1970 Giro d'Italia

A total of 13 teams were invited to participate in the 1970 Giro d'Italia.[2] Each team sent a squad of ten riders, so the Giro began with a peloton of 130 cyclists.[2] Out of the 130 riders that started this edition of the Giro d'Italia, a total of 97 riders made it to the finish in Bolzano.[3]

The teams that took part in the race were:[2][4]

The starting peloton did feature the previous year's winner Felice Gimondi (Salvarani).[3] Despite an initial unwillingness to participate relating to his expulsion the year before, Eddy Merckx chose to enter the race after the race organizers agreed to send all doping controls to Rome rather than conduct them in a van that moved with the race.[5] Merckx entered as the primary favorite to win the race.[6][7][8][9][10] He entered the race having already won several races that season including: Paris–Nice, Paris–Roubaix, and La Flèche Wallonne, among others.[3] Le Confédéré felt that Merckx's greatest challenge would come not from Italian riders, but the Belgian Walter Godefroot (Salvarani).[10] Godefroot was thought to be the leader for the Salvarani team as Gimondi entered the race in poor form.[10] Gianni Motta was absent from the race as he was recovering from a knee operation earlier in the season.[10]

The route was revealed on 31 March 1970 by race director Vincenzo Torriani.[11] The race covered 3,311 km (2,057 mi) across twenty stages and one rest day.[10] Compared to the previous edition, the 1970 edition was shorter and included only four stages longer than 200 km (124 mi) with stage 14 being the longest at 218 km (135 mi).[10] In April, the route was announced to have nineteen categorized climbs that awarded points towards the mountains classification,[12] while the final route included seven more categorized climbs.[13] In total, 25.6 km (16 mi) were climbed.[11]

San Pellegrino Terme hosted the race's start and then it travelled west, visiting the Alps before turning south and then east towards Treviso.[3] A transfer then occurred to Terracina and the race moved north along the coast.[3] The race made its way to the Dolomites for three stages before finishing in Bolzano.[3] The route did not visit Milan for the first time in race history.[3]

The route featured less transition stages than in previous years, which was thought to allow for more action in the race.[10]

Stage characteristics and results[3][14][15]

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
1	18 May	San Pellegrino Terme to Biandronno	115 km (71 mi)		Plain stage	Franco Bitossi (ITA)
2	19 May	Comerio to Saint-Vincent	164 km (102 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Eddy Merckx (BEL)
3	20 May	Saint-Vincent to Aosta	162 km (101 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Franco Bitossi (ITA)
4	21 May	Saint-Vincent to Lodi	205 km (127 mi)		Plain stage	Marino Basso (ITA)
5	22 May	Lodi to Zingonia	155 km (96 mi)		Plain stage	Patrick Sercu (BEL)
6	23 May	Zingonia to Malcesine	212 km (132 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Enrico Paolini (ITA)
7	24 May	Malcesine to Brentonico	130 km (81 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Eddy Merckx (BEL)
8	25 May	Rovereto to Bassano del Grappa	130 km (81 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Walter Godefroot (BEL)
9	26 May	Bassano del Grappa to Treviso	56 km (35 mi)		Individual time trial	Eddy Merckx (BEL)
	27 May	Rest day
10	28 May	Terracina to Rivisondoli	172 km (107 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Italo Zilioli (ITA)
11	29 May	Rivisondoli to Francavilla al Mare	180 km (112 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Michele Dancelli (ITA)
12	30 May	Francavilla al Mare to Loreto	175 km (109 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Miguel María Lasa (ESP)
13	31 May	Loreto to Faenza	188 km (117 mi)		Plain stage	Michele Dancelli (ITA)
14	1 June	Faenza to Casciana Terme	218 km (135 mi)		Plain stage	Michele Dancelli (ITA)
15	2 June	Casciana Terme to Mirandola	215 km (134 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Marino Basso (ITA)
16	3 June	Mirandola to Lido di Jesolo	195 km (121 mi)		Plain stage	Dino Zandegù (ITA)
17	4 June	Lido di Jesolo to Arta Terme	165 km (103 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Franco Bitossi (ITA)
18	5 June	Arta Terme to Marmolada	180 km (112 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Michele Dancelli (ITA)
19	6 June	Rocca Pietore to Dobbiaco	120 km (75 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Franco Bitossi (ITA)
20	7 June	Dobbiaco to Bolzano	155 km (96 mi)		Stage with mountain(s)	Luciano Armani (ITA)
	Total		3,292 km (2,046 mi)

Two different jerseys were worn during the 1970 Giro d'Italia. The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider – wore a pink jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro.[16]

For the points classification, which awarded a cyclamen jersey to its leader,[17] cyclists were given points for finishing a stage in the top 15.[18] Before the start of the 1970, Termozeta replaced Dreher Brewery as the sponsor of the points classification and so the color of the leader's jersey changed from red to cyclamen.[19] The mountains classification leader. The climbs were ranked in first and second categories, the former awarded 50, 30, and 20 points while the latter awarded 30, 20, and 10 points.[20] In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists.[20] In addition there was the Cima Coppi, the Passo Pordoi, which was the highest mountain crossed in this edition of the race, which gave 200, 100, 80, 70, and 50 points to the first five riders summit the climb.[21] The first rider over the Passo Pordoi was Luciano Armani.[20][21] Although no jersey was awarded, there was also one classification for the teams, in which the stage finish times of the best three cyclists per team were added; the leading team was the one with the lowest total time.[16]

Classification leadership by stage

Stage	Winner	General classification	Points classification	Mountains classification	Team classification
1	Franco Bitossi	Franco Bitossi	Franco Bitossi	not awarded	?
2	Eddy Merckx
3	Franco Bitossi			Italo Zilioli
4	Marino Basso
5	Patrick Sercu
6	Enrico Paolini			Martin Van Den Bossche
7	Eddy Merckx	Eddy Merckx		Eddy Merckx
8	Walter Godefroot
9	Eddy Merckx
10	Italo Zilioli			Martin Van Den Bossche
11	Michele Dancelli
12	Miguel María Lasa
13	Michele Dancelli
14	Michele Dancelli		Michele Dancelli
15	Marino Basso
16	Dino Zandegù
17	Franco Bitossi		Franco Bitossi		Faemino
18	Michele Dancelli		Michele Dancelli	Italo Zilioli
19	Franco Bitossi		Franco Bitossi	Martin Van Den Bossche
20	Luciano Armani
Final		Eddy Merckx	Franco Bitossi	Martin Van Den Bossche	Faemino