Giro d'Italia: Special page on the Tour of Italy
The Giro d'Italia heralds the start of the grand tour racing season and takes the riders to the land of plains, hills and mountains. The stage race thrills both athletes and spectators with a varied route that is considered particularly tough due to its extreme altitude profile. TOUR explains the most important things you need to know about the Giro d'Italia and keeps you up to date with news about the current Tour of Italy.
Giro d'Italia: cycling highlight between the Alps and the Mediterranean
The Giro d'Italia (Italian for: Tour of Italy) counts with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana is one of the three most important cycling races in the world - the so-called Grand Tours. Since its inception in 1909, the Corsa Rosa, as the Giro d'Italia is still known, has traditionally taken place in May, heralding the high point of the cycling season.
The tour lasts three weeks and usually comprises 21 stages that lead through the whole of Italy. The teams often cover more than 3,000 kilometres and climb a total of around 50,000 metres in altitude. While in the early decades the tour always began and ended in Milan after its first start, there is no longer a fixed start and finish line. In previous years, there were often time trials at the start and finish.
The Tour of Italy also makes frequent detours abroad: in the past, for example, the Giro has started in Greece, Israel and the Netherlands. Depending on the season, individual stages also lead through neighbouring countries such as the Switzerland, Austria or France. Due to the transfer times required for professional cyclists travelling, there are increasingly three rest days rather than just two.
The stages: Top-level flat stages, moderate hill sections and difficult Alpine passes
For many, the Italian stage race is the clear number two in professional cycling - right after the Tour de France. This is not only due to the long tradition of the Tour of Italy, but also to the country's unique topography and impressive locations: The Giro d'Italia is mostly made up of a few flat stages, hilly race sections and some challenging mountain stages. Due to the extreme altitude profile and the numerous high mountain stages, the Giro is considered the most difficult of the Grand Tours.
Sprinting, climbing, biting: a varied race across the country
The Giro d'Italia usually starts in the first week with a few sprint finishes and a ride along the Mediterranean - from the south of the country to the north. The flat stages are particularly favourable to the sprinters, while the medium-difficulty stages are usually fought out by the breakaway groups. However, sprinters are often unable to score points in the overall classification - the Giro is dominated by the Italian mountain ranges.
Some of these tough climbs with often steep gradients await the teams inland, for example over the Apenninesa 1500 kilometre long mountain range. During these high mountain stages, the Professional cyclists every year: Mount Vesuvius, Passo Lanciano and finally Monte Blockhaus, which is over 2000 metres high.
In the last week of the tour, the riders usually head to the north of the country and climb in the Alps. Once across the Dolomites, the top athletes have to complete several thousand metres of altitude almost every day. The competitors compete on the Stelvio Pass, among others, Mortirolo and Passo Pordoi.
These final mountain stages usually decide who wins the battle for the pink jersey and the famous trophy of the Giro - the Trofeo Senza Fine. However, the last stage can also be really close once again, when the cyclists compete in the individual time trial alone against the clock and the strong time trialists get their money's worth.
Challenging stages of the Tour of Italy
However, there are good reasons why it is usually in the mountains that it is decided who goes into the final individual time trial with the pink jersey: As the Corsa Rosa takes place in May, the riders are sometimes faced with particular difficulties. While the tour in the south is often characterised by midsummer stage rides, snowfall and sub-zero temperatures are possible on the peaks of the Alps and the Dolomite passes. This changeable weather and the sometimes very narrow roads, on which the team vehicles can barely drive, are a particular challenge for the athletes and the entire team.
The mountains in Italy also differ from the French Alps and the Pyrenees: although the Dolomites are a far more compact mountain range, the climbs are usually steeper and often exceed the 15 and sometimes even the 20 per cent mark.
Giro d'Italia 2024: The 107th edition - start in Venaria Reale
The Giro d'Italia 2024 kicked off on 4 May with a mass start stage from Venaria Reale to Turin. Professional cyclists and spectators can look forward to 21 varied stages that will take the field of riders through the whole of Italy after the start in Piedmont. Two individual time trials, a few sprint stages, many steep mountain finishes - the climbers and mountain riders can also look forward to many metres of altitude at this Giro, while the sprinters will only get their chance on individual flat stages. TOUR summarises the route and stages of the Giro d'Italia 2024 for you.
The rankings and jerseys of the Giro d'Italia
As in the other Grand Tours, the riders in the Giro not only compete for overall victory, but also for jerseys. The classifications are based on the regulations of the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the special regulations of the organiser RCS Sport. Over the years, various changes have been made to the rules. For example, the colours of some jerseys have changed. However, the basic features of the classifications have always remained the same.
Overall ranking
The overall classification provides information on who wins, who follows in the next places and the distance between the chasers across the finish line. The riding times of the individual stages are added together so that the overall pink jersey is always worn by the rider who is in front in the overall classification. In addition, the winners of the individual stages and the first three of the intermediate sprints receive time bonuses.
The overall leader wears the pink jersey at the Giro - the maglia rosa. It is the equivalent of the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.
Scoring
The points classification is a separate classification in cycling that is based on stage placings. It is not based on the finishing time, but on the position in the race. Riders can also collect additional points at the intermediate sprints. The exact number of points depends on the type of stage. For example, the fastest riders receive significantly more points on a flat stage than on a mountain stage - for which there is a separate classification.
The leader of the points classification has been wearing the Maglia Ciclamino - a purple jersey - since 2017. In previous years, the points classification jersey was a classic red colour. If two or more cyclists have the same number of points, the number of stage wins and intermediate sprints won decides who gets to wear the jersey.
Mountain classification
From 1974 to 2011, the leader of the mountain classification wore the green jersey (Maglia Verde). Since 2012, this has been azure blue - the Maglia Azzurra. The mountain classification is also measured in points, which the riders receive by climbing the hills and mountains. The number of points is based on the ranking and the length or difficulty of the climb. The cyclist who reaches the highest point of the Tour of Italy first receives the most points. This classification is called Cima Coppi, in honour of the five-time winner of the Giro d'Italia: Fausto Coppi. For 1st category mountain classifications, which are also stage finishes, 50 points are also awarded to the first rider, as with the Cima Coppi.
Young talent ranking
The best rider under the age of 25 has been awarded the White Jersey (Maglia Bianca) since 1976. This is determined using the overall classification, whereby all cyclists over 25 are excluded.
There are also team, intermediate sprint, intergiro and breakaway classifications and a prize for the most combative rider. However, there are no special jerseys for these.
Previous winners of the Tour of Italy
In the history of the Corsa Rosa, three riders have managed to win the Giro d'Italia five times: Italians Alfredo Binda (between 1925 and 1933) and Fausto Coppi (between 1940 and 1953) and Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx (between 1968 and 1974). The most stage wins Mario Cipollini in the past. He celebrated his 42nd victory in 2003, replacing Alfredo Binda with 41 stage wins. The first victory in 1909 was claimed by the Italian Luigi Ganna. In 2022, the Australian Jai Hindley from the German team Bora-Hansgrohe the coveted Trofeo Senza Fine, 2023 Primoz Roglic for Jumbo-Visma.
Overview of the last eleven overall winners of the Giro d'Italia
- 2023 Primoz Roglic (Slovenia)
- 2022 Jai Hindley (Australia)
- 2021 Egan Bernal (Colombia)
- 2020 Tao Geoghegan Hart (Great Britain)
- 2019 Richard Charapaz (Ecuador)
- 2018 Christopher Froome (Great Britain)
- 2017 Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands)
- 2016 Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)
- 2015 Alberto Contador (Spain)
- 2014 Nairo Quintana (Colombia)
- 2013 Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)
- 2012 Ryder Hesjedal (Canada)
- 2011 Michele Scarponi (Italy) (after Alberto Contador was convicted of doping)
- 2010 Ivan Basso (Italy)
Click through the winners of the Giro d'Italia since 2010
Creation of the Giro d'Italia
With France and the Tour de France as a great role model, the Italians also wanted a nationwide tour for cyclists. And just as in the neighbouring country, it was a competition between two daily newspapers in Italy that contributed to the creation of the Giro: The Corriere della Sera and the Gazetta dello Sport - two Milanese papers with the idea of organising a Tour of Italy.
The Gazzetta dello Sport was able to win the competition by being faster and advertised the race in 1908. The first Tour of Italy started on 13 May 1909 and led in eight stages from Milan to Naples and back again on a different route: the winner at the time and multiple stage winner, Luigi Ganna, was able to enjoy a high prize money of 5325 lire (equivalent to around 23,000 euros today) after 2448 kilometres. In reference to the pink paper of the newspaper, the leader of the Giro overall classification wears a pink jersey, the Maglia Rosa - and not a yellow one, as is the case in the Tour de France.
The Giro has been held annually since 1909 - with the exception of the period during the First and Second World Wars. Only since the 1930s has the Giro also included mountain stages through the Alps and Dolomites, which have also been counted in a special mountain classification since 1933. The points classification has also existed since 1966.
In 2020, the tour was postponed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic and no longer started in Budapest, Hungary, as planned. Instead, it was held in Sicily. In 2021, the Giro took place as usual in Italy in spring. The 2022 Giro did start in Hungary, marking the 14th foreign start of the Tour of Italy. In 2023 and 2024, the race started in its home country again.
The Giro d'Italia Donne (previously Giro Rosa and Giro d'Italia Femminile) - the Tour of Italy for women, which will be held for the first time in 2024 under the name of Giro d'Italia Women is organised by RCS. In 2005, the men's Giro became part of the UCI Pro Tour, a series of important road cycling races. However, the Tour of Italy was removed from the race series after just three years until it became part of the successor series, the UCI World Tour, in 2011.
