The 1976 Giro d'Italia was the 59th running of the Giro, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in Catania, on 21 May, with a set of split stages and concluded in Milan, on 12 June, with another split stage, consisting of an individual time trial and a mass-start stage. A total of 120 riders from twelve teams entered the 22-stage race, that was won by Italian Felice Gimondi of the Bianchi-Campagnolo team. The second and third places were taken by Belgian Johan De Muynck and Italian Fausto Bertoglio, respectively. Amongst the other classifications that the race awarded, Sanson's Francesco Moser won the points classification, Andrés Oliva of KAS won the mountains classification, and Magniflex's Alfio Vandi completed the Giro as the best neo-professional in the general classification, finishing seventh overall. Brooklyn finishing as the winners of the team points classification. Teams A total of twelve teams were invited to participate in the 1976 Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 120 cyclists. From the riders that began this edition, 86 made it to the finish in Milan. The teams entering the race were: Route and stages The route for the race was revealed on 30 January 1976, while a final draft of the race was released on 13 April 1976. Race overview During the stage 1A on 21 May, Juan Manuel Santisteban crashed and hit his head, ultimately dying from his injuries. Patrick Sercu would win both stage 1A and 1B, Roger de Vlaeminck would win stage 2 and the two of them would alternate between wearing the leader's jersey depending on the tie-breakers following the first few stages. De Muynck took over the lead after winning stage 6 by 0:21 over the main field following a crash which left him alone at the front as a group of eight riders were now tied for 2nd in the overall standings :05 behind. The time trial in Stage 7 was won by Francesco Moser with Gimondi placing 2nd seven seconds behind putting Moser into the Maglia Rosa as the overall leader and Gimondi in 2nd seven seconds behind Stage 8 was won by de Vlaeminck as Eddy Merckx crossed the line in 2nd which would be his highest stage placing in this final Giro of his remarkable career. Gimondi crossed in 3rd and while he was by