1999 Giro d'Italia

1999 Giro d'Italia
Race details
Dates	May 15 — June 6, 1999
Stages	22
Distance	3,757 km (2,334 mi)
Winning time	99h 55' 56"
Results
	Winner
	Second
	Third
	Points
	Mountains
	Intergiro
	Team
	Team points
	← 1998 2000 →

The 1999 Giro d'Italia was the 82nd edition of the Giro. It began on May 15 with a mass-start stage that stretched from Agrigento to Modica. The race came to a close on June 6 with a mass-start stage that ended in the Italian city of Milan. Eighteen teams entered the race that was won by the Italian Ivan Gotti (sub judice ^[1])of the Team Polti team. Second and third were the Italians riders Paolo Savoldelli and Gilberto Simoni. Marco Pantani is credited with four high mountain stage victories.

Late in the race Marco Pantani was accused of using EPO and was expelled either as the result of a failed doping control, or due to a conspiracy involving drug tests being manipulated.^[2]

In the race's other classifications, Kelme–Costa Blanca rider Chepe González won the mountains classification, Laurent Jalabert of the ONCE–Deutsche Bank team won the points classification, and Team Polti rider Fabrizio Guidi won the intergiro classification. Vitalicio Seguros finished as the winners of the Trofeo Fast Team classification, ranking each of the eighteen teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time. The other team classification, the Trofeo Super Team classification, where the teams' riders are awarded points for placing within the top twenty in each stage and the points are then totaled for each team was won by Team Polti.

Teams

A total of 18 teams were invited to participate in the 1999 Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of nine riders, so the Giro began with a peloton of 162 cyclists. Out of the 162 riders that started this edition of the Giro d'Italia, a total of 116 riders made it to the finish in Milan.^[3]

The 18 teams that took part in the race were:

Route and stages

The route for the 1999 Giro d'Italia was unveiled by race director Carmine Castellano on 14 November 1998 in Milan.^[4]^[5] It contained four time trial events, there of which were individual and one a team event. There were eleven stages containing high mountains, of which five had summit finishes: stage 5, to Massiccio del Sirino; stage 8, to Gran Sasso d'Italia; stage 15, to Santuario di Oropa; stage 19, to Alpe di Pampeago; and stage 20, to Madonna di Campiglio. The organizers chose to include one rest day. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was 73 km (45 mi) shorter, contained the one more rest day, as well as one more time trial event.

Stage characteristics and winners^[6]^[7]
Stage	Date	Course	Distance		Winner
1	15 May	Agrigento to Modica	175 km (109 mi)	Plain stage	Ivan Quaranta (ITA)
2	16 May	Noto to Catania	133 km (83 mi)	Plain stage	Mario Cipollini (ITA)
3	17 May	Catania to Messina	176 km (109 mi)	Plain stage	Jeroen Blijlevens (NED)
4	18 May	Vibo Valentia to Terme Luigiane	186 km (116 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	Laurent Jalabert (FRA)
5	19 May	Terme Luigiane to Massiccio del Sirino	144 km (89 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	José Jaime González (COL)
6	20 May	Lauria to Foggia	257 km (160 mi)	Plain stage	Romāns Vainšteins (LAT)
7	21 May	Foggia to Lanciano	153 km (95 mi)	Plain stage	Jeroen Blijlevens (NED)
8	22 May	Pescara to Gran Sasso d'Italia	253 km (157 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	Marco Pantani (ITA)
9	23 May	Ancona to Ancona	32 km (20 mi)	Individual time trial	Laurent Jalabert (FRA)
10	24 May	Ancona to Sansepolcro	189 km (117 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	Mario Cipollini (ITA)
11	25 May	Sansepolcro to Cesenatico	125 km (78 mi)	Plain stage	Ivan Quaranta (ITA)
12	26 May	Cesenatico to Sassuolo	168 km (104 mi)	Plain stage	Mario Cipollini (ITA)
13	27 May	Sassuolo to Rapallo	243 km (151 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	Richard Virenque (FRA)
	28 May	Rest day
14	29 May	Bra to Borgo San Dalmazzo	187 km (116 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	Paolo Savoldelli (ITA)
15	30 May	Racconigi to Santuario di Oropa	160 km (99 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	Marco Pantani (ITA)
16	31 May	Biella to Lumezzane	232 km (144 mi)	Plain stage	Laurent Jalabert (FRA)
17	1 June	Lumezzane to Castelfranco Veneto	215 km (134 mi)	Plain stage	Mario Cipollini (ITA)
18	2 June	Treviso to Treviso	45 km (28 mi)	Individual time trial	Serhiy Honchar (UKR)
19	3 June	Castelfranco Veneto to Alpe di Pampeago	166 km (103 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	Marco Pantani (ITA)
20	4 June	Predazzo to Madonna di Campiglio	175 km (109 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	Marco Pantani (ITA)
21	5 June	Madonna di Campiglio to Aprica	190 km (118 mi)	Stage with mountain(s)	Roberto Heras (ESP)
22	6 June	Darfo Boario Terme to Milan	170 km (106 mi)	Plain stage	Fabrizio Guidi (ITA)
	Total		3,757 km (2,334 mi)

Race overview

Defending champion Marco Pantani, leading the general classification in Madonna di Campiglio (20th stage), was disqualified for an excessive hematocrit level before stage 21. The entire Mercatone Uno–Bianchi (Pantani's team) withdrew from the Giro. This left the race open for Gotti to capture his second overall title and wear the final pink jersey as Giro Champion for the 2nd time in three years.

