The 1993 Giro d'Italia, (), was the 76th edition of the race. It started off in Porto Azzurro on 23 May with a split stage, with the first leg being a mass-start stage and the latter an individual time trial. The race ended on 13 June with a stage that stretched from Biella to Milan. Twenty teams entered the race, which was won by Miguel Induráin of the team. Second and third respectively were the Latvian Piotr Ugrumov and the Italian rider, Claudio Chiappucci. Indurain's victory in the 1993 Giro was his first step in completing the Giro – Tour double – winning the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in one calendar year – becoming the first rider to repeat this feat in consecutive years.
Moreno Argentin was the first rider to wear the race leader's maglia rosa () after winning the opening stage. Argentin held that lead for ten more days before losing it to Miguel Induráin after the conclusion stage 10. Bruno Leali stole the lead away from Indurain after the race's eleventh leg and held it until the end of the fourteenth day of racing. Indurain gained the lead after mountainous stage 14 and then held it all the way to the Giro's finish in Milan.
Indurain became the first Spanish rider to win the Giro d'Italia in consecutive years. Amongst the other classifications that the race awarded, Italian Adriano Baffi of won the points competition, 's Claudio Chiappucci won the mountains classification, 's Pavel Tonkov completed the Giro as the best rider aged 25 or younger in the general classification, finishing fifth overall, and Ján Svorada of Lampre-Polti won the intergiro competition. Lampre-Polti finished as the winners of the team classification, ranking each of the twenty teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time. Ariostea finished as winners of the team points classification.
Teams
Twenty teams were invited by the race organizers to participate in the 1993 edition of the Giro d'Italia, seven of which were based outside of Italy. Each team sent a squad of nine riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 180 cyclists. Italy (78), France (24), Spain (17), Germany (11), and Colombia (10) all had more than 10 riders. Of these, 69 were riding the Giro d'Italia for the first time. The average age of riders was 27.69 years, ranging from 21–year–old Alexandr Shefer () to 35–year–old Bruno Leali (). The team with the youngest average rider age was (25), while the oldest was (29). From the riders that began the race, 132 made it to the finish in Milan.
The teams that took part in the race were:
Pre-race favorites
The starting peloton included the 1992 winner, Miguel Induráin, who had not had a successful start to his 1993 campaign. He hoped to repeat as winner of the Giro and the Tour for the second consecutive year, stating "My main objective remains the Tour de France, but I will still try to win the Giro." If Indurain would win the two Grand Tours in the season, he would be the fourth rider to accomplish winning the Giro and Tour in one season twice in their career. Despite this, Indurain was viewed as the favorite to win the general classification. Maurizio Fondriest () was thought to have entered in peak form after winning several races in the spring campaign, including Milan–San Remo and Tirreno–Adriatico. El Mundo Deportivo writer Javier de Dalmases believed Fondirest would be the first rider to don the race leader's maglia rosa (). Indurain felt Fondriest was the rider to watch in the race's first week.
Gianni Bugno (), who won the race in 1990, prepared at lengths for the race and was seen as a threat in the time trial stages. Bugno won only one race before the Giro started, the Grand Prix Gippingen earlier in May, but was thought to have a strong showing at the Amstel Gold Race. Author Bill McGann dismissed Bugno saying that his ability to "win at will" had passed. With no victories in the season, 1991 winner and 3rd-place finisher in 1992, Franco Chioccioli () was considered a dark–horse contender. Other favorites named for the race included Pavel Tonkov and 1988 winner Andrew Hampsten as contenders for the overall crown. Claudio Chiappucci was thought to be one of the most potent climbers in the race. Specifically, a L'Express writer commented that Chiappucci's performance on the Sestriere time trial in the 1992 Tour de France as an example of his climbing prowess. In addition, he had several second-place finishes in the Giro and Tour the previous year.
Famed sprinters Mario Cipollini and Djamolidine Abdoujaparov did not compete in the race, while Dutch sprinter Jean-Paul van Poppel was going to race in the Giro but was left off the roster before it started. With the aforementioned riders' absence, Dalmases stated that Italian Adriano Baffi would likely win some of the flat stages.
Route and stages
While the start on Elba was announced on 9 October, the entire route for the 1993 Giro d'Italia was unveiled by race director Carmine Castellano on 14 November 1992. It contained three time trial events, all of which were individual. There were nine stages containing high mountains, of which five had summit finishes: stage 3, to Sella di Corno; stage 13, to Passo delle Erbe; stage 15, to Lumezzane; stage 17, to Chianale; and stage 20, to Oropa. Another stage with a mountain-top finish was stage 19, which consisted of a climbing time trial to village of Sestriere. The organizers chose to include one rest day. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was shorter, contained one more rest day, more mountains, and lacked an opening time trial prologue. In addition, this race contained one fewer stage, but two more sets of half stages. For the first time since 1954, when live coverage began, the race was not broadcast by RAI. Instead it was broadcast by Reti Televisive Italiane (RTI) on the Italia 1 channel.
