The Giro d’Italia is one of the biggest and most popular sporting events in Italy. This annual event attracts some of the top cyclists from around the world. Having the opportunity to take part in the Giro d’Italia is a dream for many athletes. Here are ten facts about this amazing sporting spectacle.
- A pink local newspaper called ‘La Gazzetta’ came up with a marketing idea to increase their sales; they would hold a cycling race. Thus, the Giro d’Italia was born and the first race took place on May 13, 1909.
- The race takes place over three weeks, involves over 200 riders and covers over 400 kilometers.
- The winner is not determined by who completes the final stage first; who wins is based on the total time taken for the rider to complete the race over all the stages. In fact, they do not necessarily need to win any of the stages to become the overall winner of Giro d’Italia.
- An estimated 800 million people tune in to watch the race on the television from across the globe.
- The big start, or ‘Grande Partenza’, sets off from a different location each year and has done so since 1960. Some of the starting locations have included Austria, Belgium, France, Greece
and Northern Ireland. However, the race always finishes in Italy. - While the overall leader of the Tour de France wears a yellow jersey, the leader of the Giro d’Italia wears the
maglia rosa, which is a pink jersey. This color was chosen to represent the pink-colored paper of LaGazzette . - Eddy Merckx, Fausto Coppi
and Alfredo Binda have all won the race five times. - Fausto Coppi is also the youngest ever winner of the race. When he won the race in 1940, he was just 20 years old. At the other end of the spectrum, Fiorenzi Magni is the oldest winner of the race as he was 35 when he took the title.
- There
are only twooccasion in the history of the Giro d’Italia when the race has been suspended. The first was during World War I and the second was during World War II.
- The point with the highest altitude in Giro d’Italia is called the ‘Cima Coppi. It is named after Fausto Coppi, one of the greatest cycling icons of all time
Sources:
- Main Image: Unsplash
