1985 Giro d'Italia
Encyclopedia
The 1985 Giro d'Italia
of cycling
was held from 16 May to 9 June 1985, consisting of 22 stages for a total of 3,998 km, ridden at an average speed of 37.89 km/h. It was won by Bernard Hinault
(his third success in the race).
This edition of the Giro was predominantly flat; there were more sprinters
and combative riders in the peloton
than climbers, with Moser
and Saronni
both good in time trial
s. The route had some medium-mountain and a few high-mountain stages, without extreme climbs.
The race started with a prologue, won by Moser. The first stage went to Freuler
, one of the best sprinters at that time, and in the 3rd day a Team time trial
put Saronni in the lead. Only during the 4th stage real action began, with the Sëlva
climb. Hinault attacked but the winner was Hubert Seiz, while Visentini
took the lead. The first long individual time trial
was won by Hinault (thanks also to a mechanical problem occurred to Moser), who dressed the maglia rosa
. Next another flat stage, and finally the mountains, with the Gran Sasso
: Chioccioli
won, without any significant changes in the general classification. Ron Kiefel
won the 15th stage, from L'Aquila
to Perugia
, becoming the first American cyclist to win a stage of a Grand Tour
.
Real mountains were concentrated in the two final alpine
stages, finishing at Saint-Vincent and Valnontey
. Moser won the first and a young Andrew Hampsten
the second. Hinault maintained the lead and controlled the race during the final stage (an individual time trial from Lido di Camaiore
to Lucca
).
Hinault showed that he was the strongest rider in the race: he was regular and controlled the Italian teams with his powerful team (La Vie Claire
) behind him. Moser showed that at 34 he was still a great cyclist, and the most complete of all Italian riders; despite this, it wasn't enough to beat Hinault. Visentini was in good shape and led the race till the first long ITT, then got sick and was forced to retire. Saronni was the great loser: good at ITT and sprints, he was left behind in the few mountain stages, letting many people to suppose that he had used his final forces to win the 1983 Giro
.
Argentin
fought for the sprints and a top-10 place, but he fell in the middle of the race and eventually retired. LeMond
was preparing the Tour de France
and helping Hinault, his result was very good and showed all of his talent. Lejarreta
suffered the absence of high mountain stages.
Prim
was as usual very regular, although he would have been expected to do more in the TT and compete for 1st place. Baronchelli
and Contini
were both far of their fitness. Volpi
, Giovannetti
and Chioccioli showed a good talent (Chioccioli won a mountain stage, Volpi won the classification of the neo-pros).
José Luis Navarro was a good surprise as a climber: he won the mountains classification
. Portuguese rider Acácio da Silva
did well in the medium mountain stages, but lost time and points during the last week. Freuler was the best sprinter and was contested only by Saronni, Stefano Allocchio and Paolo Rosola. Van der Velde
fought for the points classification
, but disappeared during the last mountain stages.
Giro d'Italia
The Giro d'Italia , 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. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...
of cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
was held from 16 May to 9 June 1985, consisting of 22 stages for a total of 3,998 km, ridden at an average speed of 37.89 km/h. It was won by Bernard Hinault
Bernard Hinault
Bernard Hinault is a former French cyclist known for five victories in the Tour de France. He is one of only five cyclists to have won all three Grand Tours, and the only cyclist to have won each more than once. He won the Tour de France in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985...
(his third success in the race).
This edition of the Giro was predominantly flat; there were more sprinters
Cycling sprinter
A cycling sprinter is a road bicycle racer or track racer who can finish a race very explosively by accelerating quickly to a high speed, often using the slipstream of another cyclist or group of cyclists tactically to conserve energy.-The road sprinter:...
and combative riders in the peloton
Peloton
The peloton , field, bunch or pack is the large main group of riders in a road bicycle race. Riders in a group save energy by riding close near other riders...
than climbers, with Moser
Francesco Moser
Francesco Moser , nicknamed "Lo sceriffo" , is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the dominant riders from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, and won the 1984 Giro d'Italia, the 1977 world road racing championship and six victories in three of the five Monuments...
and Saronni
Giuseppe Saronni
Giuseppe Saronni , also known as Beppe Saronni, is an Italian former racing cyclist.-Biography:Born in Novara, Piedmont, Saronni turned professional in 1977. During his career, that lasted until 1989, he won 193 races...
both good in time trial
Time trial
In many racing sports an athlete will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. In cycling, for example, a time trial can be a single track cycling event, or an individual or team time trial on the road, and either or both of the latter may form components of...
s. The route had some medium-mountain and a few high-mountain stages, without extreme climbs.
