1938 Giro d'Italia

Participants

Of the 94 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 7 May, 50 of them made it to the finish in Milan 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, 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 who won the race in 1931. Reigning champion Gino Bartali did not enter the race because the Italian government ordered him to race the Tour de France instead. Other notable Italian riders included Olimpio Bizzi, Giovanni Valetti, Ezio Cecchi, and Giuseppe Olmo. Swiss rider Leo Amberg who placed high at the 1936 and 1937 Tours de France competed in the race.

Race summary

The first stage ended in a bunch sprint, won by Marco Cimatti, who became the first leader of the general classification. In the second stage, several groups of riders escaped and beat the peloton by many minutes. The first group consisted of five riders: Mario Vicini, Cesare Del Cancia, Severino Canavesi, Ruggero Balli and Adriano Vignoli, who finished the stage in that order. Vicini also took the lead in the general classification.

In the third stage, another group escaped, but although they stayed away until the finish, they did not win enough time to take over the lead of the general classification. The five riders that were in the leading group of stage two were still on top, but Del Cancia claimed the lead due to a better position in the stage.

The fourth stage was split into two parts. In the first part, Valetti left the rest behind on the Bracco, continued his solo to won the stage, climbing to eighth place; he only had riders in front of him that were part of the big escape in stage two.

The seventh stage was also split into two parts. The first part was an individual mountain time trial to the [[Monte Terminillo ]], won by Valetti. He jumped to fourth place in the general classification, while Del Cancia was still in the pink jersey.

In the ninth stage, Valetti escaped together with Giordano Cottur, and they won almost five minutes on all the other riders. Cottur won the stage, while took the lead in the general classification.

Valetti showed that he was the best climber by coming over the Pian delle Fugazze first, and continuing alone until the finish, winning by more than two minutes.

In the last stages, Valetti increased his lead to almost nine minutes, and became the winner of the 1938 Giro d'Italia.

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.

There was a special classification for the grouped riders, calculated in the same way as the general classification. The leader of this classification was given the white jersey.

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. 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

Grouped rider classification

Mountains classification

Team classification

Group classification

References

;Notes

;Citations

;Bibliography

References

1. "La Stampa - Consultazione Archivio".
2. (7 May 1938). "I corridori iscritti". Il Littoriale.
3. Bill and Carol McGann. "1938 Giro d'Italia". Dog Ear Publishing.
4. Bill and Carol McGann. "1937 Giro d'Italia". Dog Ear Publishing.
5. "Cycling’s Twenty-One Greatest Climbers". McGann publishing.
6. Laura Weislo. (13 May 2008). "Giro d'Italia classifications demystified". Future Publishing Limited.
7. (30 May 1938). "Il valore del rinnovato spirito di gara nelle cifre del XXVI Giro d'Italia". Il Littoriale.
8. (30 May 1938). "Il Giro-Primato: 3754km. percorsi a 33,272 all'ora è vinto da Valetti". Il Littoriale.