The 1981 Giro d'Italia was the 64th running of the Giro. It started in Brescia, on 13 May, with a prologue and concluded in Verona, on 7 June, with a individual time trial. A total of 130 riders from thirteen teams entered the 22-stage race, that was won by Italian Giovanni Battaglin of the Inoxpran team. The second and third places were taken by Swede Tommy Prim and Italian Giuseppe Saronni, respectively.

Amongst the other classifications that the race awarded, Gis Gelati-Campagnolo's Saronni won the points classification, Claudio Bortolotto of Santini-Selle Italia won the mountains classification, and Hoonved-Bottecchia's Giuseppe Faraca completed the Giro as the best neo-professional in the general classification, finishing eleventh overall. Bianchi-Piaggio finishing as the winners of the team classification, ranking each of the twenty teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time. In addition, Bianchi-Piaggio won the team points classification.

Teams

A total of thirteen teams were invited to participate in the 1981 Giro d'Italia. The starting riders came from a total of 11 different countries; Italy (82), Switzerland (11), Belgium (11), and Spain (10) all had 10 or more riders represented. Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 130 cyclists.

Of those starting, 45 were riding the Giro d'Italia for the first time. The average age of riders was 25.76 years, ranging from 20–year–old Moreno Argentin (Sammontana-Benotto) to 35–year–old Wladimiro Panizza (Gis Gelati-Campagnolo). The team with the youngest average rider age was Hoonved-Bottecchia (23), while the oldest was Gis Gelati-Campagnolo (27). From the riders that began this edition, 104 made it to the finish in Verona.

The teams entering the race were:

Bianchi-Piaggio Cilo-Aufina Famcucine–Campagnolo Gemeaz Cusin-Zor-Helios Gis Gelati-Campagnolo Hoonved-Bottecchia Inoxpran Kotter's-G.B.C. Magniflex-Olmo Safir-Galli-Maillard Sammontana-Benotto Santini-Selle Italia Selle San Marco-Gabrielli

Route and stages

The route for the 1981 edition of the Giro d'Italia was revealed to the public by head organizer Vincenzo Torriani on 21 February 1981. Covering a total of , it included four time trials (three individual and one for teams), and ten stages with categorized climbs that awarded mountains classification points. Two of these ten stages had summit finishes: stage 17, to Borno; and stage 20, to Tre Cime di Lavaredo. The organizers chose to include three rest days.

When compared to the previous year's race, the race was shorter and contained one more time trial. In addition, this race contained one more set of split stages.

It was the first time in the history of the Giro that the Giro ended in Verona. The team time trial in stage 1 was the first team time trial in the Giro d'Italia since 1956.

+Stage characteristics and winnersStageDateCourseDistanceTypeWinnerP13 MayTrieste Individual time trial 1a14 MayTrieste to Bibione Plain stage 1bLignano Sabbiadoro to Bibione Team time trial Hoonved-Bottecchia215 MayBibione to Ferrara Plain stage 316 MayBologna to Recanati Plain stage 17 May Rest day418 MayRecanati to Lanciano Plain stage 519 MayMarina di San Vito to Rodi Garganico Plain stage 620 MayRodi Garganico to Bari Plain stage 721 MayBari to Potenza Stage with mountain(s) 822 MaySala Consilina to Cosenza Stage with mountain(s) 923 MayCosenza to Reggio Calabria Stage with mountain(s) 24 May Rest day1025 MayRome to Cascia Stage with mountain(s) 1126 MayCascia to Arezzo Plain stage 1227 MayArezzo to Livorno Montenero Plain stage 1328 MayEmpoli to Montecatini Terme Individual time trial 1429 MayMontecatini Terme to Salsomaggiore Terme Stage with mountain(s) 1530 MaySalsomaggiore Terme to Pavia Stage with mountain(s) 1631 MayMilan to Mantua Plain stage 171 JuneMantua to Borno Stage with mountain(s) 182 JuneBorno to Dimaro Stage with mountain(s) 3 June Rest day194 JuneDimaro to San Vigilio di Marebbe Stage with mountain(s) 205 JuneSan Vigilio di Marebbe to Tre Cime di Lavaredo Stage with mountain(s) 216 JuneAuronzo di Cadore to Arzignano Plain stage 227 JuneSoave to Verona Individual time trial Total

Classification leadership

Three different jerseys were worn during the 1981 Giro d'Italia. The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass-start stages – wore a pink jersey. The time bonuses for the 1981 Giro were thirty seconds for first, twenty seconds for second, and ten seconds for third place on the stage. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro.

For the points classification, which awarded a purple (or cyclamen) jersey to its leader, cyclists were given points for finishing a stage in the top 15.

The green jersey was awarded to the mountains classification leader. In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists. Each climb was ranked as either first, second or third category, with more points available for higher category climbs. The Cima Coppi, the race's highest point of elevation, awarded more points than the other first category climbs. The Cima Coppi for this Giro was the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. The first rider to cross the Tre Cime di Lavaredo was Swiss rider Beat Breu.

