The 1956 Giro d'Italia was the 39th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro started off in Milan on 19 May with a flat stage and concluded back in Milan with a relatively flat mass-start stage on 10 June. Sixteen teams entered the race, which was won by Luxembourgian Charly Gaul of the Faema team. Second and third respectively were Italian riders Fiorenzo Magni and Agostino Coletto.

Gaul took the lead in the legendary stage up Monte Bondone, where under a snow storm he won with an 8-minute margin over runner up Alessandro Fantini. This edition is unique since there were two Mountains Classification winners. There were two awards for the Dolomites and the Apennine mountains, the winners were Charly Gaul and Federico Bahamontes respectively.

Teams

Fifteen teams were invited by the race organizers to participate in the 1956 edition of the Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of seven riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 105 cyclists. From the riders that began the race, 43 made it to the finish in Milan.

The Giro organisation invited five national teams (most of which for the duration of the Giro were sponsored by an Italian company) and ten Italian teams:

Arbos-Bif-Clément Atala-Pirelli Bianchi-Pirelli Carpano-Coppi Eldorado (Belgium) Faema-Guerra (International) Francia Fréjus-Superga Girardengo-ICEP (Spain) Italcover (the Netherlands) Ignis Legnano Leo-Chlorodont Nivea-Fuchs Torpado-Pirelli

The "international" team was a combined Swiss-Luxembourgish team.

Pre-race favorites

The race was thought to be more open in previous years due to notable absences of top riders like Louison Bobet due to sickness, 1950 winner Hugo Koblet as he was recovering from a back injury and desired to focus on the Tour de France, Stan Ockers, Ferdinand Kübler, and Raphaël Géminiani, along with the innovations regarding the race route. A Feuille d'Avis de Neuchatel writer felt that the race would offer a great opportunity for the younger riders to succeed as the previous great riders like Coppi are getting too old. Previous year's winner Fiorenzo Magni (Nivea-Fuchs) was one of the older generation of riders to enter the race in great form, coming off of a win at the Tour of Piedmont. In addition, Magni had announced that this would be his last Giro as he would retire as the season's end. The writer continued naming young Italians with potential to contend like Gastone Nencini (Leo–Chlorodont), following his performance in last Giro, amateur road race champion Sante Ranucci (Legnano), and Aldo Moser (Torpado). Jean Brankart lead the primarily Belgian Eldorado team and was viewed as a rider who would win a Tour de France. Some viewed Charly Gaul (Faema) as a favorite to contend for the overall. Spanish contenders were thought to be climber Federico Bahamontes (Girardengo), while sprinter Miguel Poblet (Faema) was thought to be a favorite for the flatter stages.

Route and stages

The route was revealed on 24 February 1956. The race contained eight stages with mountains, which contained sixteen categorized climbs. The race route all together contained 3 rest days and 23 stages across 25 days of racing, of which 18 were mass-start stages, two individual time trials, one team time trial event, and one individual time trial run as a relay. The relay event took place in San Marino. The second day of racing featured a split stage where the second half was a team time trial that was contested at night to not interfere with a local football match that was happening in the afternoon. The planned tenth stage from Salerno to Frascati was deemed an "electoral stage" at the route's announcement and was chosen to be removed because it fell on the day of Italian local elections.Three new Dolomite mountains were climbed during this edition of the race: Monte Bondone (), San-Pellegrino (), and Vallès ( meters). Eleven categorized climbs from the Apennines were included in the race route, with the Pian di Creto () being utilized in the second stage. For the first time in race history, the cities of Lecco, Rapallo, Salice Terme were stops for the Giro.

When interviewed about the route several current and former riders said that the route was thought to be difficult.

+ Stage characteristics and winnersStageDateCourseDistanceTypeWinner119 MayMilan to Alessandria Plain stage 2a20 MayAlessandria to Genoa Stage with mountain(s) 2bCircuito di Lido d'AlbaroTeam time trial Leo-Chlorodont321 MayGenoa to Salice Terme Stage with mountain(s) 422 MayVoghera to Mantua Plain stage 523 MayMantua to Rimini Plain stage 6San MarinoIndividual time trial 724 MayRimini to Pescara Plain stage 825 MayPescara to Campobasso Stage with mountain(s) 926 MayCampobasso to Salerno Plain stage 1027 MaySalerno to Frascati Plain stage Stage Cancelled1128 MayRome to Grosseto Plain stage 1229 MayGrosseto to Livorno Plain stage 30 May Rest day1331 MayLivorno to LuccaIndividual time trial 141 JuneLucca to Bologna Stage with mountain(s) 152 JuneBologna to Madonna di San LucaIndividual time trial 163 JuneBologna to Rapallo Stage with mountain(s) 174 JuneRapallo to Lecco Stage with mountain(s) 185 JuneLecco to Sondrio Plain stage 6 June Rest day197 JuneSondrio to Merano Stage with mountain(s) 208 JuneMerano to Monte Bondone Stage with mountain(s) 219 JuneTrento to San Pellegrino Terme Plain stage 2210 JuneSan Pellegrino Terme to Milan Plain stage Total

Classification leadership

One jersey was worn during the 1956 Giro d'Italia. 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.

