The Giro d’Italiaorganized every year by Gazzetta dello Sportwinds along a path that varies between 3,000 and 4,000 km, divided into about 20 stages. The origins of this famous race date back to the early twentieth century, a period in which the bicycle was starting to spread as a means of transport, albeit still in a limited way. The first edition of the Giro took place in 1909, on an eight stages route with departure and arrival in Milan. On May 13 of that year, the 127 cyclists in the race, including Luigi Ganna, who would be the first winner, left Piazzale Loreto. Since then, the tour has seen a constant evolution, both from a technical and organizational point of view. Over the years, it has been the stage of legendary deeds and exciting challenges, such as those involving Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali in the aftermath of the Second World War. The race was held every year, except for two interruptions in correspondence with the world conflicts. The 2025 edition is the number 108.
The origins of the Giro d’Italia
The Giro d’Italia was born in 1909, when the bicycle, in its modern form, existed for about thirty years, being born in the 80s of the nineteenth century. Its use as a means of transport was still relatively limited And in Italy it was also unbalanced geographically, because in the center-north it was far greater than in the South, but the spread of the vehicle was rapidly growing. The fact that the bicycle was used by millions of people helped to arouse interest around cycling races.
Sports cycling was born almost simultaneously with the bicycle and a few years later, in 1903, on the initiative of the Parisian newspaper Car A large stages had been established, the Tour de France. In 1908 the idea of the stages was resumed in Italy by some journalists from the Gazzetta dello Sport, who decided to organize a race of the same kind. The role of Armando Counetthe main organizer of the Giro, of which he was director from the origins to 1948. Counet in fact was a visionary organizer, and he was the one who created the structure and format of the Giro.
Heroic years: from the origins to the Second World War
The first edition of the Giro took place in 1909. The race was divided into eight stages, with Departure and arrival from Milan (the city where the editorial staff of the Gazzetta is located). 127 cyclists participated, of which only 43 ended the test. Winner of the final classification was the Piedmontese Luigi Ganna.
The first years of the Giro are considered “heroic” years. The race was played largely on Non -paved roads and the competitors, not followed by cars, had to provide for all needs. A part of the cyclists competed inside teams, but the “isolated” runnerswho enrolled individually. The race was disputed almost exclusively in central-northern Italy, because bicycles producers, who financed the participating teams, had little interest in bringing the tour to the south.
In years between the two wars The popularity of the Giro d’Italia increased. It was the period in which runners as a constant Girardengo, Alfredo Binda, Learco Guerra and, in the second half of the 1930s, Gino Bartali were affirmed.
In 1931 the best known symbol of the Giro was introduced, the pink jerseyintended for the leader of the general classification. The color was chosen, as it is easy to guess, in tribute to the Gazzetta dello Sport.
Giro growth: from reconstruction to today
After the interruption of the years 1941-45, due to the Second World War, the Giro d’Italia resumed in 1946. The period between the end of the war and the early 1960s is considered The golden era of bicycle raceswhich reached the highest level of popularity.
Two cyclists, Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartaligave birth to a rivalry that deeply divided the Italians and entered the collective imagination. After their era, cycling lost a part of its popularity for the benefit of other sports, First of all Football, but equally remained one of the passions of Italians. Gradually, the Giro took on more modern characteristics.
In the 1950s the first were born teams of sponsored runners not by bicycle producersbut from other companies; In the 1960s the first cases of doping (a plague that has affected the regularity of cycling even in recent years). One of the most famous cases was the protagonist of the Belgian runner Eddy Merckxwinner in 1968, who in 1969 was positive and was for this disqualified. Merckx, however, managed to overcome the shock of the disqualification and became the “cannibal” of world cycling, winning, among the various runs, four more times the tour. Among the few runners capable of challenging him, the Italian was Felice Gimondiwhich won the pink race three times.
In more recent times, the cyclist capable of exciting the audience more was probably Marco Pantaniwinner of the Giro in 1998 (the year in which the Tour de France also won). In 1999 Pantani, leader in the general classification and launched towards a good victory, was suspended by the organizers because of the blood values above the limits, giving life to a heated debate between those who considered it guilty of doping and who believed that the suspension was due to a conspiracy.
The last winner is the Slovenian Tadej Pogačarwho triumphed in the 2024 edition.
Victorial record: some statistics
The record of victories of the general classification is up to three cyclists, who won the rounds five times each:
- Alfredo Binda (1925, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1933).
- Fausto Coppi (1940, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953).
- Eddy Merckx (1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974).
From the age of the age, the oldest winner was Fiorenzo Magniwhich in 1955 triumphed at the age of 35 and 180 days; The youngest was Coppi, who in 1940 won the race for only 20 years and 298 days.
The runner who won the most stages is the sprinter instead Mario Cipolliniwith 42 wins in 14 editions of the Giro between 1989 and 2003.
Only the winners of the stages and the winners of the final classification are not awarded the Giro, but other rankings are also planned, each of which gives the leader to wear a specific shirt:
- Point ranking (cyclamen shirt), based on the assignment of points at the finish of each stage and in some intermediate goals.
- Mountain ranking (blue shirt), established based on the passages on the main climbs.
- Young ranking (white shirt), for Under 25 runners.
In the past there were also other rankings and other shirts, including the notorious black shirtassigned from 1946 to 1951 and again in 1967 to the last cyclist in the general classification.
