1977 Giro D'Italia
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The 1977 Giro d'Italia was the 60th running of the Giro, 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 fo ...
. It started in
Bacoli Bacoli (; ; ) is a (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region of Campania, located about west of Naples. Geography Bacoli borders the municipalities of Monte di Procida and Pozzuoli. Its territory, of volcanic or ...
, on 20 May, with a prologue and concluded 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 ...
, on 13 June, with a mass-start stage. A total of 130 riders from thirteen teams entered the 22-stage race, that was won by Belgian
Michel Pollentier Michel Pollentier (born 13 February 1951) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. He became professional in 1973. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1977 Giro d'Italia. Pollentier is one of just three Belgian rid ...
of the Flandria team. The second and third places were taken by Italians
Francesco Moser Francesco Moser (, ; born 19 June 1951), nicknamed "Lo sceriffo" (The sheriff), is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He finished on the podium of the Giro d'Italia six times including his win in the 1984 edition. Moser was dom ...
and
Gianbattista Baronchelli Gianbattista Baronchelli (born 6 September 1953) is an Italian retired professional road racing cyclist. He obtained a total of 94 victories. Career In 1973, as an amateur, he won the Tour de l'Avenir and the Baby Giro, and he was thought desti ...
, respectively.
Freddy Maertens Freddy Maertens (born 13 February 1952) is a Belgian people, Belgian former professional racing cyclist who was twice UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, world road race champion. His career coincided with the best years of anothe ...
won 7 of the first 11 stages before abandoning due to a crash on Stage 8B. Maertens was one of five riders within 1:00 of the lead at the time of his abandonment. This followed his performance of winning 13 stages along with the General Classification at the Vuelta a month earlier. Moser took the
Pink jersey The general classification in the Giro d'Italia is the most important classification of the Giro d'Italia, which determines who is the overall winner. It is therefore considered more important than secondary classifications as the points classifi ...
from Maertens in the first week and held it until the high mountains of stage 17 which ended in
Cortina d'Ampezzo Cortina d'Ampezzo (; , ; historical ) sometimes abbreviated to simply Cortina, is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomites, Dolomitic) Alps in the province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the ...
where Pollentier took a :03 lead by beating Moser by :25. Over the next few stages he built this lead up to about 2:00 before the final time trial where he won the stage by :30 over 2nd place Moser and sealed the Giro victory. Amongst the other classifications that the race awarded, Sanson's Moser won the
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 c ...
, Faustino Fernández Ovies of KAS won the
mountains A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...
classification, and Sanson's
Mario Beccia Mario Beccia (born August 16, 1955, in Troia, Apulia) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, active between 1977 and 1988. During his career, Beccia won a total of fifteen races, including four stages of the Giro d'Italia, the Tou ...
completed the Giro as the best neo-professional in the general classification, finishing ninth overall. Flandria finished as the winners of the team points classification.


Teams

Fourteen teams were invited by the race organizers to participate in the 1977 edition of the Giro d'Italia. In total, 90 riders were from Italy, while the remaining 50 riders came from: Spain (20), Belgium (17), Switzerland (4), Denmark (2), West Germany (2), Australia (1), France (1), Great Britain (1), Norway (1), and Sweden (1). Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 140 cyclists. Of those starting, 52 were riding the Giro d'Italia for the first time. The average age of riders was 27.29 years, ranging from 20–year–old Per Bausager (Zoppas Frag) to 36–year–old
Franco Bitossi Franco Bitossi (born 1 September 1940) is an Italian former professional cyclist. He was born in Camaioni di Carmignano. Career Bitossi cycled for three years as an amateur and became a professional in October 1961, after he had reached the r ...
(Vibor). The team with the youngest average rider age was GBC (24), while the oldest was
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
(30). From those that started, 121 of them finish 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 ...
. The teams entering the race were:


Pre-race favorites

The starting peloton did include the 1976 winner,
Felice Gimondi Felice Gimondi (; 29 September 1942 – 16 August 2019) was an Italian professional racing cyclist. With his 1968 Vuelta a España, 1968 victory at the Vuelta a España, only three years after becoming a professional cyclist, Gimondi, nicknamed ...
.
Freddy Maertens Freddy Maertens (born 13 February 1952) is a Belgian people, Belgian former professional racing cyclist who was twice UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, world road race champion. His career coincided with the best years of anothe ...
,
Gianbattista Baronchelli Gianbattista Baronchelli (born 6 September 1953) is an Italian retired professional road racing cyclist. He obtained a total of 94 victories. Career In 1973, as an amateur, he won the Tour de l'Avenir and the Baby Giro, and he was thought desti ...
, and Gimondi were seen by many news outlets to be the favorites to win the race.


