The 1935 Giro d'Italia was the 23rd edition of the Giro d'Italia, organized and sponsored by the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. The race began on 18 May in Milan with a stage that stretched to Cremona, finishing back in Milan on 9 June after a stage and a total distance covered of . The race was won by the Italian rider Vasco Bergamaschi of the Maino team, with fellow Italians Giuseppe Martano and Giuseppe Olmo coming in second and third respectively.

This Giro saw the last participation of Alfredo Binda and the first of Gino Bartali, then 20 years old, who won the mountains classification.

Participants

Of the 101 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 18 May, 62 of them made it to the finish in Milan on 9 June. Riders were allowed to ride on their own or as a member of a team; 55 riders competed as part of a team, while the remaining 46 competed independently. There were eight teams that competed in the race: Bianchi, Dei, Fréjus, Gloria, Helyett, Legnano, and Maino.

The peloton was primarily composed of Italians. The field featured seven former Giro d'Italia champions in five-time winner Alfredo Binda, two-time champion Costante Girardengo, and single race winners, Francesco Camusso, Luigi Marchisio, Antonio Pesenti, Learco Guerra, and Vasco Bergamaschi. Other notable Italian riders that started the race included Giuseppe Olmo, Raffaele Di Paco, Remo Bertoni, and Domenico Piemontesi. French cyclist and two-time Tour de France champion André Leducq entered the Giro d'Italia for the first time in his career. Other notable non-Italian riders included: Maurice Archambaud, Jef Demuysere, and René Vietto.

At the start of this Giro, there were 6 former Giro winners (Girardengo, Marchisio, Camusso, Pesenti, Binda and Guerra), winning in total eleven stages, a record in Giro history. Also present were Bergamaschi and Bartali, making for a total of 15 Giro victories between 1919 and 1946, another record.

Race summary Bergamaschi won the sprint in the first stage, and became the first leader. The second stage saw an escape by Piemontesi and Fantini; Piemontesi won the stage by a few seconds, and took the pink jersey.

The third stage ended in a bunch sprint won by Guerra, and Piemontesi stayed in the lead. The fourth stage also ended in a bunch sprint won by Guerra, but Piemontesi lost time in that stage, so Fantini inherited the pink jersey.

The first half of the fifth stage was a time trial. Olmo won, and became the new leader, with Bergamaschi in second place. The sixth stage was the pivotal moment of the 1935 Giro: a group escaped, including Bergamaschi and Bartali. Both were not seen as potential Giro winners, but had started this Giro as domestiques for their team captains Girardengo and Martano. The group was given freedom to ride away; afterwards other teams complained that the Giro organisation did not inform them about the margin. At the finish line, Bartali won his first ever Giro stage, and Bergamaschi won enough time to become the new leader in the general classification.

In the stages that followed, Bergamaschi did not crack. Helped by his strong team, he was even able to win some more time, and became the surprise winner of the 1935 Giro.

Route and stages For the first time, some stages were split in two. The two parts of each split stage were held on the same day, with a short resting time in between.

+ Stage resultsStageDateCourseDistanceTypeIn 1935, there was no distinction in the rules between plain stages and mountain stages; the icons shown here indicate that the stages 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13a, 14, 15, and 17 included major mountains.Winner 1 18 May Milan to Cremona Plain stage 2 19 May Cremona to Mantua Stage with mountain(s) 3 20 May Mantua to Rovigo Plain stage 4 21 May Rovigo to Cesenatico Plain stage 5a 22 May Cesena to Riccione Individual time trial 5b Riccione to Portocivitanova Plain stage 23 May Rest day 6 24 May Portocivitanova to L'Aquila Stage with mountain(s) 7 25 May L'Aquila to Lanciano Stage with mountain(s) 8 26 May Lanciano to Bari Plain stage 27 May Rest day 9 28 May Bari to Naples Stage with mountain(s) 29 May Rest day 10 30 May Naples to Rome Stage with mountain(s) 11 31 May Rome to Florence Stage with mountain(s) 1 June Rest day 12 2 June Florence to Montecatini Terme Stage with mountain(s) 13a 3 June Montecatini Terme to Lucca Stage with mountain(s) 13b Lucca to Viareggio Individual time trial 14 4 June Viareggio to Genoa Stage with mountain(s) 5 June Rest day 15 6 June Genoa to Cuneo Stage with mountain(s) 16 7 June Cuneo to Asti Plain stage 17 8 June Asti to Turin Stage with mountain(s) 18 9 June Turin to Milan Plain stage Total

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. Time bonuses were removed in the 1935 Giro.

The highest ranked non-Italian cyclist in the general classification and the highest ranked isolati cyclist in the general classification were tracked.

In the mountains classification, the race organizers selected different mountains that the route crossed and awarded points to the 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 rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.

Stage WinnerGeneral classificationBest foreign riderBest isolati riderMountains classificationTeam classification 1 Vasco Bergamaschi Vasco Bergamaschi Adrien Buttafocchi Armando Zucchini not awarded Maino 2 Domenico Piemontesi Domenico Piemontesi 3 Learco Guerra 4 Learco Guerra Walter Fantini Gloria 5a Giuseppe Olmo Giuseppe Olmo Maino 5b Antonio Folco 6 Gino Bartali Vasco Bergamaschi René Debenne Ambrogio Morelli Gino Bartali Fréjus 7 Learco Guerra 8 Learco Guerra 9 Raffaele Di Paco 10 Learco Guerra 11 Vasco Bergamaschi Maurice Archambaud 12 Giuseppe Olmo 13a René Debenne 13b Maurice Archambaud 14 Raffaele Di Paco 15 Giuseppe Olmo 16 Giuseppe Olmo 17 Raffaele Di Paco 18 Raffaele Di Paco Final Vasco Bergamaschi Maurice Archambaud Ambrogio Morelli Gino Bartali Fréjus

Final standings

Legend      Denotes the winner of the General classification      Denotes the winner of the isolated rider classification

General classification

+ Final general classification (1–10)RankNameTeamTime 1 Maino 2 Fréjus + 3' 07" 3 Gloria + 6' 12" 4 Maino + 7' 22" 5 Dei + 9' 19" 6 Legnano + 9' 46" 7 Fréjus + 9' 46" 8 Gloria + 16' 01" 9 Gloria + 16' 03" 10 — + 17' 01"

Foreign rider classification

+ Final foreign rider classification (1–10)RankNameTeamTime 1 Dei 2 Dei + 21' 55" 3 Fréjus + 23' 53" 4 Helyett + 37' 14" 5 Helyett + 48' 54" 6 Bianchi + 1h 02' 10" 7 Dei + 1h 04' 41" 8 Helyett + 1h 15' 07" 9 Dei + 1h 15' 56" 10 Helyett + 1h 37' 39"

Isolati rider classification

+ Final isolati rider classification (1–10)RankNameTime 1 2 + 2' 03" 3 + 22' 10" 4 + 23' 03" 5 + 24' 26" 6 + 32' 05" 7 + 32' 40" 8 + 33' 17" 9 + 33' 30" 10 + 37' 18"

Mountains classification

+ Final mountains classification (1–9)NameTeamPoints 1 Fréjus 44 2 Legnano 28 3 Fréjus 14 4 Legnano 9 5 Fréjus 9 6 Legnano 6 7 Maino 5 7 Gloria 5 7 — 5

Team classification

+ Final team classification (1–6)TeamTime 1 Fréjus 2 Maino + 9' 35" 3 Dei + 16' 35" 4 Gloria + 25' 58" 5 Legnano + 27' 30" 6 Helyett + 2h 22' 39"

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography