The 1933 Giro d'Italia was the 21st 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 6 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
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
, finishing back in Milan on 28 May after a stage and a total distance covered of . The race was won by the
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 ...
of the Legnano team. Second and third respectively were the Belgian
Jef Demuysere
Jef Demuysere (Wervik, 26 July 1907 – Antwerp, 30 April 1969) was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He won the Milan–San Remo in 1934, and finished on the podium of the Tour de France in 1929 and 1931, and of the Giro d'Itali ...
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 ...
on 28 May. Riders were allowed to ride on their own or as a member of a team; 51 riders competed as members of a team, while the remaining 46 were independent riders. There were nine teams that competed in the race: Bestetti-d'Alessandro, Bianchi-Pirelli, Dei-Pirelli, Ganna-Hutchinson, Girardengo-Clément, Gloria-Hutchinson, Legnano-Hutchinson, Maino-Clément, and Olympia-Spiga.
The peloton was primarily composed of Italians. The field featured five 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 ...
, two-time champion
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 "c ...
, single race winners
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 ...
and
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 ...
, and reigning winner Antonio Pesenti. Other notable Italian riders that started the race included
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 ...
,
Giuseppe Olmo
Giuseppe Olmo (22 November 1911 – 5 March 1992) was an Italian road bicycle racer. He competed at the 1932 Olympics and won a gold medal in the team road race, placing fourth individually. In October 1935 he set a new hour record at 45.090 ...
,
Remo Bertoni
Remo Bertoni (21 June 1909 – 18 September 1973) was an Italian professional road bicycle racer.
Bertoni was born in Borgomanero. He is best known for his silver medal in the Elite race of the 1932 UCI Road World Championships. He d ...
, 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. Notable non-Italian entrants included: Previous year podium finisher
Jef Demuysere
Jef Demuysere (Wervik, 26 July 1907 – Antwerp, 30 April 1969) was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He won the Milan–San Remo in 1934, and finished on the podium of the Tour de France in 1929 and 1931, and of the Giro d'Itali ...
, Spanish climber
Vicente Trueba
Vicente Trueba Pérez (October 16, 1905 in Sierrapando, Torrelavega, Cantabria – November 10, 1986) was a Spanish professional road racing cyclist. He is most famous for being the first winner of King of the Mountains for winning the over ...
, and renowned French cyclist
René Vietto
René Vietto (17 February 1914, Le Cannet, Alpes-Maritimes – 14 October 1988, Orange, Vaucluse) was a French road racing cyclist.
In the 1934 Tour de France, Vietto, a relative unknown, got wings on the mountains. This was not a surprise, ...
. Of all the entrants, Guerra was seen as the favorite to win the race after his victory in the
Milan–San Remo
Milan–San Remo (in Italian ''Milano-Sanremo''), also called "''The Spring classic''" or "''La Classicissima''", is an annual road cycling race between Milan and Sanremo, in Northwest Italy. With a distance of 298 km (~185.2 miles) it is t ...
earlier in the season.
Route and stages
''La Gazzetta'' announced the route in March 1933.
Classification leadership
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 ...
– calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider – wore a pink jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro. Race organizers chose to remove time bonuses for the sprint stage winners, the "winner for detachment," the first riders who cross a mountain. The winner of the individual time trial – where riders contest the course starting in three minute increments – awarded a time bonus of two minutes and one minute to the first and second-place finishers, respectively.
The race organizers allowed isolated riders to compete in the race, which had a separate classification calculated the same way as the general classification. For the leader of this classification, a white jersey was awarded.
In the mountains classification, the race organizers selected different mountains that the route crossed and awarded points to the riders who crossed them first. There were four mountains that were given points towards the mountains classification: the Passo del Tonale, the Osteria della Crocetta, the Castelnuovo della Daunia, and the Castelnuovo Val di Cecina. Alfredo Binda was the first rider to cross each of the four mountains.
The winner of the team classification was determined by adding the finish times of the best three cyclists per team together and the team with the lowest total time was the winner. If a team had fewer than three riders finish, they were not eligible for the classification.
Il Trofeo Magno ( en, the Great Trophy) was a classification for independent Italian riders competing in the race. The riders were divided into teams based on the region of Italy they were from. The calculation of the standings was the same for the team classification. At the end of the race, a trophy was awarded to the winning team and it was then stored at the Federal Secretary of the P.N.P. in their respective province.
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.