10th Giro d'Italia 1922 (Italy)

Brunero's Repeat Victory after an Early Problem

The 1922 Giro d'Italia was the 10th edition of Italy’s Grand Tour.

Defending champion Giovanni Brunero broke away and finished stage 1 from Milan to Padova 326 km in 12h34'17”. He was well ahead of the Gaetano Belloni led chase group. However, a "25-minute time penalty" for rules infractions was assessed to Brunero's stage finish.

SPECIAL NOTE: Because of Brunero’s rules infractions Costante Girardengo and Gaetano Belloni demanded his disqualification from the race. When Giro officials only assessed only a “25-minute time penalty” and both teams (Bianchi-Salga and Maino-Bergougnan) withdrew from the race.

Undaunted Brunero slowly chipped away at the lead through the middle stages. He rode in several long breakaways and had a four-stage rampage into Milan for the Giro d'Italia victory. Bartolomeo Aymo finished second 12'29” behind.

Teams:

There were four professional teams that competed in the race, five independent teams and forty-two Isolati/Independent riders:

Of the seventy-five riders who started the Giro d'Italia on May 24, 1922, only fifteen of them made it to the finish in Milan.

Race Summary:

Stage 1: (Mountain, Wednesday, May 24, 1922) The first stage, 326 km from Milan to Padova, went northeast over the Pian delle Fugazze on the way to Padova. While riding a solo breakaway defending Giro champion Giovanni Brunero crashed and broke his wheel. Out of sight of race officials he took a replacement wheel from a teammate and continued the race. Team Legnano’s wheel change was illegal.

Brunero went on to win stage 1, beating Gaetano Belloni by 16 minutes **. At the finish both the Team Maino and Team Bianchi filed protests. Girardengo’s team demanded Brunero be thrown out of the race. The race jury agreed, but after the Legnano team appealed to the Italian Cycling Federation and Brunero continued racing.

The ruling on the appeal came several days later after stage 3.

The ruling reversed the disqualification and Brunero accepted a 25-minute time penalty for an illegal wheel change.
Furiously both Team Maino and Team Bianchi abandoned the race because of the assessment of a mild penalty. That action took out two major contenders Girardengo and Belloni.

Stage 4: (Flat stage, Monday, May 30, 1922) 268 km from Padova to Portorose, without Team Maino and Team Bianchi Brunero’s team dominated the race. Teammates Bartolomeo Aymo and Brunero solidly controlled the GC.

Stage 7: (Mountains, Monday, June 5, 1922) 319 km from Rome to Florence, Brunero used his superior climbing skills to break away from the GC leader Bartolomeo Aymo on the climb of the Radicofani. Brunero rode alone into Florence for the stage win and a time gain of 3’58”. He became the new race leader.

Stage 10: (Flat stage, Sunday, June 11, 1922) Over the next three stages Brunero continued to extend his GC lead. Aymo did win the stage from Genova to Torino, beating his teammate by 13’22”. Next day Brunero soloed to a 5’58” stage win in Milan. Defending Giro champion Giovanni Brunero won his second consecutive Giro d’Italia.

Post Race Notes:

* Mussolini is on the way: Since theend of World War 1, Italy experienced trouble with political parties. A deep political (“right-wing vs. left-wing”) divide, combined with poor economic conditions, allowed the liberal government’s conciliatory policies towards the Socialists to control politics. Land and factory owners worried about the process. A revolution seemed close. The revolt did not happen but smarting from the political divide, the country gravitated to Mussolini’s Fascist Party.

On October 27, 1922, the Fascists marched on Rome. Mussolini was so afraid his coup attempt would fail, he remained in Milan, where he could easily escape to Switzerland if things went wrong.

Mussolini dedicated his action to ending the liberal government. He became so popular, the King of Italy invited him to form a new government. When his government began, he governed Italy from what most citizens considered the center. He tried to pacify the various political factions of the country.

Mussolini mostly acted the part of the peacemaking politician and Italians felt a bit relieved. The concept of internal peace became real. This story would continue to develop Worldwide for years to come…

General Classification:

GdI 1923

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