The 2007 Giro d'Italia began on 12 May, with Stage 11 occurring on 23 May. The route began in Caprera in Sardinia, with the first three stages being held on the island. These were followed by an unusually early rest day to transfer to Italy's mainland.
The first stage was a team time trial, a stage where each member of the team raced together against the clock. The Italian team won this stage, but it was sprinter Enrico Gasparotto and not team leader Danilo Di Luca who was the first across the line and thus the first wearer of the pink jersey. Gasparotto and Di Luca traded the jersey back and forth over the next few days' flat stages.
Stage 6 featured a winning breakaway, and it accounted for the only time in the 2007 Giro when the Liquigas team did not hold the race leadership. Marco Pinotti and Luis Felipe Laverde were the last riders remaining from that day's morning escape, claiming the pink jersey and the stage win, respectively. Pinotti held the race leadership through the flat stages that followed, before yielding it to the Giro's oldest rider, Di Luca's Liquigas teammate Andrea Noè.
Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi of won three of the first eleven stages of this Giro, but his subsequent disqualification for a non-negative salbutamol test after stage 11 nullified these victories.
LegendJerseys appearing in the table on the left of the page indicate those worn by the cyclist during the particular stage, while those appearing in the table on the right of the page indicate those awarded to the cyclist after the stage. Denotes the leader of the General classification Denotes the leader of the Mountains classification Denotes the leader of the Points classification Denotes the leader of the Young rider classification s.t. indicates that the rider crossed the finish line in the same group as the one receiving the time above him, and was therefore credited with the same finishing time.
Stage 1 12 May 2007 — Caprera to La Maddalena, (team time trial)
This was the Giro's first visit to Sardinia since 1991. The course for the team time trial was technical, with many twists and turns in the road. It took the squads from Caprera on the island of Sardinia across a bridge to the tiny Maddalena island to the northwest. Favorites for the stage included , , and .
The early time to beat was set by , the second team to take the course. They stopped the clock in 35'06". was well on pace to knock them off, but a crash from the finish line dashed any hopes of theirs for a stage win. Their fifth rider didn't cross the line until a minute after their first four had, and they finished 21st, better than only . was the first team under 35 minutes, clocking in at 34'08", which would eventually be good for third on the day. Paolo Savoldelli's team finished with only the minimum of five riders together, but their 33'51" was nearly good enough for the stage win. The winning team was , coming home with six riders in 33'38". The big surprise of the day was that the first Liquigas rider across the line was not their team leader Danilo Di Luca, but rather sprinter Enrico Gasparotto. Di Luca was visibly upset to have not been granted first position as the squad approached the finish line. Though Gasparotto at first claimed it was the team's plan for him and not Di Luca to cross first, he later admitted that he had momentarily forgotten that the team's time was taken for the fifth rider across the line and not the first, explaining that he was simply excited to finish as quickly as possible once the finish line was in view. Along with the pink jersey, Gasparotto was awarded the white jersey for leading the youth classification; his teammate Vincenzo Nibali wore that jersey in stage 2.
Stage 1 result TeamTime1 33' 38" 2 + 13"3 + 30"4 + 42"5 + 49"6 +1' 02"7 +1' 04"8 +1' 13"9 +1' 23"10 +1' 25"General classification after stage 1 RiderTeamTime 1 33' 38" 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 + 2" 8 + 13" 9 + 13" 10 + 13"
Stage 2 13 May 2007 — Tempio Pausania to Bosa,
Back on Sardinia, the first road race stage of the Giro was flat, heading west from Tempio Pausania along the Gulf of Asinara before going to the south and over the second-category Villanova Monteleone climb, which awarded the first green jersey. A sprint finish was the expectation.
Five riders broke free of the peloton after of racing. These were Frédéric Bessy, Mauro Facci, Simone Masciarelli, Pavel Brutt and Arnaud Labbe. They worked well together, attaining a six-minute advantage by pounding out a pace after two hours. set to making the chase, being joined briefly by . The time gap fell precipitously, despite Brutt's best effort to pace the breakaway. Brutt was the first over the Villanova Monteleone climb, and took the first green jersey on the podium after the stage. As the stage neared its conclusion, the teams of the primary sprinters joined in the chase. Brutt was the last rider left off the front. His solo attempt lasted until the to go mark, when the peloton was all together. , and came to the front in the final to try to set up the sprint for Alessandro Petacchi, Damiano Cunego and race leader Enrico Gasparotto, but with to go, 's Andrea Tonti crashed and brought down much of the main field with him. Gasparotto was among the riders to crash. Since the crash took place inside to the finish line, all riders who fell were given the same time as the stage winner.
's fast man Robbie McEwen was 15 or 20 riders deep in the bunch during the descent from the small bump in the road that preceded the finish. He managed to find Petacchi's wheel, and held it while his team Milram executed a leadout in the stage's final kilometer. The veteran Aussie came around Petacchi for the stage win, holding off Paolo Bettini, who had done the same. As Gasparotto finished 43rd on the stage and his team leader Danilo Di Luca 12th, Di Luca took the pink jersey for stage 3, though all the Liquigas riders who finished together in the team time trial were still tied in the overall standings at this point.
