A Giro d'Italia History Moment

by Chris Fontecchio on Nov 7, 2008 2:44 PM EST in News

Watching the 2005 Giro d'Italia on the trainer last night was a nice little reminder of how wonderful this race is. With the iPod blocking out Phil Liggett, I could pedal away as the riders climbed Zoldo Alto and the Finistere. In my head I could hear the RAI announcers lamenting "un crampo per Daneeeelo DiLooooca...". Not the worst way to spend a sweaty workout.

As we've discussed recently, the 2009 Giro d'Italia will be unveiling a blockbuster route next month. One of the themes will be the 100th anniversary celebration, and the latest rumorage from all sources suggests that the race will visit all eight of the original host towns. We all remember the Tour de France doing exactly that in its centenary race in 2003, when the race began and ended in Paris, with stops in original cities Lyon, Marseilles, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes, places the Tour usually avoids.

Thanks to Wikimedia, we have at least a rudimentary map of the 1909 Giro d'Italia:

Started and ended in Milan. No transfers. Stages ran as follows:

Tappa	Da	a	km	Vincitore della tappa	Leader della classifica generale
1ª	Milano	Bologna	397	Dario Beni Italia	Dario Beni Italia
2ª	Bologna	Chieti	379	Giovanni Cuniolo Italia	Luigi Ganna Italia
3ª	Chieti	Napoli	243	Giovanni Rossignoli Italia	Carlo Galetti Italia
4ª	Napoli	Roma	228	Luigi Ganna Italia	Luigi Ganna Italia
5ª	Roma	Firenze	347	Luigi Ganna Italia	Luigi Ganna Italia
6ª	Firenze	Genova	294	Giovanni Rossignoli Italia	Luigi Ganna Italia
7ª	Genova	Torino	354	Luigi Ganna Italia	Luigi Ganna Italia
8ª	Torino	Milano	206	Dario Beni Italia	Luigi Ganna Italia

Now on to the rumored 2009 edition. Gavia's earlier post included the La Stampa poster of the purported race. Steephill.TV provides a downloaded version:

The 2009 race looks like it will pay homage to 1909 by including the original eight cities -- like the Tour, places they rarely visit, presumably for logistical reasons. But that's really it; the 2009 version doesn't look like it will trace the original route as much as the Centenary Tour did. It doesn't take the original eight cities in order; just squeezes them in along the way. However, this isn't RCS diminishing history; more like the opposite. I look for the race to celebrate the history of several other Giri in the process. My Giro history is limited to the last 20 years (if that) and 1949, so I'm sure to be missing much of the grandeur of this course, but from 1949 alone we can see Cuneo, Pinerolo and Sestriere. Also, the ride into Trieste is another amazing moment from the Buzzati book, to be recalled next May. In typical fashion, while the 2003 Tour celebrated its original route from 100 years ago, I expect the Giro to try to celebrate all 100 years of its history at once.

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You watched the Finestre and didn't get demoralized

when Il Killer sits up and has a snack near the top?

I don’t care what he took to ride like that. It is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in cycling.

Carlos Sastre - Tour de France winner - Born From Jets

by Jens on Nov 7, 2008 2:56 PM EST reply actions

Yeah

up til then I didn’t know much about him, but was an instant fan from then on.

CQRanking.com, you complete me.

by Chris Fontecchio on Nov 7, 2008 3:16 PM EST up reply actions

I was even a fan of the ProTour-leaderjersey after that, it was so awesome

Although in retrospect, The Killer seems about as appropriate as Paris Hilton in white.

Carlos Sastre - Tour de France winner - Born From Jets

by Jens on Nov 8, 2008 6:47 AM EST up reply actions

Does anybody have a youtube link?

by dheadrick on Nov 8, 2008 10:12 PM EST up reply actions

Can't find a long one

but this one gives you a feel for what the climb was like.

Great “indians at the ridge”-shots here

What you’re watching is the trio of Gibo, DiLuca and Rujano putting time into race leader Savoldelli who is trying to limit his losses (curiously aided by Van Huffel and Ardila of *Lotto, I bet the beers where on Johan that night). In the end Savoldelli managed to minimize the gap and went on to win the Giro. Another great victory for Discovery yada yada yada………….

Carlos Sastre - Tour de France winner - Born From Jets

by Jens on Nov 9, 2008 2:10 AM EST up reply actions

it's like the "best of" box set

All the best bits, all in one shot.

I’ve seen some discussions filling in the historical bits and pieces. No doubt once the official course is announced there will be plenty of chatter – I’ll definitely post as I find stuff.