The race started with a prologue, won by Moser. The first stage went to Freuler
Urs Freuler
Urs Freuler is a Swiss cyclist, who raced professionally between 1980 and 1997, during which he won 71 victories. He was named Swiss Sports Personality of the Year in 1982 and 1983.He was born in Bilten...
, one of the best sprinters at that time, and in the 3rd day a Team time trial
Team time trial
A team time trial is a road-based bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock .Teams start at equal intervals, usually two, three or four minutes apart...
put Saronni in the lead. Only during the 4th stage real action began, with the Sëlva
Sëlva
Sëlva is a comune in the Val Gardena in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about 70 km northeast of the city of Trento and about 30 km east of the city of Bolzano.-Geography:...
climb. Hinault attacked but the winner was Hubert Seiz, while Visentini
Roberto Visentini
Roberto Visentini is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist.Visentini was born in Gardone Riviera, in the province of Brescia, and had a brilliant junior career. In 1975, he was both Junior Italian champion and World Champion. As an amateur he won the 1977 time-trial World...
took the lead. The first long individual time trial
Individual time trial
An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...
was won by Hinault (thanks also to a mechanical problem occurred to Moser), who dressed the maglia rosa
Maglia rosa
The pink jersey is awarded to the leader of the General Classification at the Giro d'Italia. The leader of the GC is the rider who has the fastest time when all the stage results are added together, taking into account time bonuses for high finishes and intermediate sprints...
. Next another flat stage, and finally the mountains, with the Gran Sasso
Gran Sasso
Gran Sasso d'Italia is a mountain located in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. The Gran Sasso forms the centerpiece of the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park which was established in 1993 and holds the highest mountains in continental Italy south of the Alps and is part of the...
: Chioccioli
Franco Chioccioli
Franco Chioccioli is a former Italian professional road racing cyclist. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1991 Giro d'Italia.- Palmarès :1983...
won, without any significant changes in the general classification. Ron Kiefel
Ron Kiefel
Ronald Alexander Kiefel is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States. Kiefel is a seven-time Tour de France racer, Olympic bronze medalist and member of the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame....
won the 15th stage, from L'Aquila
L'Aquila
L'Aquila is a city and comune in central Italy, both the capital city of the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 73,150 inhabitants, but has a daily presence in the territory of 100,000 people for study, tertiary activities, jobs and tourism...
to Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
, becoming the first American cyclist to win a stage of a Grand Tour
Grand Tour (cycling)
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...
.
Real mountains were concentrated in the two final alpine
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
stages, finishing at Saint-Vincent and Valnontey
Cogne
Cogne is a town and comune in Aosta Valley, northern Italy with 1469 inhabitants, as of 2005.Cogne is located in the valley with the same name, leading to the Gran Paradiso massif Ibex, wild goat, marmots, royal eagles are easy to see...
. Moser won the first and a young Andrew Hampsten
Andrew Hampsten
Andrew Hampsten is an American former professional road bicycle racer who won the 1988 Giro d'Italia and the Alpe d'Huez stage of the 1992 Tour de France.-Career highlights:...
the second. Hinault maintained the lead and controlled the race during the final stage (an individual time trial from Lido di Camaiore
Camaiore
Camaiore is a town and comune of 31,503 inhabitants within the province of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. It stretches from the Alps to the east, to the plains and the coast of Versilia to the west.-Morphology:...
to Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
).
