The 1977 Giro d'Italia was the 60th running of the Giro, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in Bacoli, on 20 May, with a prologue and concluded in Milan, on 13 June, with a mass-start stage. A total of 130 riders from thirteen teams entered the 22-stage race, that was won by Belgian Michel Pollentier of the Flandria team. The second and third places were taken by Italians Francesco Moser and Gianbattista Baronchelli, respectively. Freddy Maertens won 7 of the first 11 stages before abandoning due to a crash on Stage 8B.

Maertens was one of five riders within 1:00 of the lead at the time of his abandonment. This followed his performance of winning 13 stages along with the General Classification at the Vuelta a month earlier.

Moser took the Pink jersey from Maertens in the first week and held it until the high mountains of stage 17 which ended in Cortina d'Ampezzo where Pollentier took a :03 lead by beating Moser by :25. Over the next few stages he built this lead up to about 2:00 before the final time trial where he won the stage by :30 over 2nd place Moser and sealed the Giro victory.

Amongst the other classifications that the race awarded, Sanson's Moser won the points classification, Faustino Fernández Ovies of KAS won the mountains classification, and Sanson's Mario Beccia completed the Giro as the best neo-professional in the general classification, finishing ninth overall. Flandria finished as the winners of the team points classification.

Teams

Fourteen teams were invited by the race organizers to participate in the 1977 edition of the Giro d'Italia. In total, 90 riders were from Italy, while the remaining 50 riders came from: Spain (20), Belgium (17), Switzerland (4), Denmark (2), West Germany (2), Australia (1), France (1), Great Britain (1), Norway (1), and Sweden (1). Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 140 cyclists.

Of those starting, 52 were riding the Giro d'Italia for the first time. The average age of riders was 27.29 years, ranging from 20–year–old Per Bausager (Zoppas Frag) to 36–year–old Franco Bitossi (Vibor). The team with the youngest average rider age was GBC (24), while the oldest was Brooklyn (30). From those that started, 121 of them finish in Milan.

The teams entering the race were:

Bianchi Brooklyn Fiorella GBC Jolly Ceramica KAS Flandria Magniflex Sanson Scic Selle Royal Teka Vibor Zonca

Pre-race favorites

The starting peloton did include the 1976 winner, Felice Gimondi. Freddy Maertens, Gianbattista Baronchelli, and Gimondi were seen by many news outlets to be the favorites to win the race.

Route and stages

The route for the race was revealed on 19 February 1977.

+ Stage characteristics and winnersStageDateCourseDistanceTypeWinnerP20 MayBacoli to Monte di ProcidaIndividual time trial 121 MayLago Miseno to Avellino Plain stage 2a22 MayAvellino to Foggia Plain stage 2bFoggia to Foggia Plain stage 323 MayFoggia to Isernia Plain stage 424 MayIsernia to Pescara Plain stage 525 MayPescara to Monteluco di Spoleto Stage with mountain(s) 6a26 MaySpoleto to Gabicce Mare Plain stage 6bGabicce Mare to Gabicce Mare Plain stage 727 MayGabicce Mare to Forlì Stage with mountain(s) 8a28 MayForlì to Circuito del Mugello Stage with mountain(s) 8bCircuito del Mugello to Circuito del Mugello Plain stage 929 MayLucca to PisaIndividual time trial 1030 MayPisa to Salsomaggiore Terme Stage with mountain(s) 1131 MaySalsomaggiore Terme to Santa Margherita Ligure Stage with mountain(s) 1 June Rest day122 JuneSanta Margherita Ligure-San Giacomo di Roburent Stage with mountain(s) 133 JuneMondovì to Varzi Stage with mountain(s) 144 JuneVoghera to Vicenza Plain stage 155 JuneVicenza to Trieste Plain stage 16a6 JuneTrieste to Gemona del Friuli Plain stage 16bGemona del Friuli to Conegliano Plain stage 177 JuneConegliano to Cortina d'Ampezzo Stage with mountain(s) 188 JuneCortina d'Ampezzo to Pinzolo Stage with mountain(s) 199 JunePinzolo to San Pellegrino Terme Stage with mountain(s) 2010 JuneSan Pellegrino Terme to Varese Plain stage 2111 JuneBinago to BinagoIndividual time trial 2212 JuneMilan to Milan Plain stage Total

Classification leadership

There were four main individual classifications contested in the 1977 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. The rider with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the general classification and was considered the overall winner of the Giro. The rider leading the classification wore a pink jersey to signify the classification's leadership.

