1934 Giro d'Italia

Participants

Of the 109 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 19 May, 52 of them made it to the finish in Milan on 10 June. Riders were allowed to ride on their own or as a member of a team; 52 riders competed as part of a team, while the remaining 66 competed independently. There were eight teams that competed in the race: Bianchi-Pirelli, Dei-Pirelli, Ganna-Dunlop, Gloria-Hutchinson, Legnano-Hutchinson, Maino-d'Alessandro, Olympia-Spiga, and Olmpique.

The peloton was primarily composed of Italians, but contained many French and Belgian riders. The field featured three former Giro d'Italia champions in five-time winner and current champion Alfredo Binda and single race winners, Francesco Camusso and Vasco Bergamaschi. Other notable Italian riders that started the race included Learco Guerra, Giuseppe Olmo, Remo Bertoni, and Domenico Piemontesi. Félicien Vervaecke, a Belgian rider who went on to achieve great success at the Tour de France, entered the race. Belgian Jef Demuysere was seen as a favorite to win the race after his victory in the Milan–San Remo earlier in the season.

Race summary

In the first stages, several riders were caught riding behind motorcycles. The jury was very strict, and disqualified them. Learco Guerra dominated the early stages, winning multiple road stages and excelling in the first time trial, where he averaged over 41 km/h, nearly two km/h faster than Binda’s 1933 performance. By stage six, Guerra led the general classification, but his margin remained narrow. In that stage, the defending champion Binda collided with a police motorcycle, and had to abandon.

Isolated rider Adriano Vignoli made a notable impact in stage seven with a 160-kilometer solo breakaway, gaining over ten minutes and moving into sixth place. In stage eight, Olmo took the race lead after Guerra lost time on the hilly terrain. However, Guerra reclaimed the pink jersey the next day.

A dramatic incident occurred at a feed zone in Pescara, where Francesco Camusso clashed with a police commissioner and was briefly detained before being allowed to continue after intervention by Giro boss Armando Cougnet. Guerra then won three consecutive stages, but Camusso remained within striking distance.

The race’s most controversial moment came in stage 13, when Guerra, suffering from stomach issues, abandoned the race and entered his team car. Organizers Armando Cougnet and Emilio Colombo persuaded him to rejoin the race, and he continued despite having been driven part of the route. No penalty was issued, likely due to Guerra’s popularity and commercial value to the race.

Camusso took the lead after that stage, but Guerra reclaimed it in the second time trial in Bologna, where he gained nearly four minutes on the climber. Although Olmo won the final two stages, Guerra secured overall victory by just 51 seconds over Camusso.

Route and stages

Classification leadership

The leader of the general classification – 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 1934, there was a time bonus for the winner of aach stage, but unlike the year before no time bonus for the first rider on a mountain top.

The race organizers allowed isolated riders to compete in the race, which had a separate classification calculated the same way as the general classification, with a white jersey for the leader of this classification.

In the mountains classification, the race organizers selected different mountains that the route crossed and awarded points to the five 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.

Il Trofeo Magno () was a classification for independent Italian riders competing in the race. The riders were divided into teams based on the region of Italy they were from. The calculation of the standings was the same for the team classification. At the end of the race, a trophy was awarded to the winning team and it was then stored at the Federal Secretary of the P.N.P. in their respective province.

The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.

Final standings

General classification

Foreign rider classification

Isolati rider classification

Mountains classification

Team classification

Il Trofeo Magno

References

;Footnotes

;Citations

;Bibliography

References

1. (19 May 1934). "Guerra parte favorito nel XXII Giro d'Italia". Il Littoriale.
2. Bill and Carol McGann. "1934 Giro d'Italia". Dog Ear Publishing.
3. Laura Weislo. (13 May 2008). "Giro d'Italia classifications demystified". Future Publishing Limited.
4. (30 May 1933). "Significato e valore delle prove di giovani e di stranieri nel XXI Giro d'Italia che ha celebrato il trionfo di Binda". Il Littoriale.
5. (6 May 1933). "Impressioni e interviste durante la punzonatura". Il Littoriale.
6. (11 June 1934). "Il "Giro" è finito: ecco i corridori!". Il Littoriale.