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1909 Giro d'Italia

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1909 Giro d'Italia
Map of Italy showing the path of the race, going clockwise from Milan down to Naples, then north back to Milan
Overview of the stages:
route clockwise from Milan, down to Naples, then up to Milan
Race details
Dates13 - 30 May
Stages8
Distance2,447.9 km (1,521 mi)
Winning time89h 48' 14"
Results
  Winner  Luigi Ganna (ITA) (Atala)
  Second  Carlo Galetti (ITA) (Legnano)
  Third  Giovanni Rossignoli (ITA) (Legnano)
  Team Italy Atala
1910 →

The 1909 Giro d'Italia was the 1st edition of the Giro d'Italia, a cycling race set up and sponsored by the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.[1] The race began on 13 May in Milan with a stage that stretched 397 km (247 mi) to Bologna. The race was composed of eight stages that covered a total distance of 2,447.9 km (1,521 mi). The race came to a close back in Milan on 30 May after a 206 km (128 mi) stage. The inaugural Giro was won by the Italian rider Luigi Ganna of the Atala team.[2] Second and third respectively were the Italian riders Carlo Galetti and Giovanni Rossignoli.[2]

The race was conceived to boost the circulation of La Gazzetta dello Sport, after its circulation had been challenged by Corriere della Sera, a rival newspaper.[3][4] The 1909 Giro d'Italia was the first stage road race, and compared to modern Grand Tours, it had relatively few stages, but each was much longer than those raced today.

The Giro began with a long primarily flat stage that was won by Dario Beni, who by winning the stage became to first rider to lead the Giro d'Italia. Beni lost the lead after the next stage to the eventual winner Luigi Ganna. Ganna held the lead for just one stage before losing it to Carlo Galetti after the mountainous third stage. Ganna regained the lead after the fourth stage and then successfully defended his lead all the way to the finish of the race in Milan. Ganna won three stages en route to his overall victory. The Atala team won the team classification.

Origin

The idea of the holding a bicycle race that navigated around Italy was first suggested when La Gazzetta dello Sport editor Tullo Morgagni sent a telegram to both the paper's owner, Emilio Costamagna, and cycling editor, Armando Cougnet, stating the necessity for having an Italian tour.[5][6] At the time La Gazzetta's rival, Corriere della Sera was planning on holding a bicycle race of its own, after the success they had gained from holding an automobile race.[4][5][6] Morgagni then decided to try and hold their race before Corriere della Sera could hold theirs, however La Gazzetta lacked the money.[6] However, after the success La Gazzetta had with creating the Giro di Lombardia and Milan – San Remo, the owner Costamagna decided to go through with the idea.[6][7] Their bike race was announced on 7 August, 1908 in the first page of that day's edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport.[4] The race was to be held in May of 1909.[4] The idea of the race drew influence from the Tour de France and the success that L'Auto gained from it.[3][7]

Since the organizers lacked the funds, 25,000 lire,[5] to hold the race, they consulted Primo Bongrani, an accountant at the bank Cassa di Risparmio and friend of the three organizers. Bongrani then proceeded to go around Italy asking for donations to help hold the race.[6] Bongrani's efforts were largely successful, he had procured enough money to cover the operating costs.[6] The money that was to be given out as prizes came from a casino in San Remo after Francesco Sghirla, a former Gazzetta employee, encouraged them to contribute to the race.[5][6] Even Corriere, La Gazzetta's rival, gave 3,000 lire to the race's fund.[5]

Rules and course

The 1909 Giro d'Italia was run in eight stages. Compared to modern stage races, the stages were extraordinarily long, with an average distance of over 300 km (190 mi), compared to the 165 km (103 mi) average stage length in the 2012 Giro d'Italia; cyclists had two to three rest days between each stage.[6] The route was primarily flat, with only three of the stages contained mountain passes. The organizers of the Giro allowed both teams and individual riders to enter the race.[6]

An intersection of a road with lots of white road paint.
The Colle di Nava was one of the few major climbs in the first Giro d'Italia.

