Luigi Ganna (1 December 1883 – 2 October 1957) was an Italian professional

road racing cyclist Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most commo ...

. He was the overall winner of the first Giro d'Italia, held in 1909, as well as the first Italian winner of the classic Milan–San Remo earlier that year. Further highlights in his career were his fifth place in the 1908 Tour de France and several podium places in Italian classic races. In 1908 he set a new Italian hour record, which he held for six years. He was born in Induno Olona, near

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

, in Lombardy. Before becoming a professional cyclist, he worked as a bricklayer, commuting up to 100 km to work by bike.

Major results

;1905 :3rd

Giro di Lombardia The Giro di Lombardia ( en, Tour of Lombardy), officially ''Il Lombardia'', is a cycling race in Lombardy, Italy. It is traditionally the last of the five ' Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in ...

;1906 :3rd

:3rd

Giro del Piemonte The Giro del Piemonte, since 2009 known also as Gran Piemonte, is a semi classic European bicycle race held in the Apennine Mountains, Italy. The race first took place in 1906. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI Eu ...

;1907 :2nd Overall Giro della Sicilia ::1st 2 Stages :3rd

:4th Milan–San Remo ;1908 :2nd Milan–San Remo :2nd

:3rd Roma–Napoli–Roma :5th

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 ...

;1909 :1st Overall Giro d'Italia :: 1st Stages 4, 5 & 7 :1st Milan-San Remo :3rd

Giro dell'Emilia The Giro dell'Emilia is a late season road bicycle race held annually in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour, and since 2020 it's part of the UCI ProSeries calendar. The ...

:6th

;1910 :1st

:2nd

Italian National Road Race Championships The Italian National Road Race Championships are held annually. They are a road cycling race which decides the Italian cycling champion in the road racing discipline, across several categories of rider. The event was first held in 1906 and ...

:2nd Roma–Napoli–Roma :3rd Overall Giro d'Italia ::1st Stages 5, 7 & 10 ;1911 :3rd Milan–San Remo ;1913 :3rd Roma–Napoli–Roma ::1st Stage 1 :5th Giro d'Italia ;1914 :6th Milan–San Remo

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ganna, Luigi 1883 births 1957 deaths Italian male cyclists Giro d'Italia winners Italian Giro d'Italia stage winners Cyclists from the Province of Varese