Classification leadership

Four different jerseys were worn during the 1999 Giro d'Italia. The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass-start stages – wore a pink jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro.^[8]

For the points classification, which awarded a purple (or cyclamen) jersey to its leader, cyclists were given points for finishing a stage in the top 15; additional points could also be won in intermediate sprints. The green jersey was awarded to the mountains classification leader. In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists. Each climb was ranked as either first, second or third category, with more points available for higher category climbs. The Cima Coppi, the race's highest point of elevation, awarded more points than the other first category climbs.^[8] The intergiro classification was marked by a blue jersey.^[8] The calculation for the intergiro is similar to that of the general classification, in each stage there is a midway point that the riders pass through a point and where their time is stopped. As the race goes on, their times compiled and the person with the lowest time is the leader of the intergiro classification and wears the blue jersey.^[8] Although no jersey was awarded, there was also one classification for the teams, in which the stage finish times of the best three cyclists per team were added; the leading team was the one with the lowest total time.^[8]

The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification	Intergiro classification	Trofeo Fast Team
1	Ivan Quaranta	Ivan Quaranta	Ivan Quaranta	Paolo Bettini	?	Mercatone Uno–Bianchi
2	Mario Cipollini	Mario Cipollini				Saeco–Cannondale
3	Jeroen Blijlevens	Jeroen Blijlevens				Navigare–Gaerne
4	Laurent Jalabert	Jeroen Blijlevens				Saeco–Cannondale
5	José Jaime González	Laurent Jalabert				Saeco–Cannondale
6	Romāns Vainšteins					Team Polti
7	Jeroen Blijlevens					Team Polti
8	Marco Pantani	Marco Pantani				Banesto
9	Laurent Jalabert	Laurent Jalabert
10	Mario Cipollini
11	Ivan Quaranta
12	Mario Cipollini
13	Richard Virenque			Chepe González
14	Paolo Savoldelli	Marco Pantani		Chepe González
15	Marco Pantani			Marco Pantani		Vitalicio Seguros
16	Laurent Jalabert
17	Mario Cipollini
18	Serhiy Honchar
19	Marco Pantani		Marco Pantani
20	Marco Pantani		Marco Pantani
21	Roberto Heras	Ivan Gotti	Laurent Jalabert
22	Fabrizio Guidi	Ivan Gotti	Laurent Jalabert	Chepe González
Final		Ivan Gotti	Laurent Jalabert	Chepe González	Fabrizio Guidi	Vitalicio Seguros

Final standings

Legend
	Denotes the winner of the General classification		Denotes the winner of the Mountains classification
	Denotes the winner of the Points classification		Denotes the winner of the Intergiro classification

General classification

	Rider	Team	Time
1	Ivan Gotti (ITA)	Team Polti	99h 55' 56"
2	Paolo Savoldelli (ITA)	Saeco–Cannondale	+ 3' 35"
3	Gilberto Simoni (ITA)	Ballan–Alessio	+ 3' 36"
4	Laurent Jalabert (FRA)	ONCE–Deutsche Bank	+ 5' 16"
5	Roberto Heras (ESP)	Kelme–Costa Blanca	+ 7' 47"
6	Niklas Axelsson (SWE)	Navigare–Gaerne	+ 9' 38"
7	Serhiy Honchar (UKR)	Vini Caldirola	+ 12' 07"
8	Daniele De Paoli (ITA)	Amica Chips–Costa de Almería	+ 14' 20"
9	Daniel Clavero (ESP)	Vitalicio Seguros	+ 15' 53"
10	Roberto Sgambelluri (ITA)	Cantina Tollo-Alexia Alluminio Italia	+ 17' 31"

Points classification

	Rider	Team	Points
1	Laurent Jalabert (FRA)	ONCE–Deutsche Bank	175
2	Fabrizio Guidi (ITA)	Team Polti	170
3	Massimo Strazzer (ITA)	Mobilvetta Design–Northwave	126
4	Paolo Savoldelli (ITA)	Saeco–Cannondale	117
5	Ivan Gotti (ITA)	Team Polti	110
6	Gian Matteo Fagnini (ITA)	Saeco–Cannondale	96
7	Gilberto Simoni (ITA)	Ballan–Alessio	94
8	Matteo Tosatto (ITA)	Ballan–Alessio	88
9	Serhiy Honchar (UKR)	Vini Caldirola	87
10	Oscar Camenzind (SUI)	Lampre–Daikin	82

