Giro D'Italia Betting

There are very few cycling series that can match the Tour de France in terms of competition, scenery and quality but the Giro D'Italia is definitely one of them. The series is one of the three main Grand Tours and the first to be held each season before the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espania.

Giro D'Italia betting is always popular because cycling is growing in popularity and the Italian stages have their own form of unique excitement. The first Giro was held in 1909 and there have been 93 editions of the race series to date.

The history of the Giro is different from the history of the other Grand Tours but the format and classifications work in much the same way. The series is a true test of sprint v endurance with only the very strongest cyclists competing in every single stage all over the country.

History of the Giro

The history of the Giro dates way back to 1909 when the first edition of the race was held. The first race was set up between two rival newspapers who both wanted to boost faltering circulations. Each newspaper sponsored cyclists that entered the race in bids to attract new readers all over Italy.

The history of the Giro grew in the period up to the 1930s as more cyclists started to enter the series due to the big offerings of lire that were available to the winner and winners of each stage. At one point the Giro had too many entrants and could not cope with the infrastructure of hosting stages with hundreds of cyclists competing.

Alfredo Binda is the first famous name that crops up when people talk about the history of the Giro. Binda was the first person to win five Giro D'Italia titles. In 1930 he was famously paid not to take part in the series so that other cyclists would have a better chance of winning.

The history of the Giro has been littered with examples of fantastic cyclists who have all set unique records in different stages of the event. There have been some brilliant duals such as Bartali v Coppi through the 1930s, 40s and 50s. From the 1960s onwards foreign cyclists entering the event started to dominate.

Giro D'Italia Classifications

There are three main different Giro D'Italia classifications. The first and most important is the general classification, which entitles the leader to wear the famous pink jersey. This classification is based on accumulative time over the course of the stages which is the same as the races in France and Spain.

The second most important of the Giro D'Italia classifications is the points classification. Points are awarded based on finishing position in each stage. The rider who wins the most points over the stages is entitled to wear the famous red jersey.

The mountains classification is also one of the most important Giro D'Italia classifications. The mountains classification entitles the best performing endurance cyclist during the mountain stages to wear the green jersey. The same amount of points is awarded during the mountain races as are awarded for the sprint stages.

Giro D'Italia Uniqueness

Giro D'Italia uniqueness is fascinating because the race series has seen some occurrences that simply would not happen in a tour like the Tour de France. For example, the Giro D'Italia has actually started outside of Italy on ten different occasions.

Giro D'Italia uniqueness can also apply to the mountain stages of the series where races quite often take the cyclists out of Italy and into the mountain ranges of Austria. This may seem fundamentally flawed in terms of the point of the series but it is fine so long as either the start or the finish of the race is inside Italian borders.

Giro D'Italia Records

Giro D'Italia records are respected achievements in the cycling world. Few individuals have had such an impact on the race series that their names will go down in the history of the Giro forever.

Alfredo Binda, Fausto Coppi and Eddy Merckx are the only three riders to have won the Giro on five different occasions. Mario Cipollini currently holds the record for the most number of stage wins with a grand total of 42 and it is no surprise that Italy boasts the greatest number of winners of the series with 66 over Belgium in second with seven.