The 1929 Giro d'Italia was the 17th edition of the Giro d'Italia, organized and sponsored by the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. The race began on 19 May in Rome with a stage that stretched to Naples, finishing in Milan on 9 June after a stage and a total distance covered of . The race was won by the Alfredo Binda of the Legnano team. Second and third respectively were the Italian riders Domenico Piemontesi and Leonida Frascarelli.

Participants

Of the 166 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 19 May, 99 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. There were eight teams that competed in the race: Bianchi-Pirelli, Gloria-Hutchinson, Ideor-Pirelli, Legnano-Hutchinson, Maino-Clément, Prina-Pirelli, Touring-Pirelli, and Wolsit-Hutchinson.

The peloton was primarily composed of Italians. Alfredo Binda, a three-time winner and reigning champion, came in as the favorite to win the race. Outside of Binda, the field featured only one other Giro d'Italia winner in Gaetano Belloni who won the 1920 running. Other notable Italian riders that started the race included Giuseppe Pancera, Antonio Negrini, and Domenico Piemontesi.

Race summary The first stage was won by Belloni, who was 36 years old. He was the oldest stage winner in the Giro at that point, and would hold this record until Alessandro Bertolini won a stage in the 2008 Giro d'Italia. Belloni automatically also became the first leader of the general classification, where he also took the record for oldest leader; this record would be broken in 1971 by Aldo Moser.

From the second to the ninth stage, Binda set a record of eight consecutive stage victories. Belloni lost six minutes in stage 4, handing over the lead to Binda, and lost an hour in stage 5.

On the eighth stage, Belloni was behind the peloton after a crash, and while he was chasing them back, a young boy jumped in front of his bike. Belloni collided with the young boy, killing the young boy. Belloni abandoned the race.

After the ninth stage, Binda's lead in the general classification was not large, because most stages had finished in a large sprint.

In the thirteenth stage, Binda won the sprint. The jury however decided that the sprint of the first four riders had been irregular, giving the victory to the fifth rider.

After the last stage had finished in the Arena stadium in Milan, the spectators turned against Binda, because fans were tired of his hegemony. For the next Giro, Binda would be paid by the Giro organisation to stay away, with the goal of making the Giro more exciting for the fans.

Final standings

Stage results This Giro was the first Giro to have an extended visit to the South of Italy.

+ Stage resultsStageDateCourseDistanceTypeIn 1929, there was no distinction in the rules between plain stages and mountain stages; the icons shown here indicate that the first, second, fourth, sixth, seventh, ninth, tenth, twelfth, and fourteenth stages included major mountains.WinnerRace Leader 1 19 May Rome to Naples Stage with mountain(s) 2 21 May Naples to Foggia Stage with mountain(s) 3 23 May Foggia to Lecce Plain stage 4 25 May Lecce to Potenza Stage with mountain(s) 5 27 May Potenza to Cosenza Plain stage 6 29 May Cosenza to Salerno Stage with mountain(s) 7 31 May Salerno to Formia Plain stage 8 2 June Formia to Rome Plain stage 9 3 June Rome to Orvieto Stage with mountain(s) 10 4 June Orvieto to Siena Stage with mountain(s) 11 5 June Siena to La Spezia Plain stage 12 7 June La Spezia to Parma Stage with mountain(s) 13 8 June Parma to Alessandria Plain stage 14 9 June Alessandria to Milan Stage with mountain(s) Total

General classification

There were 99 cyclists who had completed all fourteen stages. For these cyclists, the times they had needed in each stage was added up for the general classification. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the winner.

+ Final general classification (1–10)RankNameTeamTime 1 Legnano 2 Bianchi + 3' 44" 3 Ideor + 5' 04" 4 Maino + 6' 36" 5 Maino + 8' 43" 6 Bianchi + 12' 52" 7 La Rafale + 14' 44" 8 Bianchi + 15' 29" 9 La Rafale + 15' 33" 10 Gloria-Hutchinson + 16' 29"

Junior rider classification

+ Final junior rider classification (1–5)RankNameTeamTime 1 Ideor 2 Bianchi + 7' 48" 3 La Rafale + 10' 29" 4 Legnano + 13' 27" 5 Wolsit + 24' 12"

Independent rider classification

+ Final independent rider classification (1–5)RankNameTime 1 2 + 2' 10" 3 + 3' 58" 4 + 5' 23" 5 + 8' 23"

References

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography