The 1983 Giro d'Italia was the 66th running of the Giro. It started in Brescia, on 12 May, with an prologue and concluded in Udine, on 5 June, with a individual time trial. A total of 162 riders from eighteen teams entered the 22-stage race, that was won by Italian Giuseppe Saronni of the Del Tongo-Colnago team. The second and third places were taken by Italian Roberto Visentini and Spaniard Alberto Fernández, respectively.

Amongst the other classifications that the race awarded, Saronni won the points classification, Lucien Van Impe of Metauro Mobili won the mountains classification, and Vivi-Benotto's Franco Chioccioli completed the Giro as the best neo-professional in the general classification, finishing sixteenth overall. Renault-Elf finishing as the winners of the team classification, ranking each of the twenty teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time. The team points classification was won by Zor-Gemeaz Cusin.

Teams

A total of eighteen teams were invited to participate in the 1983 Giro d'Italia. The presentation of the teams – where each team's roster and manager are introduced in front the media and local dignitaries – took place at the Piazza della Loggia in Brescia on 10 May and was televised in Italy on Network 1. The starting riders came from a total of 16 different countries; Italy (95), Belgium (22), and Spain (11) all had more than 10 riders. Each team sent a squad of nine riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 162 cyclists.<

Of those starting, 46 were riding the Giro d'Italia for the first time. The average age of riders was 26.42 years, ranging from 21–year–old Giuliano Pavanello (Mareno-Wilier Triestina) to 37–year–old Wladimiro Panizza (Atala-Campagnolo). The team with the youngest average rider age was Mareno-Wilier Triestina (24), while the oldest was Inoxpran-Lumenflon (28). From the riders that began this edition, 140 made it to the finish in Udine.

The teams entering the race were:

Alfa Lum-Olmo Atala-Campagnolo Bianchi-Piaggio Malvor-Bottecchia Del Tongo-Colnago Dromedario-Alan Europ Decor-Dries Zor-Gemeaz Cusin Gis Gelati-Campagnolo Perlav-Euro Soap Inoxpran-Lumenflon Eorotex-Magniflex Mareno-Wilier Triestina Metauro Mobili Sammontana-Campagnolo Termolan-Galli Vivi-Benotto Wolber-Spidel

Route and stages

The route for the 1983 edition of the Giro d'Italia was revealed to the public by head organizer Vincenzo Torriani on 19 February 1983. Covering a total of , it included four time trials (three individual and one for teams), and fifteen stages with categorized climbs that awarded mountains classification points. Seven of these fifteen stages had summit finishes: stage 4, to Todi; stage 6, to Campitello Matese; stage 9, to Montefiascone; stage 10, to Bibbiena; stage 15, to Orta San Giulio; stage 17, to Colli di San Fermo; and stage 19, to Selva di Val Gardena. The organizers chose to include two rest days. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was shorter and contained one more time trial. In addition, this race contained one more set of split stages.

+Stage characteristics and winnersStageDateCourseDistanceTypeWinnerP12 MayBrescia Individual time trial Stage Cancelled113 MayBrescia to Mantua Team time trial Bianchi-Piaggio214 MayMantua to Comacchio Plain stage 315 MayComacchio to Fano Plain stage 416 MayPesaro to Todi Stage with mountain(s) 517 MayTerni to Vasto Stage with mountain(s) 618 MayVasto to Campitello Matese Stage with mountain(s) 719 MayCampitello Matese to Salerno Stage with mountain(s) 820 MaySalerno to Terracina Plain stage 921 MayTerracina to Montefiascone Stage with mountain(s) 1022 MayMontefiascone to Bibbiena Stage with mountain(s) 1123 MayBibbiena to Pietrasanta Stage with mountain(s) 24 May Rest day1225 MayPietrasanta to Reggio Emilia Stage with mountain(s) 1326 MayReggio Emilia to Parma Individual time trial 1427 MayParma to Savona Stage with mountain(s)1528 MaySavona to Orta San Giulio Stage with mountain(s) 16a29 MayOrta San Giulio to Milan Plain stage 16bMilan to Bergamo Stage with mountain(s) 1730 MayBergamo to Colli di San Fermo Stage with mountain(s) 1831 MaySarnico to Vicenza Stage with mountain(s) 1 June Rest day192 JuneVicenza to Selva di Val Gardena Stage with mountain(s) 203 JuneSelva di Val Gardena to Arabba Stage with mountain(s) 214 JuneArabba to Gorizia Plain stage 225 JuneGorizia to Udine Individual time trial Total

Classification leadership

Four different jerseys were worn during the 1983 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 four 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, no additional points were given 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. The first rider to cross the Pordoi Pass was Spanish rider Marino Lejarreta.