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. The rider leading this classification wore a purple (or cyclamen) jersey.

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. The Cima Coppi for this Giro was the Valparola Pass. The first rider to cross the Valparola Pass was Spanish rider Faustino Fernández Ovies.

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.

Another classification was 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").

The Fiat classification, created the year before, was repeated again In all stages longer than , there was a banner at that point in the stage to designate a special sprint. The winner of the sprint in each stage received a Fiat 127 in this edition, as opposed to a Fiat 131 in its inaugural year.

+Classification leadership by stage Stage WinnerGeneral classificationPoints classificationMountains classificationYoung rider classification Campionato delle Regioni FIATTeam classification P Freddy Maertens Freddy Maertens Freddy Maertens not awarded José Enrique Cima not awarded not awarded Flandria 1 Freddy Maertens ? Jesús Suárez Cueva 2a Rik Van Linden Faustino Fernández Ovies 2b Luciano Borgognoni 3 Simone Fraccaro Francesco Moser Ercole Gualazzini 4 Freddy Maertens 5 Mario Beccia Francesco Moser Faustino Fernández Ovies Mario Beccia 6a Freddy Maertens 6b Freddy Maertens 7 Freddy Maertens 8a Freddy Maertens 8b Marino Basso 9 Knut Knudsen Francesco Moser 10 Giacinto Santambrogio 11 Claudio Bortolotto 12 Wilmo Francioni 13 Giancarlo Tartoni 14 Marc Demeyer 15 Ercole Gualazzini 16a Marc Demeyer 16b Pierino Gavazzi 17 Giuseppe Perletto Michel Pollentier Wilmo Francioni 18 Gianbattista Baronchelli 19 Renato Laghi 20 Wilmo Francioni 21 Michel Pollentier 22 Luciano Borgognoni Final Michel Pollentier Francesco Moser Faustino Fernández Ovies Mario Beccia Giacinto Santambrogio Jesús Suárez Cueva Flandria

Final standings

Legend      Denotes the winner of the General classification      Denotes the winner of the Points classification      Denotes the winner of the Mountains classification      Denotes the winner of the Young rider classification      Denotes the winner of the Campionato delle Regioni classification General classification

+ Final general classification (1–10)RankNameTeamTime 1 Flandria 2 Sanson + 2' 32" 3 Scic + 4' 02" 4 Magniflex + 7' 50" 5 Scic + 7' 56" 6 Brooklyn + 10' 04" 7 Scic + 12' 28" 8 Sanson + 13' 41" 9 Sanson + 13' 48" 10 Magniflex + 16' 11"

Points classification

+Final points classification (1-9)RiderTeamPoints 1 Sanson 225 2 Scic 183 3 Scic 4 Flandria 153 5 Magniflex 143 6 Flandria 141 7 Scic 133 8 Scic 123 9 Teka 105 Brooklyn

Mountains classification

+Final mountains classification (1-10)RiderTeamPoints 1 Kas–Campagnolo 675 2 Zonca–Santini 490 3 Flandria 340 4 Sanson 220 5 Vibor 195 6 Scic 175 7 Magniflex 120 8 Perletto 110 KAS 10 Scic 100

Young rider classification

+Final young rider classification (1-5)RiderTeamTime 1 Sanson 2 G.B.C. + 7' 34" 3 Jolly Ceramica + 11' 27" 4 Fiorella + 14' 13" 5 Fiorella + 21' 28"

Campionato delle Regioni classification

+Final Campionato delle Regioni classification (1-8)RiderTeamPoints 1 Magniflex 37 2 Scic 12 3 Bianchi 10 4 Brooklyn5 G.B.C. 8 Sanson Brooklyn 8 G.B.C. 6

Traguardo Fiat 127 classification

+Final Traguardo Fiat 127 classification (1-4)RiderTeamPoints 1 Teka 33 2 KAS 26 3 Selle Royal 18 4 Scic 3 Sanson Teka Scic Brooklyn Magniflex

Team points classification

+Final team points classification (1-10)TeamPoints 1 Flandria 11,886 2 Sanson 11,078 3 Scic 7,154 4 Flandria 5,633 5 Jolly Ceramica 4558? 6 Vibor 3443 7 Bianchi 3362 8 Brooklyn 3209 9 Selle Royal 3184 10 KAS 3070

Doping

There was one positive doping test in the Giro of 1977: Annunzio Colombo received a time penalty of ten minutes following the 12th stage.

References

Citations

Bibliography