1927 Giro d'Italia
15th edition: May 15 - June 5
Results, stages with running GC, photos and history
1926 Giro | 1928 Giro | Giro d'Italia Database | 1927 Giro Quick Facts | 1927 Giro d'Italia Final GC | Stage results with running GC | Teams | The Story of the 1927 Giro d'Italia
3758 km raced at an average speed of 25.85 km/hr
266 starters and 80 classified finishers
Alfredo Binda put on a show of dominance that has never been equaled, winning twelve of the fifteen stages. He earned twelve minutes in time bonuses.
This edition was a much more modern Giro, with almost all the stages under 300 km and several of the fifteen stages run on consecutive days.
Future bicycle component maker Tullio Compagnolo entered with backnumber 145, but does not appear in the list of Stage One classified finishers.
David L. Stanley's book Melanoma: It Started With a Freckle is available as an audiobook read by the author here.
1927 Giro d'Italia Complete Final General Classification:
Alfredo Binda (Legnano-Pirelli): 144hr 15min 35sec- Giovanni Brunero (Legnano-Pirelli): @ 27min 24sec
- Antonio Negrini (Wolsit) @ 36min 6sec
- Ermanno Vallazza (Legnano-Pirelli) @ 51min 20sec
- Giuseppe Pancera (Berrettini) @ 54min 29sec
- Arturo Bresciani (Bianchi) @ 1hr 10min 3sec
- Egidio Picchiottino (Bianchi) @ 1hr 11min 54sec
- Aleardo Simoni (Ganna) @ 1hr 32min 14sec
- Luigi Giacobbe (Wolsit) @ 1hr 57min 49sec
- Aristide Cavallini (independent) @ 2hr 5min 44sec
- Oreste Cignoli @ 2hr 23min 48sec
- Settimo Innocenti @ 2hr 27min 31sec
- Giovanni Trentarossi @ 2hr 29min 50sec
- Paolo Zanetti @ 2hr 55min 47sec
- Guido Masseri @ 2hr 56min 15sec
- Mario Pomposi @ 3hr 1min 21sec
- Sergio Ferrato @ 3hr 5min 19sec
- Michele Gordini @ 3hr 14min 45sec
- Vitaliano Lugli @ 3hr 17min 9sec
- Angelo De Franceschi @ 3hr 17min 56sec
- Arturo Serena @ 3hr 19min 11sec
- Livio Cattel @ 3hr 20min 21sec
- Giovanni Pizzarelli @ 3hr 28min 35sec
- Albino Binda @ 3hr 36min 5sec
- Alberto Cattaneo @ 3hr 39min 27sec
- Giovanni Petruio @ 3hr 57min 56sec
- Umberto Berni @ 4hr 28min 33sec
- Amabile Perego @ 4hr 42min 25sec
- Anselmo Del Mastro @ 4hr 47min 0sec
- Riccardo Gagliardi @ 4hr 53min 24sec
- Giovanni Del Taglio @ 4hr 56min 26sec
- Lorenzo Leoni @ 4hr 58min 43sec
- Luciano Bergami @ 4hr 58min 58sec
- Alessandro Catalani @ 5hr 22min 32sec
- Vittorio Binetti @ 5hr 30min 22sec
- Raffaele Perna @ 5hr 31min 20sec
- Alessandro Orioli @ 5hr 43min 11sec
- Giovanni Samore @ 5hr 48min 40sec
- Alberto Temponi @ 6hr 12min 23sec
- Francesco Lagosteno @ 6hr 22min 3sec
- Giuseppe Nicolini @ 6hr 40min 37sec
- Alessandro Bogliolo @ 6hr 41min 7sec
- Virgilio Beolchi @ 6hr 47min 39sec
- Giovanni Rossignoli @ 7hr 3min 41sec
- Giuseppe Casadio @ 7hr 12min 44sec
- Gaetano Vezzosi @ 7hr 21min 16sec
- Michele Robotti @ 7hr 22min 57sec
- Carlo Cristiani @ 7hr 28min 52sec
- Antonio Liguori @ 7hr 59min 22sec
- Lauro Venditti @ 8hr 3min 23sec
- Baptiste Berardi @ 9hr 12min 21sec
- Giuseppe Tartara @ 9hr 18min 34sec
- Giuliano Maggioni @ 9hr 26min 42sec
- Pietro Barbati @ 9hr 44min 14sec
- Giovanni Massetto @ 9hr 49min 56sec
- Primo Guasco @ 9hr 57min 18sec
- Umberto Brivio @ 10hr 3min 53sec