The first Giro d'Italia did contain a few major ascents, despite being a primarily flat route.[6] The third stage contained ascents to Macerone, Rionero Sannitico, and Roccaraso.[6][8] The Giro's sixth stage contained only one pass, the Passo Bracco.[6] The seventh stage was the last stage to contain any major ascents with the climbs of the Colle di Nava and the ascent to San Bartolomeo.[6]

The organizers made riders sign in at checkpoints during the stage to cut down on cheating.[6] In addition to that, the riders were photographed at the beginning and end of each stage for judges to look at, to ensure no cheating.[6] Riders were allowed to receive assistance when repairing their bicycles.[6] However, the riders could not replace their bike if it was damaged during the course of the stage.[6]

The inaugural Giro was calculated with a points system.[6] The organizers chose to have a points system over a system based around elapsed time after the scandal that engulfed the 1904 Tour de France.[6] In addition to that, the organizers chose the point system since it would be cheaper to count the placings of the riders rather than clocking the riders during each stage.[6] The race leader was calculated by adding up each rider's placings in each stage and the rider with the lowest total was the leader; if a rider placed second in the first stage and third in the second stage, he would have five points total. This resulted in Luigi Ganna being the winner. Had the Giro been a time based event, the winner Luigi Ganna would have lost to the third place finisher Giovanni Rossignoli by 37 minutes.[9][10]

The winner of the general classification received 5,325 lire as the grand prize.[4][10] Every rider that finished the race with over 100 points and didn't win any prizes in any of the stages was given 100 lire.[2]

Participants

A total of 166 riders signed up to participate in the event.[6][11] Twenty of the 166 riders that signed up were foreign: fifteen were French, two were German, one was Argentinian, one was Belgian, and was from Trieste which at the time was not a part of Italy.[6] However, only 127 of them showed up for the first stage of the race.[4][10] All of the 127 participants were of Italian descent, except for five cyclists.[10] Only 49 of the 127 that started the race arrived at the finish line in Milan on 30 May.[4][10] Riders were allowed to ride on their own, as independents, or as a member of a team.[6]

The two most well known Italians participating in the Giro were Luigi Ganna and Giovanni Gerbi.[6] Gerbi was the more successful of the two Italians as he had won the Giro di Lombardia, the Milano-Torino, and several other one day races.[6] Ganna was coming off his victory at the Milan - San Remo.[6] The peloton also featured two Tour de France winners, Louis Trousselier and Lucien Petit-Breton.[6][12][13] In addition to that, the peloton also contained two future Giro d'Italia winners in Carlo Galetti and Carlo Oriani.[14]

Race overview

A man sitting down in a chair.
Luigi Ganna after the eighth stage that finished in Milan.

The first stage of the inaugural Giro d'Italia began on 13 May, 1909 at 02:53 am with a large crowd watching the riders begin.[4][10] The stage's start line was located just outside the La Gazzetta's headquarters at Loreto Place in Milan.[4][15] Of the 166 riders that enrolled in the race, 127 of them showed up at the starting line for the race's first stage.[10] Not even two kilometers after starting, the first crash occurred in the middle of the dark.[6] The first stage was marred with mechanical issues and crashes due to the poor weather on the course.[11] Luigi Ganna was leading the race after its first real climb near Lake Garda.[6] Ganna suffered a flat with about 70 kilometers to go in the stage and the other racers attacked; however, Ganna caught up to the riders after they were stopped by a train crossing.[6] The leading group of riders then made their way into Bologna, where Dario Beni won the stage.[11] The second stage saw the first uphill finish into Bologna.[6] The stage came down to the finish in Bologna, with Giovanni Cuniolo edging out Ganna for the stage win.[11] Ganna's finish was high enough to allow to him to take the race lead away from Beni.[6][11]

