Monday, May 11, 2009

The Giro

The 92nd edition of the tour of Italy came through Trieste yesterday.

The Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy), also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. It is one of the three Grand Tours, and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar.

The Giro was inspired by the Tour de France and, just as the French race was intended to boost circulation of L'Auto, so Emilio Camillo Costamagna, the editor of La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper, aimed to increase his circulation.

The first Giro d'Italia started on May 13, 1909 in Milan.

Along with the Tour de France and the World Cycling Championship, the Giro d'Italia makes up the Triple Crown of Cycling. Along with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a EspaƱa it is one of the three Grand Tours.

Whereas the overall leader of the Tour de France is awarded a yellow jersey (originally to correspond with L'Auto 's yellow pages), since 1931 the overall leader in the Giro sports the maglia rosa (pink jersey), which corresponds with newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport's pink newsprint. The "King of the Mountains" wears the maglia verde (green jersey). The leader of the points classification wears the maglia ciclamino (mauve jersey), the best young rider wears the maglia bianca (white jersey).

5 comments:

amatamari© said...

Truly a magnificent shot!

Unknown said...

A classic photo and very well executed. I love the angle and the panning.

Saretta said...

Excellent sports action shot! Good job, Rob!

valeria said...

Great snap, Rob! I remember when the Giro passed through Argentario and at the time I was still living there, what a turmoil, the place was choc-a-bloc!

abc said...

Nice to see your personal photo of the Giro, Rob. I enjoy watching the Giro on television, mainly for the beautiful views of the towns and countryside it passes through. Especially at the end of each stage they do a great job of showing the place from the air.