The triple crown races of professional road cycling, also known as cycling’s Grand Tours, are the Tour de France, the Vuelta a España and the Giro d’Italia—commonly referred to as the Giro among cyclists and enthusiasts. Like the Tour and the Vuelta, the Giro is a long-distance race. It usually takes place the last three weeks of May in Italy but has also taken racers into other European countries.
Giro Basics
While the route details of the Giro change from year to year, certain aspects of the race remain similar. It covers 21 days of racing with two additional days for rest and transport if a stage takes place outside of Italy. In 2006, for example, the first stage of the race was in Belgium. Like the other Grand Tours, the Giro is comprised of daily stages, each with its own set of winning jerseys and corresponding prizes. Stages include individual, team and uphill time trials, a handful of sprint stages, and several mountain stages, many with summit finishes. Total distance depends on how many mountain stages the race has but is usually between 2,100 and 2,400 miles.
History of the Giro
The Italian newspaper, Gazzetta dello Sport, which has been printed on pink paper since its existence in 1899, announced that it would sponsor the first Giro d’Italia in 1909. It took place May 13, started at 2:53 a.m. and lasted 17 days. Of the 127 racers who started, only 49 finished. The two World Wars were considerable interruptions for the best racers of those years, many of whom didn’t survive. Throughout the years, the Giro has had its share of dramatic rivalries among its strongest racers. The most infamous of these was between two-time Giro champion Gino Bartali and five-time champion Fausto Coppi.
Classifications
Each day of the Giro, racers earn points and classifications that they have to defend as the race continues. The racer who has the lowest cumulative time at the end of each stage is the overall leader and wears a pink jersey that he and his team must defend the next day. Its color is inspired by the pages of the Gazzetta dello Sport. The sprinter’s jersey is purple, and the climber’s jersey, which goes to the “king of the mountains,” is green. A white jersey is given to the best rider under the age of 25 of each stage. Racers can also score points and classifications by riding aggressively and successfully breaking away from the pack of riders, called the peloton.
Notorious Stages
When the Giro route includes a fair number of punishing mountain stages, it's a race that primarily takes place on those long, steep climbs and summit finishes. Racers or teams that aren’t careful about how they race in the difficult, early mountain stages may lose any hope of a podium finish. Participants sometimes have to climb several days in a row, without the relief of flat stages in between. Cyclingnews.com describes some of the climbs from the Giro’s 2010 route as “ridiculous,” “lung-busting” and “ouch.” Mountain sections may have grades as intense as 24 percent.
References
- La Gazzetta dello Sport: Giro d’Italia
- Cyclingnews.com: Giro D’Italia Classifications Demystified
- Cyclingnews.com: Up and away — Detailing the 2010 Giro d'Italia's Mountains
- Ultimate Italy: Giro d’Italia, Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali Duel
- Gazzetta.it: The Origins
- Gazzetta.it: The Pink Jersey and Other Jerseys
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