The 1927 Giro d'Italia was the 15th 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 15 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 6 June after a stage and a total distance covered of . The race was won by

Alfredo Binda Alfredo Binda (11 August 1902 – 19 July 1986) was an Italian road bicycle racing, road cyclist of the 1920s and 1930s. He was the first to win five editions of the Giro d'Italia, and a three-time UCI Road World Championships – Men's road rac ...

of the Legnano 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 Antonio Negrini. 266 riders started the race, and 80 crossed the finish line of the final stage. It was the first Giro with a modern design: in the same period of time of the previous Giro, three more stages were included, which replaced three days of rest. At the same time the stages became shorter (only one passed 300 km). In 1927 Binda was at the apex of its career, and it triumphed winning 12 stages out of 15: a record still to be surpassed. Binda led the general classification from the first to the last stage (only

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 ...

had already done it, in the 1919 Giro). In Binda's team there was also his brother

Albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and reddish pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albinos. Varied use and interpretation of ...

, as a support rider.

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 ...

, "virtual" winner of the first edition in

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escapes death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Janu ...

, participated for the last time. He was 45 years old and concluded the race in 44th place, about 7 hours behind Binda.

Participants

Of the 266 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 15 May, 80 of them made it to the finish in

on 6 June. Riders were allowed to ride on their own or as a member of a team. There were six teams that competed in the race: Aliprandi-Pirelli, Bianchi-Pirelli, Berettini-Hutchinson, Ganna-Dunlop, Legnano-Pirelli, and Wolsit-Pirelli. The peloton was primarily composed of Italians. The field featured three former Giro d'Italia champions in three-time winner and reigning champion

, along with one-time winners

and Giuseppe Enrici. Other notable Italian riders that started the race included Arturo Bresciani,

, and

Domenico Piemontesi Domenico Piemontesi (11 January 1903 – 31 May 1987) was an Italian professional road bicycle racer. He is most known for his 12-stage wins in the Giro d'Italia and a bronze medal at the 1927 World Championships.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 ...

. Among the starters was Luigi Ferri, almost fifty years old. Ferri is the oldest known rider to participate in the Giro, but did not finish the first stage.

Race summary

From the start of the Giro, Binda was dominant. He won the first three stages; only Pancera, Giuntelli and Brunero finished in the same group as him in these three stages, and because of the time bonus for the stage wins, Binda was leading them by three minutes in the general classification. Binda was beaten in the sprint for the fourth stage by Piemontesi, but showed his dominance by winning the next six stages. His winning streak was interrupted by Bresciani in the eleventh stage and Brunero in the thirteenth stage, but Binda won all other stages. In the end, Binda had won 12 out of 15 stages, a record that is unlikely to be ever beaten.

Final standings

Stage results

An innovation in this Giro was the reduction of rest days. Previous editions always had a rest day in between stages, but in 1927 some stages were run on consecutive days.

General classification

There were 80 cyclists who had completed all fifteen 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 ...

. There was a time bonus for stage winners: the winner of a stage had one minute subtracted from their time. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the winner. Aristide Cavallini won the prize for best ranked independent rider in the general classification.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{Giro d'Italia general classification winners Giro d'Italia by year Giro Ditalia, 1927 Giro Ditalia, 1927