- Alessandro Catteano @ 10hr 4min 32sec
- Ernesto Bonino @ 10hr 15min 14sec
- Giovanni Lupario @ 10hr 23min 39sec
- Domenico Bonomo @ 10hr 50min 12sec
- Evasio Della Rolle @ 11hr 17min 56sec
- Vindicio Tucci @ 11hr 46min 1sec
- Antonio Di Venosa @ 11hr 47min 35sec
- Carlo Medolago @ 12hr 3min 33sec
- Adolfo Quaglino @ 12hr 54min 15sec
- Armando Maggiori @ 13hr 31min 14sec
- Carlo Principato @ 13hr 39min 2sec
- Silvio Beretto @ 13hr 52min 38sec
- Giovanni Legnani @ 14hr 10min 10sec
- Gino Busi @ 15hr 23min 40sec
- Antonio Giovinale @ 15hr 51min 7sec
- Ottavio Dominici @ 17hr 2min 22sec
- Augusto Rho @ 17hr 24min 31sec
- Domenico Cingolani @ 17hr 51min 54sec
- Alfredo Francini @ 18hr 12min 36sec
- Bartolomeo Gagliardini @ 18hr 20min 6sec
- Dante Fontana @ 19hr 19min 30sec
- Aldo Bertolotti @ 19hr 52min 15sec
- Paolo Baldieri @ 21hr 21min 10sec
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1927 Giro stage results with running GC:
Stage 1: Sunday, May 15, Milano - Torino, 288 km
Ascent: La Serra (585m)
- Alfredo Binda: 10hr 0min 7sec
- Marino Bonvicini s.t.
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- Battista Giuntelli s.t.
- Giovanni Balla s.t.
- Giovanni Brunero s.t.
- Giovanni or Secondo Martinetto @ 1min 17sec
- Domenico Piemontesi s.t.
- Ermanno Vallazza s.t.
- Paolo Zanetti s.t.
GC after Stage 1: Same as stage results exceot for 1min time bonus accrued to Binda for stage win
Stage 2: Tuesday, May 17, Torino - Reggio Emilia, 321 km
Ascent: Penice (1,146m)
- Alfredo Binda: 11hr 1min 57sec
- Arturo Bresciani s.t.
- Domenico Piemontesi s.t.
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- Antonio Negrini s.t.
- Lodovico Bozzani s.t.
- Antonio Pancera s.t.
- Battista Giuntelli s.t.
- Pietro Chiesi s.t.
- Egidio Picchiottino s.t.
GC after Stage 2:
- Alfredo Binda: 21hr 0min 4sec
- Giuseppe Pancera @ 2min
- Battista Giuntelli s.t.
- Giovanni Brunero s.t.
- Giovanni or Secondo Martinetto @ 3min 17sec
- Domenico Piemontesi s.t.
- Ermanno Vallazza s.t.
- Paolo Zanetti s.t.
- Arturo Bresciani @ 5min 4sec
- Augusto Dal Cin s.t.
Stage 3: Thursday, May 19, Reggio Emilia - Lucca, 207 km
Ascent: Cerreto (814m)
- Alfredo Binda: 7hr 56min 2sec
- Domenico Piemontesi s.t.
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- Arturo Bresciani s.t.
- Antonio Negrini s.t.
- Antonio Pancera s.t.
- Sante Ferrato s.t.
- Battista Giuntelli s.t.
- 53 riders all given same time and place
GC after Stage 3:
- Alfredo Binda: 28hr 55min 6sec
- Giuseppe Pancera @ 3min
- Battista Giuntelli s.t.
- Giovanni Brunero s.t.
- Domenico Piemontesi @ 4min 17sec
- Giovanni or Secondo Martinetto @ 4min 17sec
- Ermanno Vallazza s.t.
- Paolo Zanetti s.t.
- Arturo Bresciani @ 6min 4sec
- Augusto Dal Cin @ 6min 4sec
Stage 4: Friday, May 20: Lucca - Grosseto, 240 km
- Domenico Piemontesi: 9hr 3min 27sec
- Alfredo Binda s.t.
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- Antonio Pancera s.t.
- Augusto Dal Cin s.t.
- Arturo Bresciani s.t.
- Oreste Cignoli s.t.
- Giuseppe Enrici s.t.
- Lodovico Bozzani s.t.
- Aristide Cavallini s.t.
GC after Stage 4:
- Alfredo Binda: 37hr 58min 33sec
- Giuseppe Pancera @ 3min
- Battista Giuntelli s.t.