Route and stages

The route for the race was revealed on 19 February 1977.


Classification leadership

There were four main individual classifications contested in the 1977 Giro d'Italia, as well as a team competition. Four of them awarded jerseys to their leaders. 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 ...
was the most important and was calculated by adding each rider's finishing times on each stage. The rider with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the general classification and was considered the overall winner of the Giro. The rider leading the classification wore a pink jersey to signify the classification's leadership. The second classification was the
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 c ...
. Riders received points for finishing in the top positions in a stage finish, with first place getting the most points, and lower placings getting successively fewer points. The rider leading this classification wore a purple (or
cyclamen ''Cyclamen'' ( or ) is a genus of 23 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. In English, it is known by the common names sowbread or swinebread. ''Cyclamen'' species are native to Europe and the Mediterranean Basin ea ...
) jersey. The
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, Queen of the Mountains (QoM) is used. While the title may be given to the rider who achieves the highest p ...
was the third classification and its leader was denoted by the green jersey. In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists. Each climb was ranked as either first, second or third category, with more points available for higher category climbs. Most stages of the race included one or more categorized climbs, in which points were awarded to the riders that reached the summit first. The ''
Cima Coppi The ''Cima Coppi'' is the title given to the highest peak in the yearly running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour races. The mountain that is given this title each year awards more mountains classification points to the first ride ...
'', the race's highest point of elevation, awarded more points than the other first category climbs. The ''Cima Coppi'' for this Giro was the
Valparola Pass The Valparola Pass () (el. 2,168 m, in Ladin language, Ladin : "Ju de Valparola") is a high mountain pass in the Dolomites in the province of Belluno in Italy. The pass lies a little west of Falzarego Pass. The hut "Rifugio Passo Valpar ...
. The first rider to cross the Valparola Pass was Spanish rider Faustino Fernández Ovies. The fourth classification, the
young rider classification Young rider classification () in a cycling jersey competition in multi-day stage race events, such as the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and many others, is an award for the current leader by overall time for riders below the age of twenty-six years ...
, was decided the same way as the general classification, but exclusive to neo-professional cyclists (in their first three years of professional racing). The leader of the classification wore a white jersey. The final classification, the team classification, awarded no jersey to its leaders. This was calculated by adding together points earned by each rider on the team during each stage through the intermediate sprints, the categorized climbs, stage finishes, etc. The team with the most points led the classification. There were other minor classifications within the race, including the Campionato delle Regioni classification. The leader wore a blue jersey with colored vertical stripes ("maglia azzurra con banda tricolore verticale"). The Fiat Ritmo classification, which was created in honor Juan Manuel Santisteban who died in stage 1A of 1976 edition. In all stages longer than , there was a banner at that point in the stage to designate a special sprint. The winner of the sprint in each stage received a
Fiat 127 The Fiat 127 is a supermini car produced by Italian car manufacturer Fiat Automobiles, Fiat from 1971 to 1983. It was introduced in 1971 as the replacement for the Fiat 850. Production of the 127 in Italy ended in 1983 following the introduction o ...
in this edition, as opposed to a
Fiat 131 The Fiat 131 is a mid-size family car manufactured and marketed by Fiat from 1974 to 1984 after its debut at the Turin Motor Show#1974, 1974 Turin Motor Show. Available as a two-door and four-door Saloon (car), saloon and 5-door station wagon, ...
in its inaugural year.


Final standings


General classification


Points classification


Mountains classification


Young rider classification


Campionato delle Regioni classification


Traguardo Fiat 127 classification


Team points classification


References


Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:1977 Giro D'italia
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 ...
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 ...
Giro d'Italia by year
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 ...
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 ...
1977 Super Prestige Pernod