cross into the higher and tougher mountains. There were a total of three stages that started outside Italy. Stage 15 ended in the Swiss city Lenzerheide and served as the start for the race's sixteenth stage. The mountainous twentieth stage began in the French city of Briançon. The nineteenth stage was originally planned to stretch from Mondovì to Briançon over . The stage finish was moved to part way up the ascent of the Col Agnel, due to avalanches. The stage finished in Pontechianale where the day's intermediate sprint had been planned after of racing. The avalanche trapped several fans that had gotten their earlier, along with their cars. Ten spectators were injured and two were taken to the hospital. Chiappucci believed that the descents of the mountains included in the race were very difficult. An El País writer found the route to be more mountainous than in years past. In addition, the writer mentioned that the increase in mountains within the route coupled with the reduced number of time trial kilometers, including the lack of a prologue, favored Marco Pantani. Three-time winner Gino Bartali believed that the route for the Giro was harder than the same year's Tour de France course. Race overview Mario Cipollini won the race's opening stage by several bike lengths to don the race's first maglia rosa (). Cipollini lost the lead to Tony Rominger following the stage 2 individual time trial that was contested in rainy conditions. Rominger was able to gain almost a minute on each of the main general classification contenders including Piotr Ugrumov and Evgeni Berzin. The third stage was Cipollini's second stage victory as he won the bunch sprint. The fourth stage was contested on a set circuit that was covered four times. The day's breakaway managed to get a maximum of 14' 25" before gradually being pulled in. Claudio Chiappucci attacked on the final lap but was pulled back in by the chasing peloton. Ugrumov, Berzin, and Berzin's teammate Vladislav Bobrik then attacked and managed to form a gap. Rominger chased after and caught the riders, then passed them and went on to win the stage. The event's fifth leg saw a breakaway succeed; the group began with five riders and was reduced to three riders – Erik Breukink, Filippo Casagrande, and Rolf Sørensen – before the finish. Casagrande won the three-man sprint to the line to take the