Hinault showed that he was the strongest rider in the race: he was regular and controlled the Italian teams with his powerful team (La Vie Claire
La Vie Claire
La Vie Claire was a professional road bicycle racing team named after its chief sponsor La vie Claire, a chain of health food stores.-History:The La Vie Claire team was created in 1984 by Bernard Tapie and directed by Paul Koechli...
) behind him. Moser showed that at 34 he was still a great cyclist, and the most complete of all Italian riders; despite this, it wasn't enough to beat Hinault. Visentini was in good shape and led the race till the first long ITT, then got sick and was forced to retire. Saronni was the great loser: good at ITT and sprints, he was left behind in the few mountain stages, letting many people to suppose that he had used his final forces to win the 1983 Giro
1983 Giro d'Italia
The 1983 Giro d'Italia was held from 12 May to 5 June 1983. It was won by the Giuseppe Saronni.This 66th edition covered 3,916 km, for a total of 22 stages, completed at an average speed of 38.9 km/h.- General classification :- Maglia rosa holders :...
.
Argentin
Moreno Argentin
Moreno Argentin is an Italian former professional cyclist .Born in San Donà di Piave , he won stages in the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de Suisse. Known as Il Capo , he won Liège–Bastogne–Liège four times, the La Flèche Wallonne three times and the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Giro...
fought for the sprints and a top-10 place, but he fell in the middle of the race and eventually retired. LeMond
Greg LeMond
Gregory James LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California and raised in Reno, Nevada....
was preparing the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
and helping Hinault, his result was very good and showed all of his talent. Lejarreta
Marino Lejarreta
Marino Lejarreta Arrizabalaga is a retired Spanish professional road racing cyclist. His biggest victory was capturing the 1982 Vuelta a España, a Grand Tour stage race, and he is the inaugural and record three-time winner of the Clásica de San Sebastián , which is now considered a one-day classic...
suffered the absence of high mountain stages.
Prim
Tommy Prim
Tommy Prim was a professional cyclist who rode for the Italian Bianchi team between the years of 1980 and 1986...
was as usual very regular, although he would have been expected to do more in the TT and compete for 1st place. Baronchelli
Gianbattista Baronchelli
Gianbattista Baronchelli is an Italian retired professional road racing cyclist . He obtained a total of 94 victories....
and Contini
Silvano Contini
Silvano Contini is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer.-Career:His main successes were the Liège–Bastogne–Liège of 1982, and the Grand prix du Midi Libre of 1985. He won Trofeo Baracchi in 1983 with Daniel Gisiger....
were both far of their fitness. Volpi
Alberto Volpi
Alberto Volpi is an Italian former road bicycle racer.During his professional cycling career, he was a client of the 'doping doctor' Professor Francesco Conconi....
, Giovannetti
Marco Giovannetti
Marco Giovannetti is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer and Olympic gold medalist who won the Vuelta a España in 1990. He has also won stages at the Tour de Suisse and the Giro d'Italia....
and Chioccioli showed a good talent (Chioccioli won a mountain stage, Volpi won the classification of the neo-pros).
José Luis Navarro was a good surprise as a climber: he won the mountains classification
Mountains classification in the Giro d'Italia
The mountains classification in the Giro d'Italia is a secondary classification. In this classification, points are awarded to the leading riders over designated climbs. Most climbs are sorted into one of three scales based on difficulty and its position on that day's stage...
. Portuguese rider Acácio da Silva
Acácio da Silva
Acácio da Silva Mora is a former Portuguese professional road bicycle racer. He was a professional from 1982 to 1994 during which he won stages in the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and stages in many other stage races. He won three stages in total in the Tour de France, one in 1987, one in...
did well in the medium mountain stages, but lost time and points during the last week. Freuler was the best sprinter and was contested only by Saronni, Stefano Allocchio and Paolo Rosola. Van der Velde
Johan van der Velde
Johan van der Velde is a former Dutch cyclist. In the 1980 Tour de France he won the Maillot blanc, or white jersey, for being the best young rider under 25, also placing 12th overall that year. He had been a racing cyclist for only a year...
fought for the points classification
Maglia ciclamino
The points classification in the Giro d'Italia is one of the secondary classifications in the Giro d'Italia. It is determined by the placements in the daily stages, independent from time distances...