The race began with a split stage on the island of Elba, where Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled briefly in 1814. This was the first time the race began on the island of Elba. The race last visited in 1980 where the race finished in Portoferraio with a sprint finish won by Carmelo Barone. The route contained less time trials than the 1992 route, which Italian rider Claudio Chiappucci had requested. The race's fourteenth stage, which began and ended in Corvara, was named the queen stage for the amount of difficult mountains contained in the stage. Italian rider Franco Chioccioli liked that there were more points of attack in the race and believed that played into Miguel Induráin's hands.
+Stage resultsStageDateCourseDistanceTypeWinner1a23 MayPorto Azzurro to Portoferraio Stage with mountain(s)1bPortoferraio Individual time trial224 MayGrosseto to Rieti Plain stage325 MayRieti to Scanno Stage with mountain(s)426 MayLago di Scanno to Marcianise Plain stage527 MayPaestum to Terme Luigiane Stage with mountain(s)628 MayVillafranca Tirrena to Messina Plain stage729 MayCapo d'Orlando to Agrigento Plain stageNote: Later admitted doping.830 MayAgrigento to Palermo Plain stage31 May Rest day91 JuneMontelibretti to Fabriano Plain stage102 JuneSenigallia to Senigallia Individual time trial113 JuneSenigallia to Dozza Plain stage124 JuneDozza to Asiago Stage with mountain(s)135 JuneAsiago to Corvara Stage with mountain(s)146 JuneCorvara to Corvara Stage with mountain(s)157 JuneCorvara to Lumezzane Stage with mountain(s)168 JuneLumezzane to Borgo Val di Taro Plain stage179 JuneVarazze to Pontechianale Stage with mountain(s)1810 JuneSampeyre to Fossano Plain stage1911 JunePinerolo to Sestriere Individual time trial2012 JuneTurin to Santuario di Oropa Stage with mountain(s)2113 JuneBiella to Milan Plain stage Total
Race overview
This edition of the Giro began with a split stage, with the morning leg consisting of an undulating course and the afternoon stage being a brief individual time trial. Moreno Argentin won the morning stage after attacking on the final climb of the day to win the leg by thirty-four seconds over the chasing peloton. The afternoon time trial navigated the streets of Portoferraio and was won by Italian Maurizio Fondriest. The Giro's second stage was relatively a flat route that culminated with a sprint finish which was won by Adriano Baffi. The next day saw the first uphill finish to the Selle di Corno. General classification hopeful Piotr Ugrumov positioned himself in the day's breakaway and attacked up the final climb to win the stage and climb to second overall.
The Giro's fourth stage ended with a sprint finish that was won by Italian Fabio Baldato. Jolly Componibili–Club 88's Dimitri Konyshev attacked in the closing kilometers of the fifth stage to take the win. The day of racing concluded with a sprint finish in Messina, which was won by Italian Guido Bontempi. Bjarne Riis (who later admitted doping), Giancarlo Perini, and Michele Coppolillo made up the leading breakaway as the race made its way into the stage seven finish in Agrigento. Riis and Coppolillo pulled away from Perini in the final seconds and Riis subsequently edged out Perini for the victory. The race's eighth leg came down to a sprint finish in Palermo, where Adriano Baffi bested the likes of Endrio Leoni and Fabio Baldato for the win.
The race's ninth stage began in Montelibretti after the race necessitated the transfer to the city during the rest day the day before. The riders were preparing for a sprint finish when Giorgio Furlan and Mario Chiesa attacked with about of racing to go. The two riders successfully fended off the chasing peloton and went on to the finish in Fabriano, where Furlan managed to beat out Chiesa for the victory. The stage 10 individual time trial began and ended in the city of Senigallia. Miguel Induráin dominated the course and gained over a minute on race leader Moreno Argentin, which allowed him to gain the overall lead of the race and don the race leader's maglia rosa ().
Stage eleven was marred by rainy weather, which caused many splits in the peloton. Fabio Fontanelli won the stage as a member of the lead group, but tenth-place finisher Bruno Leali gained a six-second race lead by finishing more than three minutes in front of overall leader Miguel Induráin. The Giro's twelfth stage began with a large climb which led to many attacks. Despite the flurry of attacks, the whole peloton eventually made it to the finish line together for a sprint finish that was won by Russian Dimitri Konyshev.
The thirteenth stage saw the first stage that contained mountains from the Dolomites. On the penultimate climb of the day, the Passo di Eores, a lead group broke away that contained the likes of Andrew Hampsten, Ugrumov, and Massimiliano Lelli. The riders stayed out in front over the final climb of the Passi delle Erbe, but were eventually caught by the chase group containing the race leader Leoni. Moreno Argentin edged out Lelli for his second stage victory at the 1993 Giro d'Italia. The next day's route was even more demanding as it contained two ascents of the Passo Pordoi, as well as the climbing of three other highly categorized climbs. Miguel Induráin, Ugrumov, Claudio Chiappucci, and a few other general classification hopefuls were in the leading breakaway as they crossed the Pordoi for the second time. The group rode into the finish in Corvara with race leader Leoni trailing by several minutes. Chiappucci won the sprint to the line, while Indurain regained the overall lead.