The 1919 Giro d'Italia was the seventh edition of the Giro d'Italia, a

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

organized and sponsored by the

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

La Gazzetta dello Sport ''La Gazzetta dello Sport'' (; "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any kind in Italy (in 2018). History and profile ''La ...

''. The race began on 21 May in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

with a stage that stretched to

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

, finishing back in Milan on 8 June after a stage and a total distance covered of . The race was won by the Italian rider

Costante Girardengo Costante Girardengo (; 18 March 1893 – 9 February 1978) was an Italian professional road bicycle racer, considered by many to be one of the finest riders in the history of the sport. He was the first rider to be declared a "Campionissimo" or " ...

of the Stucchi team. Second and third respectively were Italian

Gaetano Belloni Gaetano Belloni (26 August 1892 – 9 January 1980) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The highlights of his career were his overall win in the 1920 Giro d'Italia, the two victories in Milan–San Remo (1917 and 1920), and the thre ...

and Belgian Marcel Buysse. Of 66 riders starting the race, only 15 completed it. The Giro (the first one after the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

) had the first to stages arriving in the "unredeemed" cities of

and

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

, and was literally dominated by Girardengo, who won seven stages. The '"eternal second"

won his first stage in the Giro. This edition of the race was also characterised by the first stage victory by a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

rider and by the first non-Italian cyclist on the final podium: the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

Marcel Buysse.

Participants

Of the 63 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 21 May, fifteen of them made it to the finish in

on 8 June. Riders were allowed to ride on their own or as a member of a team. There were four teams that competed in the race: Bianchi Pirelli,

Legnano-Pirelli Legnano was an Italian professional cycling team active from 1906 to 1966. It is ranked as the 6th most successful cycling team in history. Many famous cyclists rode for the team including Alfredo Binda, Learco Guerra, Gino Bartali and Fausto Copp ...

, Peugeot-Tedeschi, and Stucchi-Dunlop. The ''isolati'' riders that participated in the race were primarily war veterans. Organizers promised all ''isolati'' riders at least 180 lire if they reached Milan. The Milan Army Corps carried participants luggage for the race with an Fiat 18 BL lorry that remained after the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. The peloton was almost completely composed of Italians. The field featured two former Giro d'Italia champions in the three-time winner

Carlo Galetti Carlo Galetti (26 August 1882 – 2 April 1949) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. He was born at Corsico. The highlight of his career was his three consecutive overall wins in the 1910, 1911 and 1912 Giros d'Italia, the la ...

and

Eberardo Pavesi Eberardo Pavesi (2 November 1883 – 11 November 1974) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. Pavesi was born in Colturano, province of Milan. The highlight of his career was at the 1912 Giro d'Italia when he rode with the victorious A ...

who was a member of the 1912 Atala winning team. Other notable Italian riders that started the race included

Angelo Gremo Angelo Gremo (3 December 1887 – 4 September 1940) was an Italian cyclist. Palmares Source: ;1911 : 1st Coppa Val di Taro ;1912 : 1st National Road Race Championships : 2nd Overall Giro d'Italia ;1913 : 1st Giro della Romagna : 1st Grand Pri ...

Ezio Corlaita Ezio Corlaita (25 October 1889 – 20 September 1967) was an Italian professional racing cyclist. He notably won the 1915 Milan–San Remo and three stages of the Giro d'Italia, in 1911 and 1919. He also won the 1914 Giro dell'Emilia and the 19 ...

, and

Giuseppe Santhià Giuseppe Santhià (19 January 1886 – 18 February 1978) was an Italian racing cyclist. He won stage 6 of the 1911 Giro d'Italia The 1911 Giro d'Italia was the third edition of the Giro d'Italia, a Grand Tour set up and sponsored by th ...

. Girardengo was current Italian men's road race champion and was recovering from the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

Final standings

Stage results

General classification

There were fifteen cyclists who had completed all ten stages. For these cyclists, the times they had needed in each stage was added up for the

general classification The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulat ...

. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the winner. Giosuè Lombardi won the prize for best ranked independent rider in the general classification.

Points classification

There was a points based classification for the race.

References

;Notes ;Citations {{Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia by year Giro Ditalia, 1919 Giro Ditalia, 1919 Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia