Races : Giro d'Italia

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 most recent winner (2008) is Alberto Contador.

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 at Milan with eight stages totaling 2,448 kilometers (1,521 miles). Luigi Ganna was the first winner.

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 Espana 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).

Italian Felice Gimondi holds the record for the most podium finishes: nine in total, consisting of three victories, two second places and four third place finishes. The only American to ever win the race was Andrew Hampsten in 1988, racing for the 7-Eleven team.