The Giro d'Italia is a professional cycling race held each year in May, touring Italy's countryside, cities and towns over the course of 21 days or stages. Known in cycling as a Grand Tour, the Giro is one of only three races like it in the world -- the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana are the other two. Only the Tour de France has more prestige than the Giro d'Italia.
Giro's Start
The first Giro d'Italia was the idea of a sporting newspaper called the "Gazzetta," beating out a rival paper wanting to hold its own cycling race. The first Giro d'Italia was May 13, 1909 -- the start of the race at 2:53 that morning. Competing for the prize of 5,325 lire were 127 cyclists, of which only 49 completed the 2,448-kilometer course. The winner that year was Luigi Ganna.
History of the Pink Jersey
The pink leader's jersey, or Maglia Rosa, singles out the overall leader of the Giro d'Italia from the other competitors. Although colored jerseys are commonplace in professional cycling, many take on the color yellow, made famous by the Tour de France. The Giro selected pink because the race's sponsor, the "Gazzetta," was printed on pink newsprint. This tradition began in 1931 and has been symbolic with the Giro d'Italia ever since. The first rider to don the leader's pink jersey was Learco Guerra, leader after the first stage of the 19th edition of the Giro.
War Years
The Giro d'Italia did not exist during the years fighting raged in both World Wars. In fact, according Ultimate Italy, not only did many riders lose these prime years of their careers, many did not return to race after the wars' conclusions, because they were either injured or dead.
Modern Era
The "New York Times" says it's hard to discuss the history of the Giro d' Italia with mentioning the two greatest Italian cyclists to ride in, and win, the Giro: Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali. These two riders had a rivalry equal to any other in sports -- especially among Italians. Italian Damiano Cunego won the Giro d' Italia in 2004, although he did not win the most stages; fellow Italian Alessandro Petacchi won nine. In 2010, Italian Ivan Basso claimed overall victory, the second Giro victory in his career. Emerging Italian cycling superstar Vincenzo Nibali finished on the podium in third.
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