The 1923 Giro d'Italia was the 11th edition of the

Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

, a Grand Tour organized and sponsored by the

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 poli ...

La Gazzetta dello Sport (; English: "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any type in Italy (in 2018). History and profile was fou ...

''. The race began on 23 May in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

with a stage that stretched to

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) 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 from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, finishing back in Milan on 10 June after a stage and a total distance covered of . The race was won by the Italian rider

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 ...

of the Maino team. Second and third respectively were the Italian riders

Giovanni Brunero Giovanni Giuseppe Brunero (10 April 1895 – 23 November 1934) was an Italian professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. Biography Giovanni Brunero was born in San Maurizio Canavese. He became a professional in 1920, coming fifth in ...

and Bartolomeo Aymo. This year saw the debutant

Ottavio Bottecchia Ottavio Bottecchia (; 1 August 1894 – 15 June 1927) was an Italian cyclist and the first Italian winner of the Tour de France. He was found injured and unconscious by a roadside and died a few days later; the exact circumstances of his acciden ...

finish in 5th place overall, and the leading 'isolate' (rider without a team). Bottecchia caught the attention of French rider

Henri Pélissier Henri Pélissier (; 22 January 1889 – 1 May 1935) was a French Bicycle racing, racing cyclist from Paris and champion of the 1923 Tour de France, 1923 Tour de France. In addition to his 29 career victories, he was known for his long-standing feu ...

, who instigated his glorious

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

career.

Participants

Of the 96 or 97 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 23 May, 38 of them made it to the finish in

on 10 June. Riders were allowed to ride on their own or as a member of a team. There were three teams that competed in the race: Atala,

Legnano Legnano (; or ''Lignàn'') is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan, province of Milan, about from central Milan. With 60,259, it is the thirteenth-most populous township in Lombardy. Legnano is located in the ...

, and Maino. The peloton was completely composed of Italians. The field featured two former Giro d'Italia champions in the

1919 Giro d'Italia The 1919 Giro d'Italia was the seventh edition of the Giro d'Italia, a Grand Tour organized and sponsored by the newspaper ''La Gazzetta dello Sport''. The race began on 21 May in Milan with a stage that stretched to Trento, finishing back i ...

winner

and returning champion

. Other notable Italian riders that started the race included Bartolomeo Aymo,

Angelo Gremo Angelo Gremo (3 December 1887 – 4 September 1940) was an Italian cyclist. Palmares Source: ;1911 : 1st Coppa Val di Taro ;1912 : 1st National Road Race Championships : 2nd Overall Giro d'Italia ;1913 : 1st Giro della Romagna : 1st Grand Pri ...

, and

Giovanni Rossignoli Giovanni Rossignoli (3 December 1882 – 27 June 1954) was an Italian professional road bicycle racing, road bicycle racer who won 3 Giro d'Italia stages during his career. Palmares ;1903 : 1st Corsa Nazionale ;1905 : 1st Milano–Torino ;1 ...

. In 1923, the best amateurs could ride as guests in a professional team, these riders were called 'fuoriclassi amatoriali'.

Race summary

In the first stage, a group of eight riders with all the favourites distanced themselves 11 minutes from all other riders. Girardengo won the sprint, and became the first leader. The second stage was won by Aymo, almost a minute ahead of his rivals. Aymo became the new leader. In the third stage, Linotti and Girardengo crossed the finish line very close to each other, and the jury could not determine who had won; both were declared winner. Two days later, the Italian Cycling Federation declared Girardengo to be the winner of the stage. Girardengo also won the fourth and fifth stages, both ending in a bunch sprint. Because Aymo finished in the bunch both times, he remained leader. In the sixth stage, Girardengo escpaed with Brunero, and won the sprint. Aymo finished multiple minutes behind, and lost his lead; Girardengo became leader again. In the following stages, Girardengo was dominant, winning all of them except the ninth stage where he was narrowly beaten by Sivocci in a sprint. Girardengo thus became the clear winner of the Giro, winning eight of ten stages.

Final standings

Stage results

General classification

There were 38 cyclists who had completed all ten stages. For these cyclists, the times they had needed in each stage was added up 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 cumulati ...

. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the winner.

won the prize for best ranked independent rider in the general classification.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{Giro d'Italia general classification winners

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...