Before the start of the third stage, three riders were disqualified and subsequently removed from the race for taking a train during the second stage.[6][10] The riders were caught after passing by an unexpected checkpoint that the organizers had set up for the riders to pass through.[6] The third stage's start was moved downhill after the opening descent was found to be too dangerous for the participant's brakes.[6] The stage featured a three major climbs.[6] The fans that lined the roads during the stages were so out of control that race direct Armando Cougnet had to use to whip to tame them.[6] After the riders passed the mountains, Carlo Galetti was in the lead with Giovanni Rossignoli in pursuit.[6] Rossignoli eventually caught Galetti and went on to win the stage, while Galetti took the lead of the race away from Ganna.[8] The race's fourth stage stretched from Naples to the Italian capital Rome.[8] The French rider Louis Trousselier was doing well during the fourth stage before he ran over road that was laden with tacks by spectators, after seeing this the other riders attacked leaving Trousselier in the dust.[6] Galetti and Ganna formed a group at the front of the race.[6] Ganna went on to win the stage in front of thousands of spectators and retake the lead of the race by a single point.[6][8]

The fifth stage, like the fourth, was plagued with several tire punctures.[8] Luigi Ganna was in the lead of the fifth stage until he suffered a puncture with about 10 kilometers to go.[6] A few riders passed him as he was repairing his tire.[6] Ganna proceeded to chase down the riders that passed him and go on to win the stage.[6][8] The Giro's sixth stage stretched from Florence to Genoa.[2] Carlo Galetti and Giovanni Rossignoli broke away from the leading group of seven as they neared the downhill finish in Genoa.[2][6] Rossignoli won the stage in front of a large crowd of spectators in Genoa.[2][6] The race leader Ganna had suffered more puncture problems during the course of the stage and managed to fight his way back to place third on the stage.[2]

The crowds at the start of the seventh stage in Genoa were massive,[2] which led race director Armando Cougnet to neutralize the first few kilometers until the peloton was outside of Genoa before starting the race.[6] There was also rumored to be close to 50,000 spectators and a baker strike in Turin.[6] Cougnet then decided to move the finish about six kilometers before Turin, to the city of Beinasco.[6] Luigi Ganna and Giovanni Rossignoli had led for most of the stage until about six kilometers to go in the stage when Ganna attacked and Rossignoli could not counter.[2][6] Ganna won the stage and extended his lead over Carlo Galetti[2][6] The eighth and final stage began in Turin and ended in Milan, where the crowds were totaling over 30,000.[2][6] Ganna was amongst the stage's leading group, until he suffered a flat tire and the other riders attacked.[2][6] Ganna managed to fight his way back until the leaders were in sight before suffering another punctured tire.[2][6] The group of leaders were distancing themselves from the race leader Ganna until the race directors stopped them and let Ganna catch up.[6] The riders then made their way into the Arena stadium into Milan for the finish escorted by Police horses.[5] As the riders were gearing up for the sprint finish, a police horse fell which then caused a few riders crash.[6] Of the riders who managed to evade the crashes, Dario Beni managed to edge out Galetti for the stage win, with Ganna coming in third.[2][6] Luigi Ganna became the first winner of the Giro d'Italia.[2][16] Ganna and his team, Atala, won the team classification.[2][6]

Results

A man standing while holding a bike upright.
Giovanni Cuniolo won the second stage of the Giro d'Italia.

Stage results

Stage results[17][18]
Stage Date Course Distance Type[Notes 1] Winner Race Leader
1 13 May Milan to Bologna 397 km (247 mi) Plain stage  Dario Beni (ITA)  Dario Beni (ITA)
2 16 May Bologna to Chieti 378.5 km (235.2 mi) Plain stage  Giovanni Cuniolo (ITA)  Luigi Ganna (ITA)
3 18 May Chieti to Naples 242.8 km (150.9 mi) Stage with mountain(s)  Giovanni Rossignoli (ITA)  Carlo Galetti (ITA)
4 20 May Naples to Rome 228.1 km (141.7 mi) Plain stage  Luigi Ganna (ITA)  Luigi Ganna (ITA)
5 23 May Rome to Florence 346.5 km (215.3 mi) Plain stage  Luigi Ganna (ITA)  Luigi Ganna (ITA)
6 25 May Florence to Genoa 294.1 km (182.7 mi) Stage with mountain(s)  Giovanni Rossignoli (ITA)  Luigi Ganna (ITA)
7 27 May Genoa to Turin 354.9 km (220.5 mi) Stage with mountain(s)  Luigi Ganna (ITA)  Luigi Ganna (ITA)
8 30 May Turin to Milan 206 km (128 mi) Plain stage  Dario Beni (ITA)  Luigi Ganna (ITA)
Total 2,447.9 km (1,521 mi)

General classification

There were 49 cyclists who had completed all eight stages. For these cyclists, the points they received from each of their stage placing's were added up for the general classification. The cyclist with the least accumulated points was the winner.