The white jersey was worn by the leader of young rider classification, a ranking decided the same way as the general classification, but considering only neo-professional cyclists (in their first three years of professional racing).

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.

There were a few minor classifications. For example the Premio dell'Agonismo, an intermediate sprints classification, and the Fiat Uno classification (named after the Fiat Uno introduced in that year), where points were given to the riders who reached the final kilometer first.

The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.

+Classification leadership by stage Stage WinnerGeneral classificationPoints classificationMountains classificationYoung rider classificationTeam classification P Stage Cancelled not awarded not awarded not awarded not awarded not awarded 1 Bianchi-Piaggio Tommy Prim Valerio Piva Bianchi-Piaggio 2 Guido Bontempi Urs Freuler Guido Bontempi 3 Paolo Rosola Paolo Rosola Paolo Rosola 4 Giuseppe Saronni Harald Maier 5 Eduardo Chozas Silvano Contini Giuseppe Saronni Lucien Van Impe Fabrizio Verza 6 Alberto Fernández Alberto Fernández Metauro Mobili-Pinarello 7 Moreno Argentin Giuseppe Saronni Lucien Van Impe 8 Guido Bontempi 9 Riccardo Magrini 10 Palmiro Masciarelli 11 Lucien Van Impe 12 Alf Segersäll 13 Giuseppe Saronni Franco Chioccioli 14 Gregor Braun 15 Paolo Rosola 16a Frank Hoste 16b Giuseppe Saronni 17 Alberto Fernández Zor-Gemeaz Cusin 18 Paolo Rosola 19 Mario Beccia 20 Alessandro Paganessi 21 Moreno Argentin 22 Roberto Visentini Final Giuseppe Saronni Giuseppe Saronni Lucien Van Impe Franco Chioccioli Zor-Gemeaz Cusin

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 Young rider classification

General classification

+ Final general classification (1–10)RankNameTeamTime 1 Del Tongo-Colnago 2 Inoxpran-Lumenflon + 1' 07" 3 Zor-Gemeaz Cusin + 3' 40" 4 Malvor-Bottecchia + 5' 55" 5 Del Tongo-Colnago + 7' 44" 6 Alfa Lum-Olmo + 7' 47" 7 Zor-Gemeaz Cusin + 8' 24" 8 Zor-Gemeaz Cusin + 9' 41" 9 Metauro Mobili + 10' 54" 10 Atala-Campagnolo + 12' 00"

Points classification

+Final points classification (1-5)RiderTeamPoints 1 Del Tongo-Colnago 223 2 Sammontana 149 3 Europ Decor-Dries 139 4 Atala-Campagnolo 120 5 Eorotex-Magniflex 111

Mountains classification

+Final mountains classification (1-5)RiderTeamPoints 1 Metauro Mobili 70 2 Zor-Gemeaz Cusin 43 3 Alfa Lum-Olmo 27 Zor-Gemeaz Cusin 5 Bianchi-Piaggio 23

Young rider classification

+Final young rider classification (1-5)RiderTeamTime 1 Vivi-Benotto 2 Gis Gelati-Campagnolo + 12' 16" 3 Eorotex-Magniflex + 20' 32" 4 Termolan-Galli + 30' 27" 5 Gis Gelati-Campagnolo + 35' 13"

Team classification

+Final team classification (1-3)TeamTime 1 Zor-Gemeaz Cusin 2 Inoxpran-Lumenflon + 10' 45" 3 Del Tongo-Colnago + 17' 30"

References

Citations

Bibliography