The 1998 Giro d'Italia was the 81st edition of the Giro. It began on 16 May with a brief prologue that navigated through the streets of the French city

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million 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 ...

. Eighteen teams entered the race that was won by the Italian

Marco Pantani Marco Pantani (; 13 January 1970 – 14 February 2004) was an Italian road racing cyclist, widely regarded as one of the greatest climbing specialists in the history of the sport by measures of his legacy, credits from other riders, and record ...

of the team. Second and third were the Russian rider

Pavel Tonkov Pavel Sergeyevich Tonkov (; born 9 February 1969) is a former professional road racing cyclist from Russia. His talents were first showcased when winning the world junior title as part of the Soviet Union team in 1987. This alerted the world to h ...

and Italian

Giuseppe Guerini Giuseppe Guerini (born 14 February 1970) is a retired Italian professional road bicycle racer. He was known throughout his career as a climbing specialist and had pronounced success in cycling's Grand Tour events. He completed six editions of t ...

. In the race's other classifications, overall winner Marco Pantani also won the mountains classification,

Mariano Piccoli Mariano Piccoli (born 11 September 1970 in Trento) is an Italian former road bicycle racer. Professional between 1992 and 2005, his major victories were 3 individual stages in both Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España. He also won Points Classific ...

of the Brescialat-Liquigas team won the points classification, and rider Gian Matteo Fagnini won the intergiro classification. finished as the winners of the ''Trofeo Fast Team'' classification, ranking each of the eighteen teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time. The other team classification, the ''Trofeo Super Team'' classification, where the teams' riders are awarded points for placing within the top twenty in each stage and the points are then totaled for each team was won by .

Teams

A total of 18 teams were invited to participate in the 1998 Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of nine riders, so the Giro began with a peloton of 162 cyclists. The presentation of the teams – where each team's roster and manager were introduced in front the media and local dignitaries – took place on the Apollon Concert Hall. Out of the 162 riders that started this edition of the Giro d'Italia, a total of 94 riders made it to the finish in Milan. The 18 teams that took part in the race were:

Pre-race favourites

Several riders were considered to be potential contenders for the victory before the race began. These included the winners of the previous two editions,

Ivan Gotti Ivan Gotti (born 28 March 1969) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist. Gotti was born at San Pellegrino Terme, Lombardy. He first came to prominence by finishing 5th overall in the 1995 Tour de France. The highlights of his career ...

() and

().

Alex Zülle Alex Zülle (born 5 July 1968) is a Switzerland, Swiss former professional road bicycle racer. During the 1990s he was one of the most successful cyclists in the world, winning the 1996 and 1997 Vuelta a España, taking second place in the 1995 ...

(), who had won the

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

in both

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, was also considered a strong challenger.

() had come back to the Giro the previous year from injury, only to retire after a crash which occurred when a cat ran into the ''peloton''. He went on to win two stages of the

1997 Tour de France The 1997 Tour de France was the 84th edition of the Tour de France and took place from 5 to 27 July. Jan Ullrich's victory margin of 9:09 was the largest margin of victory since Laurent Fignon won the 1984 Tour de France by 10:32. Since 1997 no r ...

and was therefore also a challenger at the 1998 Giro.

Route and stages

The route for the 1998 Giro d'Italia was unveiled by race director Carmine Castellano on 22 November 1997 in Milan. It contained three time trial events, all of which were individual. There were eleven stages containing high mountains, of which four had summit finishes: stage 11, to

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

; stage 14, to

Piancavallo Piancavallo () is a ski resort in the Dolomites of northern Italy. It is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Aviano, in the province of Pordenone in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Piancavallo is situated at above sea level, at the foot of Monte Cava ...

; stage 18, to Passo di Pampeago; and stage 19, to Plan di Montecampione. The organizers chose to include no rest days. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was shorter, contained the one less rest day, as well as one more individual time trial. After a five-year absence,

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

broadcast the event, replacing

Reti Televisive Italiane Mediaset S.p.A. is an Italian mass media and television production and distribution company that is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE – MediaForEurope (the original iter ...

