The 2013 Giro d'Italia was the 96th edition of the
Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's
Grand Tours
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the ''Grand Tours'', and all three races are similar in ...
. It started in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
and finished in
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...
.
Vincenzo Nibali
), The Nibbler
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Messina, Sicily, Italy
, height =
, weight =
, currentteam =
, discipline = Road
, role = Rider
, ridertype = Climber
, proyears1 = 2005
, proteam1 =
, proyears2 = 2006–2012
, protea ...
of team
Astana
Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.
The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...
won 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 ...
.
Teams
As a
UCI World Tour
The UCI WorldTour (2009–2010: ''UCI World Ranking'') is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an ann ...
race, the Giro was obliged to invite all teams in the UCI's top division—the ProTour teams—and these teams were obliged to take part. At the beginning of the season, there were, as in recent years, 18 ProTour teams, and the race organisers issued four wildcard invitations to fill the usual quota of 22 teams for the event. However, successfully appealed against its loss of ProTour status to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its c ...
and the UCI decided against demoting any of the other teams; meaning that 23 teams took part in the Giro, as happened under a special dispensation in
2011. The participating teams were:
*: Pro Continental teams given wild card entry to this event.
Pre-race favourites
2012 Giro winner
Ryder Hesjedal
Eric Ryder Hesjedal (; born December 9, 1980) is a Canadian retired professional racing cyclist who competed in both mountain biking and road racing between 1998 and 2016. Hesjedal won a silver medal at the 1998 Junior, 2001 Under-23, and Elite ...
,
Bradley Wiggins
Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but later made the transition to r ...
, winner of the
2012 Tour de France
The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 22 July. The Tour consisted of 21 stages, i ...
, and
Vincenzo Nibali
), The Nibbler
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Messina, Sicily, Italy
, height =
, weight =
, currentteam =
, discipline = Road
, role = Rider
, ridertype = Climber
, proyears1 = 2005
, proteam1 =
, proyears2 = 2006–2012
, protea ...
were among the favourites for overall victory. Other possible contenders included
Michele Scarponi
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Jesi, Marche, Italy
, death_date =
, death_place = Filottrano, Marche, Italy
, height =
, weight =
, discipline = Road
, role = Climbing specialistDomestique
, amateuryears1= 1988 ...
,
Cadel Evans
Cadel Lee Evans (; born 14 February 1977) is an Australian former professional racing cyclist, who competed professionally in both mountain biking and road bicycle racing. A four-time Olympian, Evans is one of three non-Europeans – along wi ...
,
Robert Gesink
Robert Gesink (born 31 May 1986) is a Dutch professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . His major victories include the 2012 Tour of California, the 2011 Tour of Oman and the 2010 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. Gesink also ...
and
Samuel Sánchez
Samuel "Samu" Sánchez González (born 5 February 1978) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally in the sport between 2000 and 2017 for the and squads. He was the gold medal winner in the road race at the 2 ...
.
Route and stages
![Giro d Italia arrivo a Brescia 2013 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Giro_d_Italia_arrivo_a_Brescia_2013_2.JPG)
On 30 September 2012 the complete route was announced 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 ...
. For the first time since 2008, the first stages of the race (eight in total) took place in the south of Italy.
The island of
Ischia
Ischia ( , , ) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about from Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately east to west ...
also hosted a stage for the first time in 54 years.
In 2013, the race paid tribute to the victims of the
Vajont Dam
The Vajont Dam (or Vaiont Dam) is a disused dam in northern Italy. It is one of the tallest dams in the world, with a height of . It is in the valley of the Vajont River under Monte Toc, in the municipality of Erto e Casso, north of Venice ...
disaster of 1963, but also to composer
Giuseppe Verdi in stage 13 and to famous cyclist and triple Giro winner
Gino Bartali
Gino Bartali (; 18 July 1914 – 5 May 2000), nicknamed Gino the Pious and (in Italy) Ginettaccio, was a champion road cyclist. He was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice, in 19 ...
in stage 9. There was speculation before the race that some sections of the route may also be relevant for contenders of the
world championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
.
In a revocation of a rule change in the 2012 race, all mass-start stages again awarded time bonuses to the first three riders, 20, 12, and 8 seconds respectively. In 2012, stages classified high-mountain did not award time bonuses. This Giro was also the first to feature two intermediate sprints per road stage, rather than only one. These sprints awarded points to the points classification and bonus seconds in the general classification.
Race overview
The 2013 Giro d'Italia featured cold and wet weather, leading
''Bicycling'' magazine to call it "one of the more grueling Grand Tours in recent memory."
During the first week of the race it looked like it may be a close contest that came down to the final stages.
On the eighth stage, a time trial,
Vincenzo Nibali
), The Nibbler
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Messina, Sicily, Italy
, height =
, weight =
, currentteam =
, discipline = Road
, role = Rider
, ridertype = Climber
, proyears1 = 2005
, proteam1 =
, proyears2 = 2006–2012
, protea ...
took over the pink jersey (given to the overall leader).