Final general classification (1–10)[2][19]
Rank Name Team Points
1  Luigi Ganna (ITA) Atala 25
2  Carlo Galetti (ITA) Legnano 27
3  Giovanni Rossignoli (ITA) Bianchi 40
4  Clemente Canepari (ITA) Legnano 59
5  Carlo Oriani (ITA) Stucchi 72
6  Ernesto Azzini (ITA) — 77
7  Dario Beni (ITA) Bianchi 91
8  Enrico Sala (ITA) Bianchi 98
9  Ottorino Celli (ITA) Bianchi 117
10  Giovanni Marchese (ITA) Legnano 139

Aftermath

The first Giro d'Italia was a large success and the organizers arranged a second one for 1910.[10][20] La Gazzetta's circulation had increased a great deal due to the Giro d'Italia.[6] The starts and finishes for the race were viewed in public by large audiences.[2][4] Ganna's winnings, 5,325 lire, eventually helped him start his own bike factory in 1912.[6]

Notes

  1. ^ In 1909, there was no distinction in the rules between plain stages and mountain stages; the icons shown here indicate that the third, sixth, and seventh stages included mountains.

References

  1. ^ Michael McHugh (21 February 2013). "Cycling: Giro d'Italia to begin in Ireland in 2014". The Independent. Independent Print Ltd. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "La Vuelta De Italia" (PDF) (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 10 June 1909. p. 3. Retrieved 27 May 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b "Tour d'Italie ou Giro d'Italia - Encyclopédie Larousse". Larousse.fr. 2012-03-30. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "History". La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Fotheringham, William (30 June). "The Heroic Age". Century of Cycling: The Classic Races and Legendary Champions. London, England, United Kingdom: MBI Publishing Company. pp. 103–104. ISBN 978-0-7603-1553-8. Retrieved 2012-07-17. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh Bill and Carol McGann. "1909 Giro d'Italia". Bike Race Info. Dog Ear Publishing. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
  7. ^ a b Leslie Reissner (23 June 2011). "The Giro d'Italia: Don't Go Home Yet!". PezCycling News. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "La Vuelta De Italia" (PDF) (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 27 May 1909. p. 6. Retrieved 27 May 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "9th stage: Milan - Milan". La Gazzetta dello Sport. 2009-05-17. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Foot, John (2011). "The Heroic Age". Pedalare! Pedalare!. London, England, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 9–15. ISBN 978-1-4088-1755-1. Retrieved 2012-07-17.
  11. ^ a b c d e "La Vuelta De Italia" (PDF) (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 20 May 1909. p. 4. Retrieved 27 May 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ Eugenio Capodacqua (10 May 2007). "La storia del Giro d'Italia (1909-1950)" (in Italian). La Repubblica. Archived from the original on 24 December 2007. Retrieved 27 December 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ Frantz Reichef (14 May 1909). "Vélocipédie". Le Petit journal (in French). Gallica Bibliothèque Numérique. p. 7. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
  14. ^ "Giro d'Italia roll of honour". La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  15. ^ Gregor Brown. "Giro d'Italia celebrates 100 years with bella route". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited accessdate=2012-09-26. {{cite web}}: Missing pipe in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ "A century after Ganna". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited accessdate=2012-09-26. {{cite web}}: Missing pipe in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ Barry Boyce (2004). "The First Ever Giro in 1909". Cycling revealed. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
  18. ^ "Giro d'Italia". Cycling Archives. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
  19. ^ a b "Giro d'Italia 1909". Cycling Archives. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
  20. ^ Bill and Carol McGann. "1910 Giro d'Italia". Dog Ear Publishing. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
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