- Giovanni Brunero s.t.
- Domenico Piemontesi @ 3min 47sec
- Giovanni or Secondo Martinetto @ 4min 17sec
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 4min 55sec
- Arturo Bresciani @ 6min 4sec
- Augusto Dal Cin s.t.
- Lodovico Bozzani @ 6min 9sec
Stage 5: Sunday, May 22, Grosseto - Roma, 243 km
Ascent: Cimini (814m)
- Alfredo Binda: 9hr 56min osec
- Giovanni Brunero @ 8min 35sec
- Antonio Negrini s.t.
- Giuseppe Pancera @ 9min 21sec
- Arturo Bresciani @ 13min 19sec
- Aleardo Simoni @ 16min 56sec
- Antonio Pancera s.t.
- Aristide Cavallini s.t.
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 18min 8sec
- Egidio Picchiottino @ 18min 30sec
GC after Stage 5:
- Alfredo Binda: 9hr 56min 0sec
- Giovanni Brunero @ 13min 35sec
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- Antonio Negrini @ 17min 0sec
- Arturo Bresciani @ 21min 23sec
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 25min 27sec
- Aristide Cavallini @ 25min 49sec
- Aleardo Simoni @ 27min 13sec
- Egidio Picchiottino @ 28min 47sec
- Battista Giuntelli @ 33min 41sec
Stage 6: Monday, May 23, Roma - Napoli, 257 km
- Alfredo Binda: 10hr 39min 7sec
- Arturo Bresciani s.t.
- Giovanni Brunero s.t.
- Sante Ferrato s.t.
- Battista Giuntelli s.t.
- 26 riders all given same time and place
GC after Stage 6:
- Alfredo Binda: 6hr 22min 15sec
- Giovanni Brunero @ 14min 35sec
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- Antonio Negrini @ 18min 0sec
- Arturo Bresciani @ 22min 23sec
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 26min 20sec
- Aristide Cavallini @ 26min 49sec
- Aleardo Simoni @ 28min 13sec
- Egidio Picchiottino @ 29min 47sec
- Battista Giuntelli @ 34min 41sec
Stage 7: Tuesday, May 24, Napoli - Avellino, 153 km
Ascent: Mercogliano (650m)
- Alfredo Binda: 6hr 22min 15sec
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- Arturo Bresciani s.t.
- Antonio Pancera s.t.
- Giovanni Brunero s.t.
- Ermanno Vallazza s.t.
- Luigi Giacobbe @ 25sec
- Egidio Picchiottino @ 1min 25sec
- Aleardo Simoni s.t.
- Antonio Negrini @ 4min 45sec
GC after Stage 7:
- Alfredo Binda: 64hr 51min 55sec
- Giovanni Brunero @ 15min 35sec
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- Arturo Bresciani @ 23min 23sec
- Antonio Negrini @ 23min 45sec
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 27min 20sec
- Aleardo Simoni @ 30min 30sec
- Egidio Picchiottino @ 32min 14sec
- Aristide Cavallini @ 38min 52sec
- Lodovico Bozzani @ 45min 30sec
Stage 8: Thursday, May 26, Avellino - Bari, 272 km
Ascent: Montemarano (820m)
- Alfredo Binda: 10hr 28min 22sec
- Sergio Ferrato s.t.
- Michele Robotti s.t.
- Antonio Negrini s.t.
- Giovanni Pizzarelli s.t.
- Arturo Bresciani s.t.
- Amabile Perego s.t.
- Egidio Picchiottino s.t.
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- 10 riders at the same time and place, including Giovanni Brunero and Ermanno Vallazza
GC after Stage 8:
- Alfredo Binda: 75hr 19min 17sec
- Giovanni Brunero @ 15min 35sec
- Giuseppe Pancera @ 17min 21sec
- Arturo Bresciani @ 24min 23sec
- Antonio Negrini @ 24min 45sec
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 28min 9sec
- Aleardo Simoni @ 33min 0sec
- Egidio Picchiotino @ 33min 24sec
- Aristide Cavallini @ 40min 39sec
- Lodovico Bozzani @ 48min 40sec
Stage 9: Friday, May 27, Bari - Campobasso, 243 km
- Alfredo Binda: 11hr 15min 0sec
- Giovanni Brunero s.t.
- Arturo Bresciani s.t.
- Giovanni Pizzarelli s.t.
- Egidio Picchiotino s.t.
- Antonio Negrini s.t.