Pretty sure the steephill graphic came from the same spot mine did.

by Jen See on Nov 7, 2008 5:34 PM EST reply actions

La Stampa

yep. You had a screenshot of the same.

CQRanking.com, you complete me.

by Chris Fontecchio on Nov 7, 2008 6:25 PM EST up reply actions

scans

They’re both scans a dude in Italy did of the paper edition. It didn’t actually appear online.

by Jen See on Nov 7, 2008 6:35 PM EST up reply actions

luigi

luigi was certainly a popular name in italy in 1909.

by Jen See on Nov 7, 2008 7:54 PM EST reply actions

The winning time

in 1909 was 89 hours, 48 minutes in 8 stages. The winning time last year was 89 hours, 56 minutes in 21 stages, those were some damn long stages back then(obvious statement of the day).

"If you go (with a break), you can either win or not win. If you don't go for it, you definitely won't win."
~ Jens Voigt

by Phil H. on Nov 7, 2008 7:58 PM EST reply actions

nothing wrong with obvious ;-)

by Jen See on Nov 7, 2008 8:15 PM EST up reply actions

Nothing at all

you can never go wrong with obvious, obviously :)

"If you go (with a break), you can either win or not win. If you don't go for it, you definitely won't win."
~ Jens Voigt

by Phil H. on Nov 7, 2008 8:22 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah

The first stage of the first Giro set off at about 2:45am. So when you hear modern riders whine about transfers…

CQRanking.com, you complete me.

by Chris Fontecchio on Nov 7, 2008 10:51 PM EST up reply actions

Cycling in the dark

now that would be something to see, well you might not see the riders but it would be quite exciting

"If you go (with a break), you can either win or not win. If you don't go for it, you definitely won't win."
~ Jens Voigt

by Phil H. on Nov 7, 2008 10:58 PM EST up reply actions

It’s not particularly enjoyable. Especially back then, when there wouldn’t have been white lines in the middle of a road to guide you through bends.

pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway

by fmk on Nov 8, 2008 5:53 AM EST up reply actions

Doesn't it still go on today

The real monster on the scene is the1200k Paris-Brest-Paris with a time limit of 90hrs for completion, but none of those woossy things like stages, finishing lines, and rest days. Even sleep is optional.

And maybe this is not so recent, and fictional too, but I remember Ghislain Lambert being shouted at by his brother in the middle of the night en route to winning some prestigious race. That surely is based on a real race somewhere.

by Monty. on Nov 9, 2008 10:09 AM EST up reply actions

Audax rides. Or randonneurs. I used to do them, here and in the UK. Were actually how I got into cycling. Nicest thing abut night-riding was seeing a town from ten klicks out, a bubble of light in the distance.

And there’s the Race Across America. Also twenty-four hour TTs in the UK. Wasn’t there some mention of Legeay wanting to set up a Le Mans type ride for cycling?

but I remember Ghislain Lambert being shouted at by his brother in the middle of the night en route to winning some prestigious race

Bordeaux-Paris? Starts in the dark, I think.

pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway

by fmk on Nov 9, 2008 10:53 AM EST up reply actions

It's tailor made for Lance!

What more could he ask for? Provided he gets back his old climbing form. He’ll be scouting all the key stages, and will have a long term strategy in this race, not worrying about the first two weeks.

Levi will be paying him back for the work Lance did for him at the Tour of California, and then will have to go to work for Contador in the tour. Levi will have a shot a the Vuelta, but will likely be burned out by then.

by The Long Emergency on Nov 8, 2008 4:31 AM EST reply actions

lol

That would be awesome!

Armstrong, unable to break out of his robotic mode of grand tour racing, doggedly ignores the first two weeks of racing, only to find when he decides to start racing in week three that Basso has taken 15 minutes out of him on the mountaintop finishes on stages 4, 5, and 10 :-)

From your lips…

by Susie Hartigan on Nov 8, 2008 12:13 PM EST up reply actions

Thanks, Chris

This Giro history post inspired me to watch Stars and Watercarriers again last night.

What a great film! It’s definitely Jorgen Leth’s other cycling masterpiece, beside A Sunday in Hell. I’d forgotten a lot of the little moments in the film, like when the narrator is saying that the watercarriers’ job is to bring bottles of beer and soft drinks to their teammates, and you see a rider take a big glass bottle of what looks like orange soda out of his jersey pocket, open it with a metal bottle opener that he has hanging on a string around his neck, and hand it to a teammate.

And what a crazy route that 1973 Giro took! They started in Belgium, the riders entered Italy by riding through the Mont Blanc tunnel, and then they looped down through Italy and back up, finishing in Trieste.

by Susie Hartigan on Nov 8, 2008 12:33 PM EST reply actions