There were three mountains classifications in the 1956 Giro d'Italia, one for the Dolomites, Apennines, and one for the highest mountain in the race, the Passo dello Stelvio. The rider that was the first over the Stelvio was Ignis' Aurelio Del Rio. In all mountains classifications, points were earned by the first five riders over a mountain.

There was an intermediate sprints classification. Unlike in the years before, points could only be scored at intermediate sprints, and no longer at the finish. The first three riders at each intermediate sprint received points, 5 for the winner down to 1 for the third.

Newly introduced was the piste classification, in Italian known as . There were seven stages that ended on a velodrome, and the first five riders on those stages received points (5 for the winner, down to 1 for the fifth).

There was also one classification for the teams, based on stage positions: the stage positions of the three best riders per team were added, and the team with the lowest total rank was the best team. There was no jersey for this classifications.

There was also a time trial award in 1956, calculated by adding the times of each time trial, this was won by Pasquale Fornara.

+Classification leadership by stage Stage WinnerGeneral classificationTrofeo DolomitiTrofeo AppenniniIntermediate sprints classificationPiste classificationTeam classification 1 Pierino Baffi Pierino Baffi not awarded not awarded Mario Baroni not awarded Nivea-Fuchs 2a Alessandro Fantini Giuseppe Fallarini Miguel Poblet Legnano 2b Leo-Chlorodont Vincenzo Zucconelli 3 Alessandro Fantini Alessandro Fantini Federico Bahamontes Atala 4 Miguel Poblet Miguel Poblet 5 Giuseppe Minardi Miguel Poblet & Giuseppe Minardi 6 Jan Nolten Atala & Legnano 7 Arrigo Padovan Atala 8 Charly Gaul Legnano 9 Miguel Poblet 10 Stage Cancelled 11 Bruno Tognaccini 12 Pietro Nascimbene 13 Pasquale Fornara Pasquale Fornara 14 Michel Stolker Giorgio Albani 15 Charly Gaul 16 Miguel Poblet 17 Giorgio Albani 18 Miguel Poblet 19 Cleto Maule 20 Charly Gaul Charly Gaul Charly Gaul Giorgio Albani Atala 21 Giorgio Albani 22 Donato Piazza Final Charly Gaul Charly Gaul Federico Bahamontes Giorgio Albani Giorgio Albani Atala

Final standings

Legend      Denotes the winner of the General classification

General classification

+ Final general classification (1–10)RankNameTeamTime 1 Faema-Guerra 2 Nivea-Fuchs + 3' 27" 3 Fréjus + 6' 53" 4 Torpado + 7' 25" 5 Torpado + 7' 30" 6 Atala-Pirelli + 8' 46" 7 Eldroado + 9' 21" 8 Atala-Pirelli + 10' 54" 9 Legnano + 18' 14" 10 Eldorado + 18' 41"

Trofeo Dolomiti

+ Final mountains classification (1-7)NameTeamPoints 1 Faema-Guerra 20 2 Atala-Pirelli 5 3 Atala-Pirelli 4 Atala-Pirelli Fréjus 6 Nivea-Fuchs 8 7 Nivea-Fuchs 8

Trofeo Appennini

+ Final mountains classification (1–5)NameTeamPoints 1 Girardengo 30 2 Atala-Pirelli 13 3 Bianchi 11 4 Arbos 10 5 Torpado 8

Intermediate sprints classification

+ Final intermediate sprints classification (1–6)NameTeamPoints 1 Legnano 22 2 Bianchi 11 3 Italcover 10 4 Ignis 8 Nivea-Fuchs 6 Carpano-Coppi 7 Atala-Pirelli

Trofeo della plata

+ Final Trofeo della plata classification (1–4)NameTeamPoints 1 Legnano 8 2 Atala-Pirelli 6 Ignis 4 Atala-Pirelli 5 Leo-Chlorodont Carpano-Coppi Italcover Torpado Nivea-Fuchs

Team classification

+ Final team classification (1–6)TeamPoints 1 Atala-Pirelli 1014 2 Torpado 1054 3 Nivea-Fuchs 1200 4 Carpano-Coppi 1545 5 Leo-Chlorodont 1619 6 Ignis 1627

References

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography