The 1961 Giro d'Italia was the 44th running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's

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 ...

races. The Giro started in

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 ...

, on 20 May, with a stage and concluded 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 ...

, on 11 June, with a leg. A total of 170 riders from 17 teams entered the 21-stage race, which was won by Italian

Arnaldo Pambianco Arnaldo Pambianco (16 August 1935 – 6 July 2022) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist who was active between 1956 and 1966. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1961 Giro d'Italia. He competed at the 1956 Summer Ol ...

of the team. The second and third places were taken by Frenchman

Jacques Anquetil Jacques Anquetil (; 8 January 1934 – 18 November 1987) was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964. He stated before the 1961 Tour that he would gain the y ...

and Spaniard

Antonio Suárez Antonio Suárez Vázquez (20 May 1932 – 6 January 1981) was a professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist from Spain between 1956 and 1965. He is most famous for winning the General classification, overall title and the King of th ...

, respectively.

Teams

A total of 17 teams were invited to participate in the 1961 Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of ten riders, so the Giro began with a peloton of 170 cyclists. Out of the 170 riders that started this edition of the Giro d'Italia, a total of 92 riders made it to the finish in

. Legnano initially threatened to not participate in the Giro. The 17 teams that took part in the race were:

Pre-race favorites

There was initial belief that Charly Gaul would not race the Giro.

Route and stages

The route was revealed on 22 April 1961.

Classification leadership

One jersey was worn during the 1961 Giro d'Italia. 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. The

mountains classification The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a femal ...

leader. The climbs were ranked in first and second categories. In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists. There were three categories of mountains. The first category awarded 50, 40, 30, 20, and 10 points, the second distributed 40, 30, 20, and 10 points, and the third category gave 30, 20, and 10 points. Although no jersey was awarded, there was also one classification for the teams, in which the teams were awarded points for their rider's performance during the stages.

Final standings

General classification

Mountains classification

Team classification

References

Citations

{{Giro d'Italia

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

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