| 1979 Giro d'Italia | |
| Date: | 17 May - 6 June 1979 |
| Stages: | 19 + Prologue |
| Distance: | 3301 |
| Unit: | km |
| Time: | 89h 29' 18" |
| Speed: | 36.887 |
| First: | Giuseppe Saronni |
| First Nat: | ITA |
| First Team: | Scic-Bottecchia |
| First Color: | pink |
| Second: | Francesco Moser |
| Second Nat: | ITA |
| Second Team: | Sanson Gelati-Luxor TV |
| Third: | Bernt Johansson |
| Third Nat: | SWE |
| Third Team: | Magniflex-Famcucine |
| Points: | Giuseppe Saronni |
| Points Nat: | ITA |
| Points Team: | Scic-Bottecchia |
| Points Color: | violet |
| Mountains: | Claudio Bortolotto |
| Mountains Nat: | ITA |
| Mountains Team: | Sanson Gelati-Luxor TV |
| Mountains Color: | green |
| Youth: | Silvano Contini |
| Youth Nat: | ITA |
| Youth Team: | Bianchi-Faema |
| Team: | Sanson Gelati-Luxor TV |
| Next: | 1980 |
The 1979 Giro d'Italia was the 62nd running of the Giro, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in Florence, on 17 May, with an 8km (05miles) prologue and concluded in Milan, on 6 June, with a 44km (27miles) individual time trial. A total of 130 riders from thirteen teams entered the 19-stage race, that was won by Italian Giuseppe Saronni of the Scic-Bottecchia team. The second and third places were taken by Italian Francesco Moser and Swede Bernt Johansson, respectively.[1] [2]
In addition to the general classification, Saronni won the points classification, Amongst the other classifications that the race awarded, Claudio Bortolotto of Sanson Gelati-Luxor TV won the mountains classification, and Bianchi-Faema's Silvano Contini completed the Giro as the best rider aged 24 or under in the general classification, finishing fifth overall. Sanson Gelati-Luxor TV finishing as the winners of the team classification, ranking each of the twenty teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time.
See main article: List of teams and cyclists in the 1979 Giro d'Italia. Thirteen of the fourteen teams invited to the 1979 Giro d'Italia participated in the race.[3] Kas were forced to decline their invitation, in favor of racing the Vuelta a España, by the Spanish Federation which wanted the "best Hispanic" peloton to be competing in Vuelta that year.[4] Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 130 cyclists.[3] From the riders that began this edition, 111 made it to the finish in Milan.[5]
The teams entering the race were:[3] [6]
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The starting peloton did include the 1978 winner, Johan De Muynck. Successful French rider Bernard Hinault did not enter the race.[7] [8]
The route was unveiled on 22 March 1979.[9] [10] Covering a total of 3301km (2,051miles), it included five individual time trials, and nine stages with categorized climbs that awarded mountains classification points.[5] [11] The organizers chose to include two rest days. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was 309km (192miles) shorter and contained one more time trial. In addition, this race contained one less stage.
| Stage | Date | Course | Distance | Type | Winner | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | 17 May | Florence to Florence | 8km (05miles) | Individual time trial | |||
| 1 | 18 May | Florence to Perugia | 156km (97miles) | Plain stage | |||
| 2 | 19 May | Perugia to Castel Gandolfo | 204km (127miles) | Plain stage | |||
| 3 | 20 May | Caserta to Naples | 31km (19miles) | Individual time trial | |||
| 4 | 21 May | Caserta to Potenza | 210km (130miles) | Stage with mountain(s) | |||
| 5 | 22 May | Potenza to Vieste | 223km (139miles) | Stage with mountain(s) | |||
| 6 | 23 May | Vieste to Chieti | 260km (160miles) | Plain stage | |||
| 7 | 24 May | Chieti to Pesaro | 252km (157miles) | Plain stage | |||
| 8 | 25 May | Rimini to City of San Marino (San Marino) | 28km (17miles) | Individual time trial | |||
| 9 | 26 May | City of San Marino (San Marino) to Pistoia | 248km (154miles) | Stage with mountain(s) | |||
| 10 | 27 May | Lerici to Portovenere | 25km (16miles) | Individual time trial | |||
| 11 | 28 May | La Spezia to Voghera | 212km (132miles) | Stage with mountain(s) | |||
| 12 | 29 May | Alessandria to Saint-Vincent | 204km (127miles) | Plain stage | |||
| 13 | 30 May | Aosta to Meda | 229km (142miles) | Stage with mountain(s) | |||
| 14 | 31 May | Meda to Bosco Chiesanuova | 212km (132miles) | Stage with mountain(s) | |||
| 15 | 1 June | Verona to Treviso | 121km (75miles) | Plain stage | |||
| 16 | 2 June | Treviso to Pieve di Cadore | 195km (121miles) | Stage with mountain(s) | |||
| 3 June | Rest day | ||||||
| 17 | 4 June | Pieve di Cadore to Trento | 194km (121miles) | Stage with mountain(s) | |||
