Giro d’Italia 2021 MAY 8-30 ----------------------------------------------- The Giro d’Italia – one of cycling’s prestigious Grand Tours – first set out from Milan in 1909, inspired by the success of the Tour de France. The 2021 race begins in Turin and will celebrate a cultural, historical, touristic and sporting narrative as it passes through Italy, to commemorate the unification of the country 160 years ago ----------------------------------------------- Elite Club Italian riders have traditionally dominated race – winning 69 of 103 editions – including legends Alfredo Binda and Fausto Coppi, two of only three riders to have conquered Giro five times. Vincenzo Nibali’s 2016 win – his second overall – provided most recent home victory ----------------------------------------------- 5 Alfredo Binda ITA 1925, 27, 28, 29, 33 Stage wins 41 ----------------------------------------------- 5 Eddy Merckx BEL 1968, 70, 72, 73, 74 24 ----------------------------------------------- 5 Fausto Coppi 1940, 47, 49, 52, 53 22 ----------------------------------------------- RECENT CHAMPIONS 2020 Tao Geoghegan Hart GBR Ineos 2019 Richard Carapaz ECU Movistar Team 2018 Chris Froome GBR Team Sky 2017 Tom Dumoulin NED Team Sunweb 2016 Vincenzo Nibali ITA Astana 2015 Alberto Contador ESP Tinkoff-Saxo 2014 Nairo Quintana COL Movistar Team ----------------------------------------------- Race Classifications Overall leader: Pink Awarded to race winner and worn by current race leader at start of each stage – calculated by totalling each day’s finishing time Points leader: Purple Fastest sprinters compete for points at end of each stage – points adjusted by terrain, with flat stages awarding most points King of the Mountains: Blue Held by rider who proves to be best climber, with more severe climbs offering most points Best young rider: White Awarded to highest placed rider aged 24 or younger on first day of year. Prize returned in 2007 after 12-year hiatus ----------------------------------------------- Maglia Rosa – race leader’s pink jersey – introduced in 1931 by Armando Cougnet, sports journalist at La Gazzetta dello Sport to help spectators identify race leader. It has since been worn by total of 254 different riders HIGHEST NUMBER OF DAYS IN MAGLIA ROSA Eddy Merckx (1968-70, 1972-74) Alfredo Binda (1925, 1927-29, 1931, 1933) 60 Francesco Moser (1976-77, 1979-82, 1984-85) 57 Gino Bartali (1936-37, 1939, 1946-47) 50 Giuseppe Saronni (1979, 1981, 1983, 1985-86) 49 Jacques Anquetil (1959-61, 1964, 1967) 42 ----------------------------------------------- Giro: Start to finish 1908: Giro d’Italia first organised to increase sales of newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport 1909: First edition, 8 stages and 2,447km long, is won by Italian Luigi Ganna (right). Four riders excluded for taking train on one stage 1914 Last race before WWI still holds record for longest stage – 430km from Lucca to Rome 1931 Learco Guerra wears first Maglia Rosa – colour chosen because La Gazzetta dello Sport is printed on pink paper 1933: Alfredo Binda becomes first five-time winner 1940: Fausto Coppi becomes youngest winner, at 20 years and 158 days old 1950: Swiss rider Hugo Koblet (right) is first foreign rider to win Giro, ending 40 years of Italian dominance 1956: Over 60 riders forced to abandon race on bitterly cold 21st stage in Dolomites with temperatures near −10°C 1965: Introduction of Cima Coppi – named in honour of Fausto Coppi – title given to highest mountain of each Giro, and worth more points than all other first-category climbs 1966: Points classification introduced, awarded to most consistent sprinters 1968: First drug tests introduced. Belgian Eddy Merckx (above) wins first of five Giro titles 1974: First year jersey is awarded to leader of mountains classification – initially green, changed to blue in 2012 1990 Gianni Bugno(right) becomes only fourth rider to wear Maglia Rosa from start to finish, after Costante Girardengo (1919), Binda (1927) and Merckx (1973) 2009: Centenary race is won by Russia’s Denis Menchov 2017: Tom Dumoulin is first Dutch winner, in 100th edition of Giro d’Italia 2020: Giro delayed to October due to Covid-19 pandemic – Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart of Team Ineos Grenadiers claims victory ----------------------------------------------- 1 START: May 8, Turin Valle 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 FINISH: May 30, Milan Cortina d’Ampezzo Spluga Alpe Motta Verbania Alpe di Mera Valsesia Biella Senago Canazei Rovereto Modena Sacile Monte Zoncolan Grado Ravenna Cattolica Gorizia Foggia Sega di Ala Verona Cittadella Grotte di Foligno L’Aquila Campo Termoli Eddy Felice Fausto Fine Castel di Sangro Sienna Montalcino Guardia Sanframondi Trofeo Stupinigi Canale Novara Abbiategrasso Stradella Piacenza Sestola Bagno di Romagna Frasassi Perugia Ascoli Piceno Notaresco ----------------------------------- 2021 Route Stage Stage start Stage finish Stage start / finish ------------------------------------- 2021 edition features six mountain stages – including perennial favourites Monte Zoncolan (1,730m) and Cortina d’Ampezzo (1,225m), accompanied by highest mountain Passo Pordoi (2,239m) – seven hill stages, six sprint stages and two time trials --------------------------------------- Total race distance 3,480km Altitude gain 47,000m ---------------------------------------- STAGE BREAKDOWN Individual time-trial Mountain stage Sprint stage ---------------------------------------- Stage May km 1 8 8.6 2 9 179 3 10 190 4 11 187 5 12 177 6 13 160 7 14 181 8 15 170 9 16 158 10 17 139 11 19 162 12 20 212 13 21 198 14 22 205 15 23 147 16 24 212 17 26 193 18 27 231 19 28 176 20 29 164 21 30 30.3 ---------------------------------------- Trofeo Senza ‘The Trophy with No End’ first awarded in 1999 2020 winner Tao Geoghegan Hart British cyclist claimed his first Grand Tour title, riding for Ineos Grenadiers ----------------------------------------------------------- Sources: Giro d’Italia, Gracenote Pictures: AP, Getty Images, Wikimedia Commons, Twitter © GRAPHIC NEWS