The 1931 Giro d'Italia was the 19th edition of the Giro d'Italia, 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 10 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

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

, finishing back in Milan on 31 May after a stage and a total distance covered of . The race was won by the

Francesco Camusso Francesco Camusso (9 March 1908 – 23 June 1995) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. Camusso was born in Cumiana, Piedmont, and is ranked among the best Italian climbers ever. In his second year as professional, he won the 1931 ...

of the Gloria team. Second and third respectively were the Italian riders

Luigi Giacobbe Luigi Giacobbe (1 January 1907 – 1 December 1995) was an Italian professional cyclist, who raced from 1926 to 1937. He was born in Bosco Marengo, Piedmont. He won the Tre Valli Varesine in 1931 and a stage in the 1931 Giro d'Italia. At the Gir ...

and

Luigi Marchisio Luigi Marchisio (26 April 1909 – 3 July 1992) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. Marchisio was born at Castelnuovo, Piedmont. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1930 Giro d'Italia, the youngest victor ever ...

. It was the first edition in which the leader used the pink jersey (''maglia rosa'') for the leader of 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 cumulati ...

. The first cyclist to wear it was

Learco Guerra Learco Guerra (14 October 1902 - 7 February 1963) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1934 Giro d'Italia. He was born in San Nicolò Po, a ''frazione'' of Bagnolo San Vito in L ...

Participants

Of the 109 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 10 May, 65 of them made it to the finish in

on 31 May. Riders were allowed to ride on their own or as a member of a team. There were seven teams that competed in the race: Bianchi-Pirelli, Ganna-Dunlop, Gloria-Hutchinson, Legnano-Hutchinson, Maino-Clément, Touring-Pirelli, and Olympia-Spiga. The peloton was primarily composed of Italians. The field featured three former Giro d'Italia champions in four-time winner

Alfredo Binda Alfredo Binda (11 August 1902 – 19 July 1986) was an Italian road cyclist of the 1920s and 1930s. He was the first to win five editions of the Giro d'Italia, and a three-time world champion. In addition he won Milan–San Remo twice, and the ...

, single-time winner

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 reigning champion

. Other notable Italian riders that started the race included

, Michele Mara, Felice Gremo, and

Domenico Piemontesi Domenico Piemontesi (11 January 1903 – 1 June 1987) was an Italian professional road bicycle racer. He is most known for his 12-stage wins in the Giro d'Italia and a bronze medal at the 1927 World Championships. Frenchman

Antonin Magne Antonin Magne (; 15 February 1904 – 8 September 1983) was a French cyclist who won the Tour de France in 1931 and 1934. He raced as a professional from 1927 to 1939 and then became a team manager. The French rider and then journalist, Jean Bo ...

— who would go on to win the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

twice — competed in the race, as well as future world champion, Belgian rider

Jean Aerts Jean Aerts (8 September 1907 – 15 June 1992) was a Belgian road bicycle racer who specialized as a sprinter. Aerts became the first man to win both the world amateur (1927) and professional (1935) road race championships. In 1935, Aerts ...

. This race also saw the first Spanish riders compete with

Mariano Cañardo Mariano Cañardo Lacasta (5 February 1906 in Olite – 21 June 1987 in Barcelona) was a Spanish professional road racing cyclist. He won a record seven editions of the Volta a Catalunya in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as four Spanish National Ro ...

and Ricardo Montero.

Final standings

Stage results

General classification

There were 65 cyclists who had completed all fifteen stages. For these cyclists, the times they had needed in each stage was added up for the

. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the winner. Aristide Cavallini won the prize for best ranked isolati rider in the general classification.

References

;Footnotes ;Citations {{Giro d'Italia G Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia by year