1972 Giro d'Italia
| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | 21 May - 11 June | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 20, including three split stages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 3,725 km (2,315 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 103h 04' 04" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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 |
Winner |
 Eddy Merckx (BEL)
|
(Molteni) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second |
 José Manuel Fuente (ESP)
|
(KAS) | |
| Third |
Francisco Galdós (ESP)
|
(KAS) | |
|
|
|||
 |
Points |
Roger De Vlaeminck (BEL)
|
(Dreher) |
| Mountains |
José Manuel Fuente (ESP)
|
(KAS) | |
| Team | Molteni | ||
The 1972 Giro d'Italia was the 56th running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours races. The Giro started in Venice on 21 May, with a 5.2 km (3.2 mi) prologue and concluded with a 197 km (122 mi) mass-start stage, on 11 June. A total of 100 riders from ten teams entered the 20-stage race, that was won by Belgian Eddy Merckx of the Molteni team. The second and third places were taken by Spaniards José Manuel Fuente and Francisco Galdós, respectively.
A total of ten teams were invited to participate in the 1972 Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 100 cyclists. From the riders that began this edition, 113 made it to the finish on the Milan.
The teams entering the race were:
Author William Fotheringham believed that race director Vincenzo Torriani designed the routes in order to give José Manuel Fuente several opportunities to attack Eddy Merckx.
Two different jerseys were worn during the 1972 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.
For the points classification, which awarded a cyclamen jersey to its leader, cyclists were given points for finishing a stage in the top 15. 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. In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists. In addition there was the Cima Coppi, the Passo dello Stelvio, 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. The first rider over the Stelvio was José Manuel Fuente. 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.
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