- Mario Pomposi @ 10sec
- Ermanno Vallazza s.t.
- Giovanni Trentarossi @ 50sec
- Giuseppe Pancera @ 3min 18sec
GC after Stage 9:
- Alfredo Binda @ 86hr 34min 17sec
- Giovanni Brunero @ 16min 35sec
- Giuseppe Pancera @ 21min 59sec
- Arturo Bresciani @ 25min 23sec
- Antonio Negrini @ 25min 45sec
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 29min 24sec
- Egidio Picchiottino @ 34min 14sec
- Aleardo Simoni @ 35min 7sec
- Luigi Giacobbe @ 1hr 7min 30sec
- Aristide Cavallini @ 1hr 14min 36sec
Stage 10: Sunday, May 29, Campobasso - Pescara, 220 km
Ascents: Macerone, Rinoero Sannitico (1,052m), Roccaraso (1,236m)
- Alfredo Binda: 7hr 53min 0sec
- Ermanno Vallazza s.t.
- Antonio Negrini s.t.
- Giovanni Brunero s.t.
- Arturo Bresciani @ 8min 56sec
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- Giovanni Trentarossi s.t.
- Albino Binda s.t.
- Egidio Picchiottino s.t.
- Umberto Berni @ 14min 8sec
GC after Stage 10:
- Alfredo Binda: 94hr 26min 47sec
- Giovanni Brunero: 17min 45sec
- Antonio Negrini @ 27min 11sec
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 31min 4sec
- Giuseppe Pancera @ 32min 31sec
- Arturo Bresciani @ 35min 9sec
- Egidio Picchiottino @ 44min 0sec
- Aleardo Simoni @ 1hr 0min 46sec
- Luigi Giacobbe @ 1hr 30min 45sec
- Albino Binda @ 1hr 35min 41sec
Stage 11: Monday, May 30, Pescara - Pesaro, 215 km
- Arturo Bresciani: 7hr 44min 28sec
- Antonio Negrini s.t.
- Giovanni Brunero s.t.
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- Lorenzo Leoni @ 1min 7sec
- Alfredo Binda @ 1min 50sec
- Sergio Ferrato @ 2min 25sec
- Giovanni Pizzarelli @ 2min 29sec
- Egidio Picchiottino @ 3min 48sec
- Oreste Cignoli s.t.
GC after Stage 11:
- Alfredo Binda: 102hr 12min 35sec
- Giovanni Brunero @ 17min 45sec
- Antonio Negrini @ 27min 21sec
- Giuseppe Pancera @ 31min 4sec
- Arturo Bresciani @ 33min 24sec
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 35min 46sec
- Egidio Picchiottino @ 46min 9sec
- Aleardo Simoni @ 1hr 2min 55sec
- Luigi Giacobbe @ 1hr 33min 4sec
- Aristide Cavallini @ 1hr 39min 55sec
Stage 12: Wednesday, June 1, Pesaro - Treviso, 306 km
- Alfredo Binda: 11hr 43min 50sec
- Arturo Bresciani s.t.
- Sergio Ferrato s.t.
- Michele Robotti s.t.
- Giovanni Brunero s.t.
- Egidio Picchiottino s.t.
- Michele Gordini s.t.
- Franesco Legosteno and 38 other riders in at same time and same place
GC after Stage 12:
- Alfredo Binda: 113hr 55min 25sec
- Giovanni Brunero @ 17min 45sec
- Antonio Negrini @ 27min 21sec
- Giuseppe Pancera @ 32min 48sec
- Arturo Bresciani @ 34min 13sec
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 35min 46sec
- Egidio Picchiottino @ 47min 9sec
- Aleardo Simoni @ 1hr 3min 55sec
- Luigi Giacobbe @ 1hr 33min 45sec
- Aristide Cavallini @ 1hr 49min 59sec
Stage 13: Thursday, June 2, Treviso - Trieste, 208 km
- Giovanni Brunero: 8hr 19min 47sec
- Antonio Negrini s.t.
- Ermanno Vallazza s.t.
- Alfredo Binda s.t.
- Albino Binda @ 2min 5sec
- Giovanni Pizzarelli @ 3min 53sec
- Giovanni Trentarossi s.t.
- Paolo Zanetti s.t.
- Luigi Giacobbe @ 4min 25sec
- Umberto Berni s.t.