Mountains classification

	Rider	Team	Points
1	Chepe González (COL)	Kelme–Costa Blanca	61
2	Mariano Piccoli (ITA)	Lampre–Daikin	45
3	Paolo Bettini (ITA)	Mapei–Quick-Step	44
4	Ivan Gotti (ITA)	Team Polti	33
5	Gilberto Simoni (ITA)	Ballan–Alessio	33
6	Roberto Heras (ESP)	Kelme–Costa Blanca	26
7	Laurent Jalabert (FRA)	ONCE–Deutsche Bank	25
8	Hernán Buenahora (COL)	Vitalicio Seguros	18
9	Gabriele Missaglia (ITA)	Lampre–Daikin	14
10	Richard Virenque (FRA)	Team Polti	13

Intergiro classification

	Rider	Team	Time
1	Fabrizio Guidi (ITA)	Kelme–Costa Blanca	58h 47' 30"
2	Massimo Strazzer (ITA)	Mobilvetta Design–Northwave	+ 2"
3	Gian Matteo Fagnini (ITA)	Saeco–Cannondale	+ 24"
4	Biagio Conte (ITA)	Liquigas	2' 02"
5	Matteo Tosatto (ITA)	Ballan–Alessio	+ 2' 13"

Trofeo Fast Team classification

	Team	Time
1	Vitalicio Seguros	300h 39' 35"
2	Kelme–Costa Blanca	+ 22' 11"
3	Team Polti	+ 22' 45"
4	Lampre–Daikin	+ 29' 16"
5	ONCE–Deutsche Bank	+ 58' 57"
6	Amica Chips–Costa de Almería	+ 1h 15' 16"
7	Liquigas–Pata	+ 1h 15' 18"
8	Navigare–Gaerne	+ 1h 47' 23"
9	Cantina Tollo-Alexia Alluminio Italia	+ 1h 56' 17"
10	Saeco–Cannondale	+ 1h 59' 41"

Trofeo Super Team classification

	Team	Points
1	Team Polti	1243
2	Saeco–Cannondale	1136
3	ONCE–Deutsche Bank	1034
4	Ballan–Alessio	676
5	Kelme–Costa Blanca	663

References

Citations

^ http://sport.sky.it/sport/ciclismo/2016/03/23/pantani-avvocato-de-rensis-chiede-assegnazione-giro-99.html ^{[dead link‍]}
^ Rosso, Stefano (14 March 2016). "Cycling: Forlí public prosecutor's case based on phone tapping and testimony of mafia member La Camorra faked Pantani's blood tests". Marca. Photo by Reuters. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
^ "Stage 22 Brief". Cycling News. 1999-06-06. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2012-09-26.
^ "'Made in Pantani'" [Made in Pantani] (PDF) (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 15 November 1998. p. 32. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^ "La prueba soñada por todos los escaladores" [The event dreamed by all climbers] (PDF) (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 15 November 1998. p. 33. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^ "82nd Giro d'Italia, Grand Tour". Cycling News. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
^ "82ème Giro d'Italia 1999". Memoire du cyclisme (in French). Archived from the original on 25 October 2004.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Laura Weislo (13 May 2008). "Giro d'Italia classifications demystified". Cycling News. Archived from the original on 8 May 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013.

External links

Cyclingnews.com: 1999 Giro d'Italia

[1] ttp://sport.sky.it/sport/ciclismo/2016/03/23/pantani-avvocato-de-rensis-chiede-assegnazione-giro-99.html ^{[dead link‍]}

[2] Rosso, Stefano (14 March 2016). "Cycling: Forlí public prosecutor's case based on phone tapping and testimony of mafia member La Camorra faked Pantani's blood tests". Marca. Photo by Reuters. Retrieved 11 July 2022.

[3] "Stage 22 Brief". Cycling News. 1999-06-06. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2012-09-26.

[elm_unveil1-4] "'Made in Pantani'" [Made in Pantani] (PDF) (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 15 November 1998. p. 32. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2012.

[elm_unveil2-5] "La prueba soñada por todos los escaladores" [The event dreamed by all climbers] (PDF) (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 15 November 1998. p. 33. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2012.

[6] "82nd Giro d'Italia, Grand Tour". Cycling News. Retrieved 19 October 2018.

[Mdc-GdI1999-7] "82ème Giro d'Italia 1999". Memoire du cyclisme (in French). Archived from the original on 25 October 2004.

[demystified-8] Laura Weislo (13 May 2008). "Giro d'Italia classifications demystified". Cycling News. Archived from the original on 8 May 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013.

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