Stage 2 result RiderTeamTime 1 5h 07' 13" 2 s.t. 3 All of Petacchi's results from the 2007 Giro have been officially stripped from the record s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General classification after stage 2 RiderTeamTime 1 5h 40' 41" 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 + 13" 8 + 13" 9 + 13" 10 + 13"
Stage 3 14 May 2007 — Barumini to Cagliari,
The third stage was also flat, starting in the south-central of Sardinia. It did not have any categorized climbs. It ended in Cagliari, with the last on rough, uneven terrain. After this stage, the Giro took an uncommonly early rest day to transfer to Italy's mainland.
Right away, a five-man breakaway formed, instigated by Mikhail Ignatiev and Elio Aggiano. Their eventual mates were Mickaël Buffaz, Alexandre Pichot, and Giovanni Visconti. Their maximum advantage was 7'40", as the leading team did not mount a strong chase for much of the stage. Ignatiev and Visconti attacked at the to go mark, and the other three were left behind, quickly reabsorbed by the peloton. When the peloton realized that the breakaway had split, the teams of the sprinters, namely and , set to making the chase in earnest in order to be able to ensure a mass finish. Ignatiev and Visconti were caught with remaining after bravely fighting on as long as possible. Other inconsequential breakaway attempts took place in the next few minutes, but the group was all one for a mass finish, won by Alessandro Petacchi, though this was one of his many 2007 wins that was later stripped due to his irregular salbutamol test later in the race. Since Enrico Gasparotto contested the sprint and finished 74 places ahead of teammate and overnight race leader Danilo Di Luca, Gasparotto reclaimed the pink jersey while still holding the white. Nibali again wore the white jersey in his stead in the following stage.
Stage 3 result RiderTeamTime 1 4h 22' 57" 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General classification after stage 3 RiderTeamTime 1 10h 03' 48" 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 + 13" 8 + 13" 9 + 13" 10 + 13"
Stage 4 16 May 2007 — Salerno to Montevergine di Mercogliano,
After the transfer to the Italian mainland, the peloton faced a medium mountain stage that concluded with the first-category climb to Montevergine di Mercogliano. The finish was highly technical, with over a dozen switchbacks.
With covered, 's Yuriy Krivtsov instigated the day's breakaway, being joined by mountains classification leader Pavel Brutt, who was looking to add to his lead in that standing. 's Markel Irizar joined them later. While Brutt did get maximum points on the third-category Picco San Angelo climb, the route prior to the Montevergine di Mercogliano climb was mostly flat, and the -paced main field caught the trio shortly after the climb began. Julio Alberto Pérez attacked for the stage win with left, and nearly held on to the finish line. With left, a group of nine passed up Pérez and contested the stage finish among themselves. Danilo Di Luca took off for the line with remaining to race. He had Riccardo Riccò and Damiano Cunego on his wheel, but neither came around him in the sprint, affording the leader the stage win and, for the second time, the pink jersey. Di Luca had previously won a stage that ended on this climb in the 2001 Giro d'Italia. Being first on the category-one climb also gave Di Luca the green jersey; second-place man Riccò wore that jersey in the next two stages.
Stage 4 result RiderTeamTime 1 4h 22' 42" 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 + 3" 5 + 3" 6 + 6" 7 + 6" 8 + 6" 9 + 13" 10 + 13"General classification after stage 4 RiderTeamTime 1 14h 26' 10" 2 + 26" 3 + 35" 4 + 35" 5 + 53" 6 + 54" 7 +1' 03" 8 +1' 07" 9 +1' 07" 10 +1' 07"
Stage 5 17 May 2007 — Teano to Frascati,
Stage five was mostly flat, but a third-category climb from the finish line had the potential to break up the field. The descent into the wine country town of Frascati was technical, covering twisting, turning roads to the finish line.
rider Mikhail Ignatiev was the day's first escapee. Mickaël Buffaz joined him after , and the two quickly attained a five-minute advantage. paced the main field for race leader Danilo Di Luca, and in the third hour of racing they tapped out a pace, cutting significantly into the breakaway's time gap. When Ignatiev realized that the main field was closing in on them, he attacked and came free of Buffaz, trying to solo to the finish line, but he was caught from the finish line. František Raboň, Matt White, Salvatore Commesso, and Elia Aggiano tried their luck within the final , but none stayed away for more than a few minutes, and the widely expected mass sprint took place. 's Angelo Furlan tried to execute a leadout for Thor Hushovd, but Alessandro Petacchi's train from overran him. A chaotic sprint followed, with several riders having victory in their view. 's Robert Förster was the first over the line for the win.
Stage 5 result RiderTeamTime 1 4h 17' 02" 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General classification after stage 5 RiderTeamTime 1 18h 43' 12" 2 + 26" 3 + 35" 4 + 35" 5 + 53" 6 + 54" 7 +1' 03" 8 +1' 07" 9 +1' 07" 10 +1' 07"
Stage 6 18 May 2007 — Tivoli to Spoleto,
This medium mountain stage had three climbs, one in each category. The first-category Monte Terminillo crested a little after the halfway point of the stage, and with two climbs in the next afterward, pre-race analysis found this to be a stage conducive to a winning breakaway.