(RTI) who had shown the race since

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. There were a total of seven stages that started outside Italy. The 1998 Giro d'Italia began with a prologue around the French city of

and the twelfth stage began there as well. The Giro's twentieth stage ended in

Mendrisio Mendrisio (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Mendrisio is the seat of the Accademia di Architettura di Mendris ...

. Stage 21 began in Mendrisio ended in

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

, which also served as the start for stage 22.

Race overview

The race started in the French city of

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area–a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North Am ...

Laceno Laceno is an Italian hamlet (''frazione'') and ski resort situated in the municipality of Bagnoli Irpino, Province of Avellino, Campania. It includes a Ski Resort (with 18 km of ski Slopes) with artificial snow if required, a lake with food a ...

. On stage 14 to

, Pantani was victorious, but only took out 13 seconds on Zülle and Tonkov. On the next day, a long time trial in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, Zülle caught Pantani on the road and finished 3:26 minutes faster, gaining a stronger grip on the race leader's jersey. Pantani however still remained convinced that he could win the race, considering that three stages in high mountains lay ahead, a terrain that favoured him. On stage 17 into

Sëlva Sëlva (; ; ) is a (municipality) and a village in the Val Gardena in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about east of the city of Bolzano. The Ladin language, Ladin and Italian place names derive from the Latin word ("wood"). History Coat ...

, Pantani attacked with

() on the climb of the

Marmolada Marmolada (Ladin language, Ladin: ''Marmolèda''; German language, German: ''Marmolata'', ) is a mountain in northeastern Italy and the highest mountain of the Dolomites (a section of the Alps). It lies between the borders of Trentino and Ven ...

. Zülle cracked and lost four minutes, while Pantani, who gave the stage win to Guerini, took the leader's pink jersey. Tonkov hit back by winning the following stage at Alpe di Pampeago and now was just 27 seconds behind Pantani. Stage 19 to

Montecampione Montecampione is a ski resort in Valcamonica, Lombardy, northern Italy. Part of the communes of Artogne and Pian Camuno, it is located from Brescia and from Milan, near Lake Iseo and operated from mid December to end March. Montecampione is ...

saw Pantani and Tonkov engage in a fight for the victory on the final climb, while Zülle lost more than thirty minutes on both riders. Pantani was eventually able to leave Tonkov behind, winning the stage and exceeding his advantage to 1:27 minutes. The race had to be decided during the final time trial from

. Originally considered the weaker time trialist, Pantani managed to pull out another five seconds on Tonkov and sealed his victory in the Giro d'Italia.

Serhiy Honchar Serhiy Gonchar (; born 3 July 1970) is a Ukrainian former professional road racing cyclist. He won the World Time Trial Championship in 2000. Due to a temporary spelling error in his passport, he is often incorrectly called Honchar. Career G ...

won the stage, thirty seconds ahead of Pantani in third. Two months later, he also won 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 ...

, becoming only the seventh rider to win both races in the same year.

Classification leadership

Four different jerseys were worn during the 1998 Giro d'Italia. 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, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass-start stages – wore a pink jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro. For 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 ...

, which awarded 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 to its leader, cyclists were given points for finishing a stage in the top 15; additional points could also be won in intermediate sprints. The green jersey was awarded to 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 ...

leader. 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. 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 Passo Sella and was first climbed by the Italian

. The intergiro classification was marked by a blue jersey. The calculation for the intergiro is similar to that of the general classification, in each stage there is a midway point that the riders pass through a point and where their time is stopped. As the race goes on, their times compiled and the person with the lowest time is the leader of the intergiro classification and wears the blue jersey. Although no jersey was awarded, there was also one classification for the teams, in which the stage finish times of the best three cyclists per team were added; the leading team was the one with the lowest total time. The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.

Final standings

General classification

Points classification

Mountains classification

Intergiro classification

Trofeo Fast Team classification

Trofeo Super Team classification

References

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giro d'Italia 1998 1998 in Italian sport

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

1998 in road cycling May 1998 sports events in Italy June 1998 sports events in Italy