Early departures by contenders
Ryder Hesjedal
Eric Ryder Hesjedal (; born December 9, 1980) is a Canadian retired professional racing cyclist who competed in both mountain biking and road racing between 1998 and 2016. Hesjedal won a silver medal at the 1998 Junior, 2001 Under-23, and Elite ...
and
Bradley Wiggins
Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but later made the transition to r ...
took much of the drama out of the race. By the final stages, all Nibali had to do was remain upright to claim victory. ESPN's Andrew Hood described his performance as "three nearly perfect weeks of racing."
"Nibali revealed he is a complete rider, handling the stresses and demands of racing both on and off the bike," wrote Hood.
Nibali called winning the Giro "a dream" and said it was unlikely he would compete in 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 ...
.
It was the first time an Italian won the race outright since 2010.
Others with strong performance in the Giro d'Italia included
Carlos Betancur,
Mark Cavendish
Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he is a ...
,
Cadel Evans
Cadel Lee Evans (; born 14 February 1977) is an Australian former professional racing cyclist, who competed professionally in both mountain biking and road bicycle racing. A four-time Olympian, Evans is one of three non-Europeans – along wi ...
, and
Rigoberto Urán
Rigoberto Urán Urán, ODB (born 26 January 1987) is a Colombian professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam .
At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he won a silver medal in the road race. He became the first Colombian ever ...
. Riding in his first grand-tour event, 23-year-old Betancur finished fifth overall and won the best young rider's jersey. He had two second places on stages during the race. "I won my Giro", he said.
Cavendish won five stages – all bunch sprints – and the points jersey. He became the fifth rider to win the points jersey at all three grand-tour races.
Evans was written off by many commentators following a poor 2012 season, but bounced back with a third-place finish at the Giro. In so doing, he became the oldest rider to reach the podium since 1928. "I wasn't even planning on racing this Giro until a few weeks before it started, so to be
hird
The hird (also named "Håndgangne Menn" in Norwegian), in Scandinavian history, was originally an informal retinue of personal armed companions, hirdmen or housecarls, but came to mean not only the nucleus ('Guards') of the royal army, but also ...
isn't so bad," he said.
Urán won the tenth stage, and took second overall. His second-place finish came despite his loss of 1:30 on stage seven when he waited for teammate Bradley Wiggins to catch up to him.
It was the best finish by Colombian rider since 1995.
Classification leadership
In the 2013 Giro d'Italia, four different jerseys were awarded. 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 ...
, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass-start stages, the leader received a pink jersey. This classification is considered the most important of the Giro d'Italia, and the winner is considered the winner of the Giro.
![Passo dello stelvio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Passo_dello_stelvio.jpg)
Additionally, there was a
points classification
The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points cl ...
, awarding a red jersey. In the points classification, cyclists received points for finishing in the top 15 in a stage. Unlike in the better known
points classification in the Tour de France
The points classification () is a secondary competition in the Tour de France, which started in 1953. Points are given for high finishes in a stage and for winning intermediate sprints, and these are recorded in a points classification. It is con ...
, the type of stage has no effect on what points were on offer – each stage had the same points available on the same scale. The winner earned 25 points, second place earned 20 points, third 16, fourth 14, fifth 12, sixth 10, and one point fewer per place down to a single point for 15th. In addition, points could be won in intermediate sprints.
There was also a
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 ...
, the leadership of which was marked by a blue jersey. In the mountains classifications, points were won by reaching the top of a climb before other cyclists. Each climb was categorized as either first, second, third, or fourth-category, with more points available for the higher-categorized climbs. The ''Cima Coppi'', the race's highest point of elevation, was worth still more points than the other first-category climbs. Initially, the Cima Coppi was scheduled to be awarded at the top of the
Passo dello Stelvio
''Giogo dello Stèlvio''german: Stilfser Joch
, photo = The_Stelvio_pass.jpg
, photo_caption = Some of the 48 hairpin turns near the top of the eastern ramp of the Stelvio Pass
, photo_alt =
, map = Alps
, map_caption = Location of Stelvio Pass in ...
but, after the cancellation of the stage containing the climb, the ''Cima Coppi'' for the 2013 Giro d'Italia was the
Tre Cime di Lavaredo
The Tre Cime di Lavaredo (; ), also called the Drei Zinnen (; ), are three distinctive battlement-like peaks, in the Sexten Dolomites of northeastern Italy. They are probably one of the best-known mountain groups in the Alps. The three peaks, ...
, at .
The fourth jersey represents the young rider classification, marked by a white jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1988 were eligible.
