What does a runner found frozen to death after a race have in common? snowstormanother capable of pedaling for 430 kilometers on dirt roads and a young climber who takes off Indurain on the Mortirolo in the rain? All three are protagonists of some of the most extreme stages in the history of the Giro d’Italia — a race that, more than any other, transformed the bicycle into a challenge to the limits of human endurance. Today, that eternal struggle between man and nature is repeated in the 109th edition currently underway. While the asphalt of the recently closed stage on the seafront of Naplesthe caravan is already looking at the mountains. After the unprecedented departure from Bulgaria and the efforts of recent stops in Naples and the Formia-Blockhausthe caravan and absolute champions like Vingegaard and Bernal are today engaged in the 156 km that separate Chieti from Fermo.
The Bondone of 1956: Gaul emerges from the storm
On 8 June 1956, the caravan leaves Merano in a freezing rain. The stage foresees five necksthe last of which is Monte Bondone above Trento. Among the 87 runners in the race, unaware of what awaits them, there is Charlie Gaula 23-year-old Luxembourg climber 17 minutes behind the pink jersey.
On the Bondone the rain becomes snowstorm: 40 centimeters accumulated, temperatures below zero, visibility almost zero. The runners fall one after another — over 44 withdraw due to frostbite – and some take refuge in the taverns along the road. Gaul doesn’t stop and reaches the finish line alone. They lift him bodily off the bike, with his hands still so tight on the handlebars that they have to force them off. Then, the darkness: faints. They cut his frozen shirt with scissors and it will take him a whole hour, between rescues, to regain full consciousness and understand where he is.
The second place finisher arrives almost 8 minutes late. Fiorenzo Magni is third: he has one broken shoulder and holds the handlebars with a strap between his teeth, an epic feat.
Thanks to this stage Gaul recovers 24 positions and wins the Giro.
The Lucca-Rome of 1914: 430 kilometers of effort
The edition 1914 of the Giro is considered the toughest stage race ever, a grueling challenge on dirt roads with stages with an average length of almost 400 kilometres, traveled at 23 km/h. The result was a sporting massacre: out of 81 starts, only 8 runners managed to cross the final finish line, scoring a 90% withdrawal rate.
The absolute distance record belongs to the third stage: the Lucca-Rome measure 430.3 kilometers and it is still the longest stage ever held in the Giro, a record that no one has come close to approaching after more than a century. The very young one wins Constant Girardengo in 17 hours, 28 minutes and 55 seconds — and wins in a sprint, after a full day in the saddle.
During that stage the longest solo escape in the history of the Giro: the rider Lauro Bordin takes advantage of a closed level crossing to escape from the group and remains alone in the lead for 350 kilometersbefore being picked up a few kilometers from the finish line, exhausted after 14 hours of pedaling.
The Cuneo-Pinerolo of 1949: “A single man in command”
The seventeenth stage of the 1949 Giro connects Cuneo to Pinerolo – 50 kilometers as the crow flies – but to get there it passes through France climbing five great Alpine passes: Maddalena, Vars, Izoard, Montgenevre and Sestriere. In total 254 kilometers and over 5,000 meters of altitude difference.
Fausto Coppi he already sprints on the first hill and never looks back: 192 kilometers of solitary escapeone of the most spectacular athletic feats in the history of cycling. What also makes that day immortal is the voice of radio commentator Mario Ferretti: “A single man is in command, his shirt is white-blue, his name is Fausto Coppi.” Gino Bartali arrives in Pinerolo more than 11 minutes late.
A single man is in command, his shirt is white-blue, his name is Fausto Coppi.
Mario Ferretti
In 2012 the Gazzetta dello Sport asked around a hundred journalists from all over the world to elect the most beautiful stage in the history of the Giro: wins the 1949 Cuneo-Pinerolo race, which over time has become the emblem of heroic cycling.
The Mortirolo and the Stelvio in 1994: the myth of Pantani was born
The Pass of Mortirolo it is one of the most feared climbs in cycling: 12.5 kilometers with an average gradient of 10.5% and peaks over 20%. The Giro climbed it for the first time in 1990, but it was in 1994 that this mountain became legend.
The stage starts from Merano and arrives in Aprica after crossing some of the hardest climbs in the central Alps: first the Stelviothen the Mortirolo from the Mazzo side, the most ferocious, and finally the ascent towards Open. It’s a cold day, run under the rain and with over 5,000 meters of overall altitude difference.
A young man Marco Pantani – as can be seen in the video below – he attacks the Mortirolo ramps and takes off Gianni Bugno, Claudio Chiappucci and Miguel Indurain one after the other, climbing at a speed never seen before on that mountain. He reaches the finish line in Aprica with more than two minutes on his first pursuers – Induráin pays more than three minutes and the pink jersey Berzin more than four. In just one stage Pantani went from sixth to second place in the general classification.
From that day on, the Mortirolo became a symbolic climb of the Giro d’Italia and of the rise of the Pirate. Today the climb is also officially known as “Cima Pantani”.
The Gavia of 1988: the white hell
On 5 June 1988, stage from Chiesa Valmalenco to Bormio: 120 kilometers apparently manageable, but with a passage over the Passo del Gavia at 2,621 meters. The forecast announces the possibility of snow, but we decide to run anyway.
Runners start in shorts and jerseys short sleeves. On Gavia the situation worsens: first rain, then heavy snow, finally storm. The Dutchman Johan van der Velde he attacks without a jacket or gloves, he goes down the hill first but goes into complete crisis on the descent towards Bormio, tackling it without even wearing a cape. Frozenstops at a shelter along the road to try to warm up before setting off again. Many other riders arrive at the finish line in a state of hypothermia, unable even to get off their bikes without help.
The only truly prepared team is the 7-Eleven: the sporting director had bought balaclavas, waterproof gloves and thermal jackets to be distributed to your runners a few meters from the top. Andy Hampsten he puts them on, survives the descent and wins the pink jersey, becoming the first non-European to win the Giro d’Italia. Years later he would recall: “we could spend hours trying to explain how cold it was.”
We could spend hours trying to explain how cold it was.
Andy Hampsten, winner of the 1988 Giro d’Italia, in reference to the Gavia stage
