The 1997 Giro d'Italia was the 80th edition of the Giro. It began on 17 May with a mass-start stage that began and ended in Venice. The race came to a close on 8 June with a mass-start stage that ended in the Italian city of Milan. Eighteen teams entered the race that was won by the Italian Ivan Gotti of the team. Second and third were the Russian rider Pavel Tonkov and Italian Giuseppe Guerini.
In the race's other classifications, rider Chepe González won the mountains classification, Mario Cipollini of the Saeco team won the points classification, and rider Dimitri Konyshev won the intergiro classification. Kelme – Costa Blanca 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 Saeco.
Teams
Eighteen teams were invited by the race organizers to participate in the 1997 edition of the Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 180 cyclists. From the riders that began the race, 110 made it to the finish in Milan.
The eighteen teams that took part in the race were:
MG Maglificio–Technogym
Route and stages
The route for the 1997 Giro d'Italia was unveiled by race director Carmine Castellano on 9 November 1996 in Milan. It contained two time trial events, all of which were individual. There were ten stages containing high mountains, of which three had summit finishes: stage 5, to Monte Terminillo; stage 14, to Breuil-Cervinia; and stage 20, to Passo del Tonale. The organizers chose to include one rest day. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was shorter, contained the same amount of rest days and stages, as well as one more individual time trial.
+List of stagesStageDateCourseDistanceTypeWinner117 MayVenezia to Venezia Plain stage 218 MayMestre to Cervia Plain stage 319 MaySantarcangelo di Romagna to San Marino (San Marino) Individual time trial 420 MaySan Marino (San Marino) to Arezzo Plain stage 521 MayArezzo to Monte Terminillo Stage with mountain(s) 622 MayRieti to Lanciano Stage with mountain(s) 723 MayLanciano to Mondragone Stage with mountain(s) 824 MayMondragone to Cava de' Tirreni Plain stage 925 MayCava de' Tirreni to Castrovillari Stage with mountain(s) 1026 MayCastrovillari to Taranto Plain stage 27 May Rest day1128 MayLido di Camaiore to Lido di Camaiore Plain stage 1229 MayLa Spezia to Varazze Stage with mountain(s) 1330 MayVarazze to Cuneo Plain stage 1431 MayRacconigi to Breuil-Cervinia Stage with mountain(s) 151 JuneVerrès to Borgomanero Stage with mountain(s) 162 JuneBorgomanero to Dalmine Plain stage 173 JuneDalmine to Verona Plain stage 184 JuneBaselga di Pinè to Cavalese Individual time trial 195 JunePredazzo to Pfalzen Stage with mountain(s)206 JuneBruneck to Passo del Tonale Stage with mountain(s) 217 JuneMalè to Edolo Stage with mountain(s) 228 JuneBoario Terme to Milan Plain stage Total
Classification leadership
Four different jerseys were worn during the 1997 Giro d'Italia. The leader of the general classification – 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, which awarded a purple (or cyclamen) 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 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 race's highest point of elevation, awarded more points than the other first category climbs. The Cima Coppi for this Giro was the Pordoi Pass and was first climbed by the Colombian José Jaime González. 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.
+Classification leadership by stage Stage WinnerGeneral classificationPoints classificationMountains classificationIntergiro classificationTrofeo Fast Team 1 Mario Cipollini Mario Cipollini Mario Cipollini not awarded Dimitri Konyshev 2 Mario Cipollini 3 Pavel Tonkov Pavel Tonkov Pavel Tonkov Mapei–GB 4 Mario Cipollini 5 Pavel Tonkov 6 Roberto Sgambelluri 7 Marcel Wüst 8 Mario Manzoni Mariano Piccoli Asics-C.G.A. 9 Dimitri Konyshev 10 Mario Cipollini 11 Gabriele Missaglia 12 Giuseppe Di Grande 13 Glenn Magnusson 14 Ivan Gotti Ivan Gotti José Jaime González Team Polti 15 Alessandro Baronti Asics-C.G.A. 16 Fabiano Fontanelli 17 Mirco Gualdi Team Polti 18 Serhij Hončar 19 José Luis Rubiera Kelme–Costa Blanca 20 José Jaime González 21 Pavel Tonkov 22 Mario Cipollini Final Ivan Gotti Mario Cipollini José Jaime González Dimitri Konyshev Kelme–Costa Blanca
Final standings
Legend Denotes the winner of the General classification Denotes the winner of the Mountains classification Denotes the winner of the Points classification Denotes the winner of the Intergiro classification
General classification
RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 1' 27" 3 + 7' 40" 4 Aki–Safi + 12' 20" 5 Aki–Safi + 12' 44" 6 + 12' 48" 7 + 12' 54" 8 + 16' 07" 9 + 18' 08" 10 + 18' 56"
Points classification
RiderTeamPoints 1 202 2 146 3 145 4 121 5 102 6 93 7 92 8 81 9 10 Batik–Del Monte 74
Mountains classification
RiderTeamPoints 1 99 2 35 3 28 4 24 5 23 6 16 7 8 Asics–CGA 15 9 10 14
Intergiro classification
RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 3' 01" 3 + 3' 15" 4Aki–Safi + 3' 22" 5 Batik–Del Monte + 3' 41"
Trofeo Fast Team classification
TeamTime 1 2 + 14' 07" 3 + 33' 18" 4 + 36' 21" 5Aki–Safi + 40' 12" 6 + 45' 39" 7Asics–CGA + 1h 01' 25" 8 + 1h 09' 24"9 + 1h 19' 39" 10 + 1h 57' 47"
Trofeo Super Team classification
TeamPoints 1 399 2 391 3 367 4 365 5Aki–Safi 306 6 304 7 284 8 283 9Asics–CGA 280 10 244
References
Citations