| 18 | 5 June | Trento to Barzio | 245km (152miles) | Stage with mountain(s) | |||
| 19 | 6 June | Cesano Maderno to Milan | 44km (27miles) | Individual time trial | |||
| Total | 3301km (2,051miles) | ||||||
There were four main individual classifications contested in the 1979 Giro d'Italia, as well as a team competition. Four of them awarded jerseys to their leaders. The general classification was the most important and was calculated by adding each rider's finishing times on each stage.[13] The rider with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the general classification and was considered the overall winner of the Giro.[13] The rider leading the classification wore a pink jersey to signify the classification's leadership.[13]
The second classification was the points classification. Riders received points for finishing in the top positions in a stage finish, with first place getting the most points, and lower placings getting successively fewer points.[13] The rider leading this classification wore a purple (or cyclamen) jersey.[13] The mountains classification was the third classification and its leader was denoted by the green jersey. 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. Most stages of the race included one or more categorized climbs, in which points were awarded to the riders that reached the summit first. The Cima Coppi, the race's highest point of elevation, awarded more points than the other first category climbs.[13] The Cima Coppi for this Giro was the Passo Pordoi, which was first crossed by Italian rider Leonardo Natale. The fourth classification, the young rider classification, was decided the same way as the general classification, but exclusive to neo-professional cyclists (in their first three years of professional racing). The leader of the classification wore a white jersey.[14] In addition, the rider had to be aged 24 and younger.[15] The final classification, the team classification, awarded no jersey to its leaders. This was calculated by adding together points earned by each rider on the team during each stage through the intermediate sprints, the categorized climbs, stage finishes, etc. The team with the most points led the classification.
There were other minor classifications within the race, including the Campionato delle Regioni classification. The leader wore a blue jersey with colored vertical stripes ("maglia azzurra con banda tricolore verticale").[16] The Fiat Ritmo classification, which was created in honor Juan Manuel Santisteban who died in stage 1A of 1976 edition.[17] In all stages longer than 131km (81miles), there was a banner at that point in the stage to designate a special sprint.[17] The winner of the sprint in each stage received a Fiat Ritmo.[17]
| Rank | Name | Team | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scic-Bottecchia | |||
| 2 | Sanson Gelati-Luxor TV | + 2' 09" | ||
| 3 | Magniflex-Famcucine | + 3' 13" | ||
| 4 | Peugeot-Esso-Michelin | + 5' 31" | ||
| 5 | Bianchi-Faema | + 7' 33" | ||
| 6 | Mecap-Hoonved | + 7' 50" | ||
| 7 | Mobilificio San Giacomo | + 11' 27" | ||
| 8 | Scic-Bottecchia | + 13' 07" | ||
| 9 | Willora-Piz Buin-Bonanza | + 14' 16" | ||
| 10 | CBM Fast-Gaggia | + 16' 11" |
| Rider | Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scic-Bottecchia | 275 | |
| 2 | Sanson Gelati-Luxor TV | 274 | |
| 3 | Magniflex-Famcucine | 260 | |
| 4 | Mecap-Hoonved | 130 | |
| 5 | Peugeot-Esso-Michelin | 118 | |
| Rider | Team | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sanson Gelati-Luxor TV | 495 | ||
| 2 | Willora-Piz Buin-Bonanza | 330 | ||
| 3 | Magniflex-Famcucine | 300 | ||
| 4 | Mecap-Hoonved | 215 | ||
| 5 | Magniflex-Famcucine | align=right rowspan="3" | 170 | |
| Magniflex-Famcucine | ||||
| G.B.C.-Galli-Castelli | ||||
| 8 | Sapa Assicurazioni | align=right rowspan="2" | 150 | |
| Scic-Bottecchia | ||||
| 10 | Sanson Gelati-Luxor TV | 130 | ||
| Rider | Team | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bianchi-Faema | 89h 36' 51" | |
| 2 | CBM Fast-Gaggia | + 8' 38" | |
| 3 | Sapa Assicurazioni | + 11' 24" | |
| Rider | Team | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CBM Fast-Gaggia | 46 | ||
| 2 | Mobilificio San Giacomo | align=right rowspan="3" | 24 | |
| Sapa Assicurazioni | ||||
| Mobilificio San Giacomo |
| Rider | Team | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sapa Assicurazioni | 46 | ||
| 2 | Mobilificio San Giacomo | 44 | ||
| 3 | Zonca-Santini | 30 |
| Team | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sanson Gelati-Luxor TV | ? |
| 2 | Scic-Bottecchia | + 6' 48" |
| 3 | Magniflex-Famcucine | + 10' 42" |