The 2011 Giro di Padania was the first edition of the

Giro di Padania The Giro di Padania was a multi-stage cycling race which forms part of the UCI Europe Tour. It was held at the beginning of September in Northern Italy, in the region known as the Po Valley or Padania. The first edition, won by Ivan Basso,

cycling stage race. It started on 6 September in

Paesana Paesana is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin and about northwest of Cuneo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,027 and an area of .All demographics a ...

and ended on the 10th in

Montecchio Maggiore Montecchio Maggiore ( vec, Montécio Majore) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is situated approximately west of Vicenza and east of Verona; SP 246 provincial road passes through it. Montecchio Maggiore bord ...

. More than 200 riders and 25 teams participated in the race, including the

ProTour The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, ea ...

teams Liquigas-Cannondale,

Lampre-ISD UAE Team Emirates () is an Emirati road bicycle racing cycling team, team. The team competes at UCI WorldTeam level and has done so since the UCI World Tour was formed as the top category of road cycling in 2005. However the team was temporarily ...

and Astana, and the national teams of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. Among the riders who took part to the race there were the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and

2010 Giro d'Italia The 2010 Giro d'Italia was the 93rd edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race started off in Amsterdam on 8 May and stayed in the Netherlands for three stages, before leaving the country. The route included climbs ...

winner Ivan Basso, the 2011 Milano-Sanremo winner

Matthew Goss Matthew Harley Goss (born 5 November 1986) is a former Australian professional road and track racing cyclist, his final professional team before retirement was the UCI Professional Continental team . He first competed in track cycling before ...

, the Italian Road Race Champion Giovanni Visconti, the

2000 Giro d'Italia The 2000 Giro d'Italia was the 83rd edition of the Giro. It began with a prologue that navigated through the Italian capital Rome. The race came to a close on June 4 with a mass-start stage that ended in the Italian city of Milan. Twenty te ...

winner

Stefano Garzelli Stefano Garzelli (born 16 July 1973) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional between 1997 and 2013. The high point of his career was his overall win in the 2000 Giro d'Italia, after a close three-wa ...

, and the classic specialist

Davide Rebellin Davide Rebellin (9 August 1971 – 30 November 2022) was an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI Continental team . He was considered one of the finest classic cycle races, classics specialists of his generation with mo ...

. The race was won by Liquigas-Cannondale rider Ivan Basso,"2011 Giro di Padania – Results"
''Cycling News'', 10-09-2011. who claimed the leader's green jersey after winning the fourth stage. In the race's other classifications, Liquigas-Cannondale rider

Elia Viviani Elia Viviani (born 7 February 1989) is an Italian professional Cycle sport, cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . On 10 May 2015, Viviani won his first Grand Tour stage victory at the 2015 Giro d'Italia, Giro d'Italia, winning stage 2 ...

won the Points and the Intermediate Sprints classifications, Simone Campagnaro of

D'Angelo & Antenucci-Nippo Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" ...

won the light blue jersey for the King of the Mountains classification, Astana's

Francesco Masciarelli Francesco Masciarelli (born 5 May 1986 in Pescara) is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for the team. He is the son of former racing cyclist Palmiro Masciarelli and brother of fellow racing cyclists Simone Masciarelli ...

, who was third in the General classification, won the Young Rider classification, with Androni Giocattoli finishing at the head of the Teams classification.

Race Overview

Final standings

General Classification

Points Classification

King of the Mountains Classification

Sprints Classification

Young Rider Classification

Controversy

This edition was heavily disrupted by activists who stated that the race was intended as political

Propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

for the

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...

political party. The idea of organising the race was announced by

's leader

Umberto Bossi Umberto Bossi (born 19 September 1941) is an Italian politician and former leader of Lega Nord (Northern League), a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy or Padania. He is married to the Sicilian Manuela Marrone, and has fou ...

in September 2010 and, according to the protesters, the race itself was full of references to the Padanian nationalism, such as the choice of green colour for the leader's jersey. Moreover, the race is organized by the society Monviso-Venezia, whose president,

Michelino Davico Michelino, stage name of Michele Gramazio (1937 – 27 December 2010) was an Italian singer. Michele Gramazio stage named "Michelino" was born in Lucera, Italy in 1937 but in the 1940s Gramazio moved to Rome. He was amongst the first Italian ar ...

, is a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. During second stage, in

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chie ...

, Ivan Basso and

Sacha Modolo Sacha Modolo (born 19 June 1987) is an Italian road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . Career Colnago-CSF (2010–2013) In the spring of 2010, he sprinted his way to fourth place in the cycling monument Milan – San R ...

had been slapped and insulted by protesters.(Italian) Redazione Online
"Savona, Ivan Basso e Modolo insultati e presi a sberle al Giro di Padania"
''Corriere della Sera'', 08-09-2011.

References

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