1st Giro d'Italia 1909 (Italy)

The First Ever Giro!!!

The 1909 Giro d'Italia was the inaugural running of the Giro. The newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport organized and sponsored the race. The event began in Milan on May 13, 1909, with a 397km stage 1 to Bologna, and finished back in Milan 18 days later after a final stage of 206 km on May 30, 1909.

The Beginning:
The idea of a bicycle race around the countryside of Italy was suggested by Tullo Margagni, editor of La Gazzetta dello Sport, when he approached the paper's owner Emilio Costamagna. The concept of the race came from the racing success of the French newspaper L'Auto's organization of the Tour de France.

Morgagni suggested holding the race before newspaper competitor Corriere della Sera could hold their race. Following La Gazzetta's success in creating the Giro di Lombardia (in 1905) and Milan-San Remo (in 1907), Costamagna decided to back the idea of a longer race around Italy. The inaugural Giro d'Italia announced the start on August 7, 1908, on the front page of that day's edition of La Gazzetta and was to be held from May 13 to 30, 1909.

La Gazzetta dello Sport lacked the 25,000 lire necessary to sponsor the race and turned to Primo Bongrani, a cycling fan and accountant at saving bank Cassa di Risparmio. Using his banking influence, he raised donations from sources all over Italy. His efforts were successful, and the necessary funds covered the operating costs.

The Giro’s prize money was donated by a San Remo Casino after Francesco Sghirla, a former Gazzetta employee, encouraged the casino to contribute to the race. Even Corriere della Sera, La Gazzetta's newspaper rival, donated 3,000 lire to the race.

SPECIAL NOTE: The winner Luigi Ganna received a prize of 5,325 lira. Eugenio Costamagna, director of La Gazzetta dello Sport, earned 150 lira per week.

The Race Course: it was primarily flat, although it did contain a few major climbs.

The New Rules of the Race:
Rider requirements:

SPECIAL NOTE: The first race-caravan contained eight cars: four for the teams, two for the race officials and two for the promoter.

GC Scoring Competition:
The inaugural Giro used a ‘points system’ to determine the race winner. The organizers chose to have a points system over a system based on ‘elapsed time’ after the scandal that engulfed the 1904 Tour de France. Another factor in the organizer's decision was that it would be cheaper to count the finish ranking of the riders rather than clocking their times during each stage. The race leader was determined by adding up each rider's placing in each stage. If a rider placed second on the first stage and third on the second stage, he would have a total of five points. Whoever had the lowest point total was the leader. Under the points system Luigi Ganna became the winner. However, if the Giro had been a time-based event he would have lost to the third-place finisher Giovanni Rossignoli by 37 minutes.

The winner of the General Classification received a grand prize of 5,325 lire. Every rider who finished the race with more than 100 points without winning any prizes in any of the stages received 100 lire.

Race Summary:
Stage 1: (Thursday, May 13, 1909) 397 km from Milan to Bologna began on May 13, 1909, at 2:53 AM in front of a large crowd. 88 riders (with 39 non-starters) set off from the starting line outside La Gazzetta's headquarters in the Piazzale Loreto. The stage marred by harsh weather caused mechanical issues and crashes. The first mass crash occurred before dawn less than 2km after the start.

Luigi Ganna, after leading the stage over the first real climb near Lake Garda, was delayed by a puncture 70 km from the finish. Using the puncture to their advantage the other racers attacked his misfortune. Ganna caught them again after the peloton stopped at a level train crossing. The leading riders then made their way to the finish in Bologna, where Dario Beni won the sprint for the stage win.

Stage 2: (Sunday, May 16, 1909) 378.5 km from Bologna to Chieti saw the first uphill finish into Chieti. Giovanni Cuniolo edged Luigi Ganna for the stage win. Ganna's second place was high enough to make him the new race leader.

Stage 3: (Tuesday, May 18, 1909) 242.8 km from Chieti to Naples, At the start three riders were disqualified and subsequently removed from the race for taking a train during the second stage. They had been caught after failing to pass through an unexpected checkpoint set up by the organizers.

The start of the third stage moved down the hill after the opening descent was found to be too dangerous for the brakes on the riders' bikes.

The stage featured three major climbs. After the mountains Giovanni Rossignoli pursued the stage leader, Carlo Galetti, eventually catching him and going on to win the stage. Galetti’s second place was enough to take the race lead away from Ganna.

Stage 4: (Thursday, May 20, 1909) 228.1 km from Naples to the Italian Capital Rome, French rider Louis Trousselier was doing well until he ran over tacks strewn on the road by spectators, the other riders left him behind. Galetti and Ganna formed a group at the front and Ganna went on to win the stage in front of thousands of spectators in Rome. He retook the race lead by a single point.

Stage 5: (Sunday, May 23, 1909) 346.5 km from Rome to Florence (Firenze), like the fourth stage, today riders experienced frequent punctures. Luigi Ganna led until he had a flat tire about 10 km (6.2 mi) from the finish. Riders passed him as he repaired the tire, but after a hard effort, he chased them down and won the stage.

Stage 6: (Tuesday, May 25, 1909) 294.4 km from Florence (Firenze) to Genoa, Carlo Galetti and Giovanni Rossignoli broke away from the leading group of seven as they neared the downhill leading to the finish. Rossignoli won the stage in front of a large crowd. Race leader Ganna had suffered multiple punctures but managed to fight his way back to finish in third place on the stage.

Stage 7: (Thursday, May 27, 1909) 357 km, the stage ran from Genoa to Torino but because of massive crowds at the start of the race Armando Cougnet introduce a new rule forbidding riders to attack over the first few kilometers. The ‘race proper’ began outside the City (today the rule is known as the ‘neutral zone’).
At the finish it was rumored that 50,000 spectators had gathered and with a “bakers' strike” in Torino the race director’s concern forced the stage finish to the City of Beinasco, about 6 km short of Torino.
Ganna and Rossignoli led for most of the stage until about 5 km before the finish, when Ganna attacked and Rossignoli could not counter. Ganna's win extended his GC lead over Carlo Galetti.

Stage 8: (final stage, Sunday, May 30, 1909) started in Torino, covered 206 km, and finished in Milan. The finishing riders found a crowd of more than 30,000 fans. Ganna was amongst the leading group until he suffered a puncture. He managed to fight his way back until, with the leaders in sight, he had another puncture. The leading group pulled away until the race directors stopped them to let Ganna catch up. 
Escorted by mounted police, the riders then made their way into Milan's Arena Civica Stadium for the finish. As the racers geared up for the sprint a police horse fell in the path of the race, causing a group of riders to crash. Dario Beni avoided the incident and edged Galetti for the stage win, with Ganna coming in third. Thus, Ganna became the first winner of the Giro d'Italia. He and his team, Atala, also won the team classification.

Post-Giro Notes:
The first Giro d'Italia was a remarkable success with all the stage starts and finishes attended by large crowds. Success prompted organizers to promote a second Giro in 1910. The race achieved its goal and increased La Gazzetta's circulation.

SPECIAL NOTE: The newspaper ran the event through 1988, when they created RCS Organizzazzioni Sportivi Company to run the race.

SPECIAL NOTE: Luigi Ganna's prize money helped him start his own bike factory in 1912.

General Classification:

GdI 1910

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