1919 Giro d'Italia
Introduction The '''1919 Giro d'Italia''' was the seventh edition of the Giro d'Italia, a Grand Tour organized and sponsored by the newspaper ''La Gazzetta dello Sport''. The race began on 21 May in Milan with a stage that stretched  to Trento, finishing back in Milan on 8 June after a  stage and a total distance covered of . The race was won by the Italian rider Costante Girardengo of the Stucchi team. Second and third respectively were Italian Gaetano Belloni and Belgian Marcel Buysse.Of 66 riders starting the race, only 15 completed it. The Giro (the first one after the Great War) had the first two stages arriving in the "unredeemed" cities of Trento and Trieste, and was dominated by Girardengo, who won seven stages. The '"eternal second" Gaetano Belloni won his first stage in the Giro.This edition of the race was also characterised by the first stage victory by a Swiss rider and by the first non-Italian cyclist on the final podium: the Belgian Marcel Buysse.
Participants Of the 63 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 21 May, fifteen of them made it to the finish in Milan on 8 June. Riders were allowed to ride on their own or as a member of a team. There were four teams that competed in the race: Bianchi Pirelli, Legnano-Pirelli, Peugeot-Tedeschi, and Stucchi-Dunlop. The ''isolati'' riders that participated in the race were primarily war veterans. Organizers promised all ''isolati'' riders at least 180 lire if they reached Milan. The Milan Army Corps carried participants luggage for the race with an Fiat 18 BL lorry that remained after the war.The peloton was almost completely composed of Italians. The field featured two former Giro d'Italia champions in the three-time winner Carlo Galetti and Eberardo Pavesi who was a member of the 1912 Atala winning team. Other notable Italian riders that started the race included Costante Girardengo, Angelo Gremo, Ezio Corlaita, and Giuseppe Santhià. Girardengo was current Italian men's road race champion and was recovering from the Spanish flu.
Final standings ===Stage results===+ Stage resultsStageDateCourseDistanceTypeWinnerRace Leader1  21 May  Milan to Trento    alt=Stage with mountain(s)    2  23 May  Trento to Trieste    alt=Stage with mountain(s)   3  25 May  Trieste to Ferrara    alt=Plain stage   4  27 May  Ferrara to Pescara    alt=Plain stage   5  29 May  Pescara to Naples   alt=Stage with mountain(s)   6  31 May  Naples to Rome    alt=Plain stage   7  2 June  Rome to Florence    alt=Stage with mountain(s)   8  4 June  Florence to Genoa    alt=Stage with mountain(s)   9  6 June  Genoa to Turin    alt=Stage with mountain(s)   10  8 June  Turin to Milan    alt=Plain stage    Total ===General classification===alt=A man looking at a camera while posing.There were fifteen cyclists who had completed all ten 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. Giosuè Lombardi won the prize for best ranked independent rider in the general classification.+ Final general classification (1–10)RankNameTeamTime 1  Stucchi-Dunlop  2  Bianchi + 51' 56" 3   Bianchi + 1h 05' 31" 4  Stucchi-Dunlop + 1h 34' 35" 5  Bianchi + 1h 39' 39" 6   Stucchi-Dunlop + 2h 20' 01" 7  Stucchi-Dunlop + 4h 12' 07" 8   Maino  + 4h 16' 32" 9  —  + 4h 28' 33" 10    —  + 6h 03' 51"Final general classification (11–15)RankNameTeamTime  11    Bianchi  + 6h 52' 54"  12    Verdi  + 6h 53' 31"  13    —  + 7h 15' 17"  14    —  + 7h 57' 40"  15    Verdi  + 9h 20' 59"===Points classification===There was a points based classification for the race.+ Final points classification (1–10)RankNameTeamPoints 1  Stucchi-Dunlop 21 2  Bianchi 46 3   Bianchi 62 4  Stucchi-Dunlop 73 5  Stucchi-Dunlop 78 6   Bianchi 88 7  Stucchi-Dunlop 9? 8   Bianchi 99 9  —  119  Maino
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