The white jersey was worn by the leader of young rider classification, a ranking decided the same way as the general classification, but considering only neo-professional cyclists (in their first three years of professional racing).

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. There was another team classification that awarded points to each team based on their riding's finishing position in every stage. The team with the highest total of points was the leader of the classification.

There was also a secondary team classification, based on points.

In 1981, the campionate delle regioni and FIAT sprints were combined into one classification, also sponsored by FIAT, for which the leader wore the light-blue jersey that was previously worn by the leader of the campionate delle regioni classification.

The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.

+Classification leadership by stage Stage WinnerGeneral classificationPoints classificationMountains classificationYoung rider classification FIAT Team classification P Knut Knudsen Knut Knudsen Knut Knudsen not awarded ? not awarded not awarded 1a Guido Bontempi Guido Bontempi Giovanni Mantovani Guido Bontempi Dante Morandi 1b Hoonved-Bottecchia Francesco Moser Hoonved-Bottecchia 2 Paolo Rosola Gregor Braun Famcucine-Campagnolo 3 Giuseppe Saronni Francesco Moser Giuseppe Faraca 4 Mario Beccia Paolo Rosola Hoonved-Bottecchia 5 Giuseppe Saronni Giuseppe Saronni Fiorenzo Aliverti Famcucine-Campagnolo 6 Giuseppe Saronni Giuseppe Saronni 7 Palmiro Masciarelli Beat Breu 8 Moreno Argentin Bruno Wolfer 9 Serge Parsani Claudio Bortolotto 10 Gianbattista Baronchelli Giuseppe Faraca Bianchi-Piaggio 11 Giovanni Renosto 12 Moreno Argentin 13 Knut Knudsen Roberto Visentini 14 Francesco Moser Silvano Contini 15 Daniel Gisiger 16 Claudio Torelli 17 Benedetto Patellaro 18 Miguel María Lasa 19 Giovanni Battaglin 20 Beat Breu Giovanni Battaglin 21 Pierino Gavazzi 22 Knut Knudsen Final Giovanni Battaglin Giuseppe Saronni Claudio Bortolotto Giuseppe Faraca Paolo Rosola Bianchi-Piaggio

Final standings

Legend      Denotes the winner of the General classification      Denotes the winner of the Points classification      Denotes the winner of the Mountains classification      Denotes the winner of the Young rider classification      Denotes the winner of the FIAT classification General classification

+ Final general classification (1–10)RankNameTeamTime 1 Inoxpran 2 Bianchi-Piaggio + 38" 3 Gis Gelati-Campagnolo + 50" 4 Bianchi-Piaggio + 1' 59" 5 Cilo-Aufina + 2' 19" 6 Sammontana-Benotto + 5' 37" 7 Selle San Marco-Gabrielli + 9' 32" 8 Cilo-Aufina + 10' 02" 9 Santini-Selle Italia + 10' 12" 10 Bianchi-Piaggio + 12' 01"

Points classification

+Final points classification (1–5)RiderTeamPoints 1 Gis Gelati-Campagnolo 215 2 Bianchi-Piaggio 133 3 Hoonved-Bottecchia 127 4 Famcucine-Campagnolo 117 5 Bianchi-Piaggio 112

Mountains classification

+Final mountains classification (1–10)RiderTeamPoints 1 Santini-Selle Italia 510 2 Cilo-Aufina 500 3 Hoonved-Bottecchia 290 4 Inoxpran 265 5 Magniflex-Olmo 180 6 Cilo-Aufina 150 7 Magniflex-Olmo 1258 Gemeaz Cusin-Zor-Helios 120 Famcucine-Campagnolo 10 Selle San Marco-Gabrielli 115

Young rider classification

+Final young rider classification (1–5)RiderTeamTime 1 Hoonved-Bottecchia 2 Famcucine-Campagnolo + 23' 51" 3 Sammontana-Benotto + 25' 46" 4 Sammontana-Benotto + 46' 12" 5 Gis Gelati-Campagnolo + 46' 40"

Traguardi Fiat classification

+Final traguardi fiat classification (1–5)RiderTeamPoints 1 Magniflex-Olmo 128 2 Famcucine-Campagnolo 70 3 Magniflex-Olmo 48 4 Safir-Galli-Maillard 33 5 Santini-Selle Italia 32

Team classification

+Final team classification (1–3)TeamTime 1 Bianchi-Piaggio 2 Cilo-Aufina + 25' 01" 3 Inoxpran + 44' 32"

Team points classification

+Final team points classification (1–3)TeamPoints 1 Bianchi-Piaggio 189 2 Famcucine-Campagnolo 137 3 Hoonved-Bottecchia 129

Doping

There were no positive doping tests in the Giro of 1981.

Aftermath

With his Giro victory, Battaglin completed the Vuelta–Giro double, the second rider to achieve the feat (Eddy Merckx was the first in 1973). Only 48 days separated the Vuelta's start on 21 April from the Giro's end on 7 June.

References

Citations

Bibliography