There were also two classifications for teams. In the Trofeo Fast Team classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added; the leading team was the team with the lowest total time; the Trofeo Super Team was a team points classification, with the top 20 placed riders on each stage earning points (20 for first place, 19 for second place and so on, down to a single point for 20th) for their team.
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run. In a break with the practice of recent years, defending Giro champion
Ryder Hesjedal
Eric Ryder Hesjedal (; born December 9, 1980) is a Canadian retired professional racing cyclist who competed in both mountain biking and road racing between 1998 and 2016. Hesjedal won a silver medal at the 1998 Junior, 2001 Under-23, and Elite ...
wore the pink jersey during the first stage.
;Notes:
* In stage 2,
Nacer Bouhanni
Nacer Bouhanni (born 25 July 1990) is a French professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . A sprinter, he was the winner of the 2012 French National Road Race Championships. Although his first Grand Tour was in 2012, his r ...
, who was third in the points classification, wore the red jersey, because
Mark Cavendish
Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he is a ...
(in first place) wore the pink jersey as leader of the general classification and
Elia Viviani
Elia Viviani (born 7 February 1989) is an Italian professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . On 10 May 2015, Viviani won his first Grand Tour stage victory at the Giro d'Italia, winning stage 2 in a bunch sprint before Moreno ...
, who was second wore the white jersey as leader of the young rider classification.
* In stage 3,
Alex Dowsett
Alex Edward Albert Dowsett (born 3 October 1988) is a former British professional road racing cyclist, who rode for UCI WorldTeam . He was a time trial specialist, and in 2015, he broke track cycling's world hour record by , with a distance of ...
, who was second in the young rider classification, wore the white jersey, because
Salvatore Puccio
Salvatore Puccio (born 31 August 1989) is an Italian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam .
Career
Puccio was born at Menfi, in Sicily. He joined ahead of the 2012 season, after a 2011 season which included a solo victory in ...
(in first place) wore the pink jersey as leader of the general classification during that stage.
* In stage 4,
Mark Cavendish
Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he is a ...
, who was second in the points classification, wore the red jersey, because
Luca Paolini
Luca Paolini (born 17 January 1977) is an Italian former road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2015. He started his sports career in the early 2000s by joining (2000–2002), UCI ProTeam directed by Patrick Lefevere. With ...
(in first place) wore the pink jersey as leader of the general classification during that stage. Also,
Cadel Evans
Cadel Lee Evans (; born 14 February 1977) is an Australian former professional racing cyclist, who competed professionally in both mountain biking and road bicycle racing. A four-time Olympian, Evans is one of three non-Europeans – along wi ...
and
John Degenkolb
John Degenkolb (born 7 January 1989) is a German professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . His biggest wins to date are the 2015 Milan–San Remo and the 2015 Paris–Roubaix, two of cycling's five monuments. He is ...
wore the red jersey for the same reason in stages 5, and 6, respectively. Cavendish also wore the red jersey in stage 21, despite being in second place, because
Vincenzo Nibali
), The Nibbler
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Messina, Sicily, Italy
, height =
, weight =
, currentteam =
, discipline = Road
, role = Rider
, ridertype = Climber
, proyears1 = 2005
, proteam1 =
, proyears2 = 2006–2012
, protea ...
(in first place) wore the pink jersey.
Final standings
General classification
Points classification
Mountains classification
Young riders classification
Trofeo Fast Team classification
Trofeo Super Team classification
Minor classifications
Other less well-known classifications, whose leaders did not receive a special jersey, were awarded during the Giro. These awards were based on points earned throughout the three weeks of the tour.
Each mass-start stage had two intermediate sprints, the ''Traguardi Volante'', or T.V. The T.V. sprints gave bonus seconds towards the general classification, points towards the regular points classification, and also points towards the T.V. classification. This award was known by various names in previous years, and was previously time-based.
It was won by Brazilian
Rafael Andriato
Rafael de Mattos Andriato (born 20 October 1987) is a Brazilian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI Continental team .
Born in São Paulo, Andriato has competed as a professional since the start of the 2012 season, join ...
of the team.
Andriato also won the ''Premio della Fuga'',
which rewarded riders who took part in a breakaway at the head of the field. Each rider in an escape of ten or fewer riders received one point for each kilometre that the group stayed clear.
Other awards included the Combativity classification, which was a compilation of points gained for position on crossing intermediate sprints, mountain passes and stage finishes.
Points classification winner
Mark Cavendish
Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he is a ...
won this award.
The Azzurri d'Italia classification was based on finishing order, but points were awarded only to the top three finishers in each stage.
It was likewise won, like the closely associated points classification, by Cavendish.
Teams were given penalty points for minor technical infringements.
were the only team to avoid being penalised altogether over the course of the race, and so won the Fair Play classification.
References
Citations
External links
*
{{2013 UCI World Tour
Giro d'Italia by year
2013 in Italian sport
Giro d'Italia
2013 in men's road cycling
May 2013 sports events in Italy