GC after Stage 13:
- Alfredo Binda: 122hr 15min 12sec
- Giovanni Brunero @ 16min 49sec
- Antonio Negrini @ 27min 21sec
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 36min 44sec
- Giuseppe Pancera @ 38min 13sec
- Arturo Bresciani @ 46min 37sec
- Egidio Picchiottino @ 55min 36se
- Aleardo Simoni @ 1hr 4min 20sec
- Luigi Giacobbe @ 1hr 38min 10sec
- Aristide Cavallini @ 1hr 49min 28sec
Stage 14: Friday, June 3, Trieste - Verona, 276 km
- Alfredo Binda: 11hr 10min 45sec
- Arturo Bresciani s.t.
- Michele Robotti s.t.
- Giovanni Pizzarelli s.t.
- Antonio Negrini s.t.
- Giovanni Del Taglio s.t.
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- Egidio Picchiottino s.t.
- Giovanni Trentarossi s.t.
- Oreste Cignoli s.t.
GC after Stage 14:
- Alfredo Binda: 133hr 24min 57sec
- Giovanni Brunero @ 17min 45sec
- Antonio Negrini @ 28min 21sec
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 37min 46sec
- Giuseppe Pancera @ 39min 13sec
- Arturo Bresciani @ 47min 37sec
- Egidio Picchiottino @ 56min 38sec
- Aleardo Simoni @ 1hr 9min 20sec
- Luigi Giacobbe @ 1hr 39min 10sec
- Aristide Cavallini @ 1hr 50min 28sec
15th and Final Stage: Sunday, June 5, Verona - Milano, 291 km
Ascent: Ghisallo (754m)
- Alfredo Binda: 10hr 51min 43sec
- Antonio Negrini @ 3min 40sec
- Giovanni Brunero @ 8min 34sec
- Arturo Bresciani @ 12min 21sec
- Ermanno Vallazza @ 12min 29sec
- Michele Robotti @ 14min 11sec
- Giovanni Pizzarelli s.t.
- Giuseppe Pancera s.t.
- Arturo Serena s.t.
- Amabile Perego, Egidio Picchiottino, Virgilio Beolchi, Giovanni Trentarossi, Mario Pomposi, Oreste Cignoli, Aristide Cavallini: all given same time and same place
1927 Giro d'Italia Complete Final General Classification
Aliprandi-Pirelli
Bianchi-Pirelli
Berettini-Hutchinson
Ganna-Dunlop
Legnano-Pirelli
Wolsit-Pirelli
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The Story of the 1927 Giro d'Italia
This excerpt is from "The Story of the Giro d'Italia", Volume 1. If you enjoy it we hope you will consider purchasing the book, either print, eBook or audiobook. The Amazon link here will make the purchase easy.
The 1927 Giro jumped in length to 3,758 kilometers divided into fifteen stages, for an average stage length of 251 kilometers. In addition to lengthening the race the organizers now had some stages run on consecutive days. Until 1927, the Giro always had at least one rest day between each leg. Additionally, the Giro announced that the winner of each stage would have one minute subtracted from his General Classification time. These time subtractions are generally called time bonuses or bonifications in English, abbuoni in Italian.
The 1927 edition was not only longer, it was also bigger, having the largest peloton so far, 258 starters.
Girardengo did not enter the 1927 Giro. Twenty-five-year-old Alfredo Binda did start, as did Brunero, Bresciani and Piemontesi. In that spring’s Milan–San Remo, Pietro Chiesi was the solo victor by an impressive nine minutes—impressive because the two riders chasing him were Binda and Piemontesi. Bresciani came in fourth, three minutes after Binda had out-sprinted Piemontesi. The four best contenders all brought excellent form to the Giro.
The first stage was the well-trod Milan–Turin route. Binda showed he brought his best game to the race when he won the stage from a six-man break that included Brunero but neither Piemontesi nor Bresciani. They were over a minute back. In that six-man escape was also a racer named Giuseppe Pancera.
Alfredo Binda wins the first stage
I’d like to pause for a moment in our story of the 1927 Giro and tell a bit about Pancera because his story throws a lot of light on the era. Giuseppe Pancera was born in 1899 in the small town of Castelnuovo del Garda, west of Verona, in Veneto. His family’s stark poverty required that he begin work as a baker’s helper at the age of twelve. Along with his three brothers he was drafted into the Italian Army. He was discharged after four years of service and went back to working in bakeries. His brothers Eliseo and Antonio (who were also entered in the 1927 Giro) talked him into buying a bike and a life-long love affair with cycling was born. Pancera’s brothers were impressed when they saw how fast he could ride while trying to keep up with trains and talked him into entering his first race, which he won.
