1967 Giro d'Italia

Teams

Thirteen teams were invited by the race organizers to participate in the 1967 edition of the Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 130 cyclists. From the riders that began the race, 70 made it to the finish in Milan.

The teams entering the race were:

• Cynar
• Germanvox–Wega
• Salamini–Luxor TV

Pre-race favorites

The starting peloton did include the 1966 winner, Gianni Motta. l'Unità writer Gino Sala named Felice Gimondi, Jacques Anquetil, Vittorio Adorni, Eddy Merckx, and Motta as the main contenders for the overall crown.

Route and stages

The race route was revealed to the public on 28 March 1967 by race director Vincenzo Torriani.{{cite news |url=https://archivio.unita.news/assets/main/1967/03/29/page_010.pdf|title=Questa l' 1967|language=it |date=29 March 1967 |page=10 |newspaper=l'Unità |publisher=PCI |access-date=22 June 2018|author=Gino Sala|format=PDF |trans-title=This is the 1967 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428212752/https://archivio.unita.news/assets/main/1967/03/29/page_010.pdf|archive-date=28 April 2019 |url-status=dead }} The route visited all Italian regions except for Sardinia. With the route entering Sicily for the fifth time in race history, the race scaled Mount Etna for the first time.

There were plans to hold a prelude the night before the first stage. This would have been 15 km, and would not have counted for the general classification, but the winner would have been allowed to wear the pink jersey on the first stage. The Italian Communist Party took the opportunity to protest against the bombing of Hanoi during the Vietnam War, and the prelude was cancelled.

Race overview

The sixth leg saw an overnight ferry transfer from Palermo on mainland Italy to the island of Sicily for the next two stages. Following the sixth stage's conclusion the race took a five–hour train to Catania where the upcoming stage began. With the seventh stage hosting a summit finish to Mount Etna (1892 m) it was hoped to be pivotal in the general classification race. However, due to the long transfers forced on the riders by organizer Torriani, the riders rode at a slow pace until the race's final three kilometers.

On the penultimate stage, Frenchman Anquetil was attacked several times. Felice Gimondi finally made the decisive attack, escaping alone and winning by four minutes. Jacques Anquetil considered himself robbed, claiming that Felice Gimondi had escaped by being taken away by the assistant race director's car. He finished third in the Giro, behind Felice Gimondi and Franco Balmamion. Jacques Anquetil's words were corroborated on his deathbed in 2012 by Giovanni Michelotti, the race director at the time.

Classification leadership

Two leader's jerseys were worn during the 1967 Giro d'Italia. 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 were no time bonuses in 1967.

For the points classification, which awarded a red jersey to its leader, cyclists were given points for finishing a stage in the top 15.

A major secondary classification was the mountains classification. In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists. There were three categories of mountains. The first category awarded 50, 40, 30, 20, and 10 points, the second distributed 40, 30, 20, and 10 points, and the third category gave 30, 20, and 10 points. The highest climb of the Giro was designated as Cima Coppi, and gave 200, 100, 80, 70 and 50 points.

There was also an intermediate sprints classification.

Although no jersey was awarded, there was also one classification for the teams. Here riders scored points for their teams for a high stage finish, leading the general classification, or beging amongst the first riders at a mountain pass or intermediate sprint.

Final standings

General classification

Mountains classification

Points classification

Team classification

References

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography

References

1. (12 June 1967). "Gimondi, vencedor del "Giro" del Cincuentenario". El Mundo Deportivo.
2. (19 May 1967). "Gli iscritti". PCI.
3. Bill and Carol McGann. "1967 Giro d'Italia". Dog Ear Publishing.
4. Gino Sala. (20 May 1967). "Inizia la battaglia fra Motta Anquetil Gimondi Adorni e Edy Merckx". PCI.
5. Sergio Neri. (29 March 1967). "Giro: dal fuoco dell'Etna alle nevi della leggenda". Corriere dello Sport.
6. Juan Plans. (7 April 1967). "En las Bodas de Oro del "Giro"". El Mundo Deportivo.
7. (19 May 1967). "Anquetil et Merckx contre les Italiens". L'Impartial.
8. (19 May 1967). "Samedi a 00H.00: Debut du Giro Cinquantenaire". Nouvelliste du Rhône.
9. Barry Ryan. (13 May 2020). "Volcanic interruption: Mount Etna and the Giro d'Italia". Future Publishing Limited.
10. (19 May 1967). "Le tappe". PCI.
11. Philippe Brunel. (13 May 2016). "Et Gimondi vola un Giro à Anquetil...".
12. Laura Weislo. (13 May 2008). "Giro d'Italia classifications demystified". Future Publishing Limited.
13. (19 May 1966). "Regolamento". Corriere dello Sport.
14. "Informatie over de Giro d'Italia van 1967". tourdefrancestatistieken.nl.
15. (12 June 1967). "Giorno per giorno il Giro d'Italia del cinquantenario". PCI.
16. (13 June 1967). "Como se preveia, Gimondi gano el <>". Diari de Girona Media, S.L..