-year-old teammate Fausto Coppi.
Bartali and Coppi's rivalry divided Italy. Bartali, a conservative, was venerated in the rural, agrarian south, while Coppi, more worldly, secular, innovative in diet and training, was a hero of the industrial north. They became teammates in 1940 when Eberrardo Pavesi, head of the Legnano team, took on Coppi to ride for Bartali. Bartali thought Coppi was "as thin as a mutton bone", but accepted. Their rivalry started when Coppi, the helper, won the Giro aged 20 and Bartali, the star, marshalled the two men's team to chase him.
The rivalry between Bartali and Coppi intensified after the war. Bartali won his last Giro in 1946, narrowly beating Coppi, now riding for the Bianchi team. Coppi then won his second Giro the following year. Coppi abandoned the 1948 Giro d'Italia in protest against the small penalty given to Fiorenzo Magni. Coppi won a further three Giros and twice, in 1949 and 1952, Coppi won the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year, the first rider to do so.
1953–1967
Swiss Hugo Koblet became the first non-Italian to win the race in 1950. No one dominated the tour during the 1950s, Coppi, Charly Gaul and Fiorenzo Magni each won two Giros during the decade.The 1960s were similar. At the 1960 Giro d'Italia, Jacques Anquetil took advantage of a breakaway he was part of on stage 3 to take the overall lead. Anquetil then led the lead move to Jos Hoevenaers, who had been part of a breakaway on stage 6. In the long time trial of the race on stage 14, Anquetil retook the lead, finishing 1:27 minutes ahead of Baldini and more than 6 minutes on Gaul. His speed had been so fast that had the organizers applied the usual rules, 70 riders would have missed the time cut. In the event, the rules were loosened and only two riders eliminated. Ahead of the final mountain stages, Anquetil now led Nencini by 3:40 minutes, with Gaul in fifth, 7:32 minutes behind. Stage 20 included the Gavia Pass for the first time in the race's history. On the ascent, Nencini was able to establish a gap to Anquetil, after the latter had a flat tire. More punctures and three bike changes followed on the dangerous descent, putting Anquetil's race lead in danger. He teamed up with Agostino Coletto, whom he offered money to help him in the chase effort, to limit his losses. At the finish in Bormio, Gaul won ahead of Nencini, with Anquetil losing only 2:34 minutes and retaining the pink jersey by 28 seconds. Following a ceremonial final stage, Anquetil arrived in Milan the winner of the Giro for the first time. Anquetil went on to become the first rider to win all three Grand Tours and won the Giro again in 1964, while Franco Balmamion won two successive Giros in 1962 and 1963.
Felice Gimondi won the 1967 Giro d'Italia and went on to become the second rider, after Anquetil, to win all three Grand Tours.
1968–1996
Belgian Eddy Merckx was the dominant figure during the 1970s. His first victory came in 1968, a race which saw two important firsts: the first tests for drug use and the first prologue. A total of eight riders tested positive during the Giro. Merckx won the race for the first time after winning the twelfth stage's finish atop the Tre Cime di Lavaredo to gain the race lead. En route to the overall victory, he won four stages. He returned in 1969 and was leading the race after the sixteenth stage that ended in Savona. He tested positive for a banned substance after the stage and was disqualified from the race; he always denied any wrongdoing. The UCI lifted his suspension almost immediately but he was not allowed to start stage 17. Felice Gimondi took the lead after Merckx's dismissal and held it until the race's conclusion.Merckx came back the following year at the request of his sponsor. He took the lead after stage five and never relinquished it; he dominated the lengthy stage nine time trial. He went on to win the Tour de France, and in doing so became the third rider to win two Grand Tours in a single calendar year. He did not compete in the 1971 event, riding the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré instead. Felice Gimondi lost substantial time early on in the race to put him out of contention, while fellow Italian and teammate Gianni Motta tested positive for banned substances and was disqualified. Swedish cyclist Gösta Pettersson gained the lead after the race's eighteenth stage and held it to the finish. Pettersson became the first Swedish cyclist to win a Grand Tour.
Merckx returned to the Giro in 1972 and resumed his domination. He took the lead after a long solo attack during the race's seventh stage and held it until the finish. He led the 1973 Giro d'Italia from start to finish, a feat that had not been achieved since Alfredo Binda did so in 1927.
In 1976, Juan Manuel Santisteban died after an accident early in the race. By the third week it seemed as though Belgian rider Johan De Muynck was going to claim victory, but Gimondi rode a strong final individual time trial to win his third Giro by a very small margin. He had not been considered a contender before the race. Belgians Michel Pollentier and Johan De Muynck won the two subsequent Giros in 1977 and 1978.
In 1980, Frenchman Bernard Hinault became France's first winner since Anquetil in 1964. He would win another two Giros in 1982 and 1985.
The 1987 edition saw controversy between 's two general classification riders Roberto Visentini and Stephen Roche. Roche led the race early on but lost the lead to Visentini after crashing during the thirteenth stage. Roche attacked on the race's mountainous fifteenth stage despite orders from Carrera team management not to. Roche took the lead and wound up winning the race. He also won the Tour de France and the men's road race at the World Championships to complete the Triple Crown of Cycling.
The fourteenth stage of the 1988 Giro d'Italia saw very poor weather, particularly on the slopes of the Passo di Gavia. Franco Chioccioli led the race at the start of the fabled fourteenth stage. On the slopes of the Gavia, Andrew Hampsten and Erik Breukink rode away from their fellow riders; Breukink won the stage, but Hampsten took the overall lead. Hampsten went on to win the race and became the first non-European to win the race.
Spaniard Miguel Indurain, winner of five Tours, won successive Giros in 1991 and 1992.