, but disappeared during the last mountain stages.
General classification
| Cyclist | Country | Time | |
| 1 | Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault is a former French cyclist known for five victories in the Tour de France. He is one of only five cyclists to have won all three Grand Tours, and the only cyclist to have won each more than once. He won the Tour de France in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985... |
105 h 46' 51s | |
| 2 | Francesco Moser Francesco Moser Francesco Moser , nicknamed "Lo sceriffo" , is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the dominant riders from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, and won the 1984 Giro d'Italia, the 1977 world road racing championship and six victories in three of the five Monuments... |
||
| 3 | Greg LeMond Greg LeMond Gregory James LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California and raised in Reno, Nevada.... |
+ 2' 55s | |
| 4 | Tommy Prim Tommy Prim Tommy Prim was a professional cyclist who rode for the Italian Bianchi team between the years of 1980 and 1986... |
||
| 5 | Marino Lejarreta Arrizabalaga | + 6' 30s | |
| 6 | Giovanbattista Baronchelli | ||
| 7 | Silvano Contini Silvano Contini Silvano Contini is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer.-Career:His main successes were the Liège–Bastogne–Liège of 1982, and the Grand prix du Midi Libre of 1985. He won Trofeo Baracchi in 1983 with Daniel Gisiger.... |
+ 7' 22s | |
| 8 | Michael Wilson | ||
| 9 | Franco Chioccioli Franco Chioccioli Franco Chioccioli is a former Italian professional road racing cyclist. The highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1991 Giro d'Italia.- Palmarès :1983... |
||
| 10 | Alberto Volpi Alberto Volpi Alberto Volpi is an Italian former road bicycle racer.During his professional cycling career, he was a client of the 'doping doctor' Professor Francesco Conconi.... |
Maglia rosa holders
| Cyclist | Country | Stages |
|---|---|---|
| Francesco Moser Francesco Moser Francesco Moser , nicknamed "Lo sceriffo" , is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the dominant riders from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, and won the 1984 Giro d'Italia, the 1977 world road racing championship and six victories in three of the five Monuments... |
prologue-1st | |
| Giuseppe Saronni Giuseppe Saronni Giuseppe Saronni , also known as Beppe Saronni, is an Italian former racing cyclist.-Biography:Born in Novara, Piedmont, Saronni turned professional in 1977. During his career, that lasted until 1989, he won 193 races... |
2nd-3rd | |
| Roberto Visentini Roberto Visentini Roberto Visentini is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist.Visentini was born in Gardone Riviera, in the province of Brescia, and had a brilliant junior career. In 1975, he was both Junior Italian champion and World Champion. As an amateur he won the 1977 time-trial World... |
4th-11th | |
| Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault is a former French cyclist known for five victories in the Tour de France. He is one of only five cyclists to have won all three Grand Tours, and the only cyclist to have won each more than once. He won the Tour de France in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985... |
12th-final |
Other jerseys
- Maglia ciclamino: Johan van der VeldeJohan van der VeldeJohan van der Velde is a former Dutch cyclist. In the 1980 Tour de France he won the Maillot blanc, or white jersey, for being the best young rider under 25, also placing 12th overall that year. He had been a racing cyclist for only a year...
- Maglia verdeMountains classification in the Giro d'ItaliaThe mountains classification in the Giro d'Italia is a secondary classification. In this classification, points are awarded to the leading riders over designated climbs. Most climbs are sorted into one of three scales based on difficulty and its position on that day's stage...
: José Luis Navarro - Maglia biancaYoung rider classification in the Giro d'ItaliaSince 1976, The Giro d'Italia has had a young rider classification. The leader in this classification wears the maglia bianca . The classification is determined by the best overall time, but only young cyclists were in the competition....
: Alberto VolpiAlberto VolpiAlberto Volpi is an Italian former road bicycle racer.During his professional cycling career, he was a client of the 'doping doctor' Professor Francesco Conconi....