Pancera continued to improve. Advancing through the ranks he won two Italian championships, turned professional in 1925 and by 1926 he was a top pro, winning the still-held Coppa Bernocchi. Despite the fame bike racing conferred upon its best practitioners, it was a profession that paid poorly. Without the money to afford any other way to travel, he would often ride his bike to races, compete and then ride home. It was an exhausting way to make a living.
He would go on to ride ten Giri d’Italia and four Tours de France. Contemporary writers thought that his strengths were best suited to single-day races but his second place in the 1929 Tour and several top placings in the Giro showed that he had the resilience and strength for any cycle race. He specialized in what one Italian writer called “daring and long” escapes. After retiring he opened a bar (we’d call it a coffee shop), a not uncommon pursuit for retired athletes in Italy. While out riding his bike sometime in the 1960s a terrible accident with a car cost him one of his legs. Pancera died in 1977.
Giuseppe Pancera photo gallery
Giuseppe Pancera's daughter remembers her father.
Binda’s riding in the opening days of the 1927 Giro was despotic. He won the first three stages, gathering up the time bonuses along the way. Only Brunero, Pancera and Marco Giuntelli had been in the front group each time for the sprint. That yielded this General Classification:
1. Alfredo Binda
2. Giuseppe Pancera @ 3 minutes
3. Marco Giuntelli @ same time
4. Giovanni Brunero @ same time
5. Domenico Piemontesi @ 4 minutes 17 seconds
After Piemontesi’s victory in the fourth stage to Grosseto in Tuscany, Binda won the next six stages. All but the fifth stage ending in Rome were sprint victories in groups of about twenty riders. The Roman stage was a triumph. After Binda came in alone, the crowd had to wait eight and a half minutes before Brunero led in Antonio Negrini. Pancera showed up another nine minutes later with Bresciani a further four minutes back. With this impressive display of power, Binda had humiliated Italy’s finest riders.
The next day the Giro went south to Naples where Binda took first place in a 26-man sprint after 257 kilometers of racing. To prove he was still fresh after almost eleven hours in the saddle, he took a trumpet from a member of the band playing at the finish and entertained the crowd.
Bresciani won the eleventh stage and Brunero managed to get by Binda in the thirteenth, but the rest of the race was the trumpeter’s.
Out of the 15 available stages, Binda had won twelve. Moreover, he had done what so far only Girardengo had done in 1919. Binda had taken the lead in the first stage and held it to the end.
The prize list was enhanced by a donation of 25,000 lire from Benito Mussolini: 10,000 for the General Classification winner and the rest to be divided up among the winners of the various categories such as Independents and members of the militia.
Of the 258 riders (the number could be as large as 266) who had departed Milan only 80 made it back.
Alfredo Binda, the greatest rider of his time.
Final 1927 Giro d’Italia General Classification:
1. Alfredo Binda (Legnano-Pirelli) 144 hours 15 minutes 35 seconds
2. Giovanni Brunero (Legnano-Pirelli) @ 27 minutes 24 seconds
3. Antonio Negrini (Wolsit) @ 36 minutes 6 seconds
4. Ermano Vallazza (Legnano-Pirelli) @ 51 minutes 20 seconds
5. Giuseppe Pancera (independent) @ 54 minutes 29 seconds
6. Arturo Bresciani (Bianchi) @ 1 hour 10 minutes 3 seconds
On July 21, four days after the conclusion of the Tour de France, the International Cycling Union (UCI) held its first-ever World Road Cycling Championship at the Nürburgring race track in Germany, open to amateurs and professionals. Both Italy (Binda, Belloni, Girardengo, and Piemontesi) and Belgium (Jean Aerts, René Vermandel, Jules van Hevel, Félix Sellier, Georges Ronsse, and Gérard Debaets) sent excellent teams of mainly seasoned professionals. Most of the other countries sent amateurs. The result was an Italian romp. Binda soloed in, followed by Girardengo seven minutes later, Piemontesi at eleven minutes and Belloni a few seconds after him. As the first amateur across the line, Aerts became Amateur World Champion.
Binda’s World Championship was just part of his impressive list of wins in 1927: Champion of Italy, Giro d’Italia, Critérium des As, the Tours of Lombardy, Tuscany and Piedmont and the Milan six-day (teamed with Girardengo).
Italian has a wonderful word for an outstanding, natural champion athlete: fuoriclasse, fuori meaning outside or beyond and classe being class. His fellow racers as well as the writers of the time rightly called Binda fuoriclasse.
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