The 1938 Giro d'Italia was the 26th 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 ...

, 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 7 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 29 May after a split stage and a total distance covered of . The race was won by the Italian rider

Giovanni Valetti Giovanni Valetti (22 September 1913 – 28 May 1998) was an Italian professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. The highlights of his career were his two overall wins in the 1938 Giro d'Italia, 1938 and 1939 Giro d'Italia, 1939 Giro d ...

of the Fréjus team, with fellow Italians

Ezio Cecchi Ezio Cecchi (11 May 1913 – 19 August 1984) was an Italian professional cyclist. Cecchi twice finished second overall in the Giro d'Italia. He finished second in 1938 to Giovanni Valetti. In 1948 Cecchi finished eleven seconds behind the winner ...

and

Severino Canavesi Severino Canavesi (27 January 1911 in Gorla Maggiore – 30 January 1990 in Gorla Maggiore) was an Italian cyclist. Major results ;1929 :1st Coppa San Geo ;1934 :1st National Cyclo-cross Championships :1st Tre Valli Varesine :3rd Coppa Bernocch ...

coming in second and third respectively.

Participants

Of the 94 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 7 May, 50 of them made it to the finish in

on 29 May. Riders were allowed to ride as a member of a team or group; 61 riders competed as part of a team, while the remaining 33 competed as a part of a group. The nine teams that partook in the race were: Bianchi, Dei, Fréjus, Ganna, Gloria-Ambrosiana, Lygie-Settebello,

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 ...

, Olympia, and Wolsit-Binda. The teams ranged from six to eight riders each. There were also seven groups, made up of three to five riders each, that participated in the race. Those groups were: U. C. Modenese, Il Littoriale, La Voce di Mantova, U.S. Azzini, U.S. Canelli, Dopolavoro Mater, and Gruppo A. The peloton was composed primarily of Italian riders. The field featured one former Giro d'Italia winners with

Francesco Camusso Francesco Camusso (9 March 1908 – 23 June 1995) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. Camusso was born in Cumiana, Piedmont, and is ranked among the best Italian climbers ever. In his second year as professional, he won the 1931 G ...

who won the race in

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

. Reigning champion

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 ...

did not enter the race because the Italian government ordered him to race the

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 ...

instead. Other notable Italian riders included

Olimpio Bizzi Olimpio Bizzi (1 August 1916 – 3 August 1976) was an Italian racing cyclist, who won 13 stages of Giro d'Italia in 1936–1946, as well as the 1950 Tour du Maroc. He rode the 1947 Tour de France, and placed sixth in the 1947 Paris–Roubaix ...

, and

Giuseppe Olmo Giuseppe Olmo (22 November 1911 – 5 March 1992) was an Italian road bicycle racer. He competed at the 1932 Olympics and won a gold medal in the team road race, placing fourth individually. In October 1935 he set a new hour record at 45.090 ...

. Swiss rider

Leo Amberg Leo Amberg (23 March 1912 – 18 September 1999) was a Swiss professional road bicycle racer. He is most known for his bronze medal in the 1938 UCI Road World Championships. He was the Swiss National Road Race champion in 1937 and 1938. He ...

who placed high at the

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

and

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...

Tours de France competed in the race.

Route and stages

Classification leadership

The leader of 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 ...

– calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider – wore a pink jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro. In the mountains classification, the race organizers selected different mountains that the route crossed and awarded points to the riders who crossed them first. The winner of the team classification was determined by adding the finish times of the best three cyclists per team together and the team with the lowest total time was the winner. If a team had fewer than three riders finish, they were not eligible for the classification. The group classification was decided in the same manner, but the classification was exclusive to the competing groups. The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.

Final standings

General classification

Isolati classification

Mountains classification

Team classification

Group classification

References

;Notes ;Citations {{Giro d'Italia general classification winners

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...