1971 Giro d'Italia

54th edition: May 20 - June 10

Results, stages with running GC, photos and history

1970 Giro | 1972 Giro | Giro d'Italia Database | 1971 Giro Quick Facts | 1971 Giro d'Italia Final GC | Stage results with running GC | The Story of the 1971 Giro d'Italia

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1971 Giro Quick Facts:

3,567 km raced at an average speed of 35.60 km/hr

100 starters and 75 classified finishers

Felice Gimondi suffered a crippling time loss early in the race and teammate Gianni Motta was positive for dope, leaving the 1971 Giro rather open.

Gösta Pettersson, enjoying terrific form, attacked in the mountains during stage 18.

He gained the overall lead, which he increased in the final time trial.

Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2021: The Little Cannibal Dominates is available as an audiobook here.

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1971 Giro d'Italia Complete Final General Classification:

1. Gösta Pettersson (Ferretti): 97hr 24min 3sec
2. Herman van Springel (Molteni) @ 2min 4sec
3. Ugo Colombo (Filotex) @ 2min 35sdec
4. Francisco Galdós (KAS) @ 4min 27sec
5. Pierfranco Vianelli (Dreher) @ 6min 41sec
6. Silvano Schiavon (Dreher) @ 7min 27sec
7. Felice Gimondi (Salvarani) @ 7min 30sec
8. Antoon Houbrechts (Salvarani) @ 9min 39sec
9. Wladimiro Panizza (Cosatto) @ 13min 13sec
10. Giovanni Cavalcanti (Filotex) @ 14min 22sec
11. Enrico Paolini (SCIC) @ 14min 41sec
12. Vicente López-Carril (KAS) @ 19min 8sec
13. Lino Farisato (Ferretti) @ 19min 46sec
14. Donato Giuliani (Filotex) @ 23min 5sec
15. Enrico Maggioni (Cosatto) @ 23min 13sec
16. Marinus Wagtmans (Molteni) @ 26min 52sec
17. Aldo Moser (G.B.C.) @ 27min 53sec
18. Giancarlo Polidori (SCIC) @ 33min 2sec
19. Luis Zubero (KAS) @ 38min 16sec
20. Gianni Motta (Salvarani) @ 41min 39sec
21. Roger Swerts (Molteni) @ 43min 9sec
22. Italo Zilioli (Ferretti) @ 45min 48sec
23. Franco Bitossi (Filotex) @ 51min 58sec
24. Ole Ritter (Dreher) @ 55min 18sec
25. Arturo Pecchielan (G.B.C.) @ 55min 26sec
26. Davide Boifava (SCIC) @ 59min 18sec
27. Vittorio Urbani (Dreher) @ 1hr 1min 11sec
28. Fabrizio Fabbri (Cosatto) @ 1hr 1min 25sec
29. Jos-Luis Uribezubia (KAS) @ 1hr 4min 18sec
30. Renato Laghi (Filotex) @ 1hr 8min 31sec
31. Andres Gandarias (KAS) @ 1hr 10min 30sec
32. Roberto Poggiali (Salvarani) @ 1hr 15min 26sec
33. Francisco Gabica (KAS) @ 1hr 12min 28sec
34. Domingo Perurena (KAS) @ 1hr 16min 48sec
35. Guerrino Tosello (Molteni) @ 1hr 18min 44sec
36. Albert van Vlierberghe (Ferretti) @ 1hr 28min 18sec
37. Jesus Manzaneque (KAS) @ 1hr 28min 53sec
38. Roberto Sorlini (Cosatto) @ 1hr 30min 44sec
39. José-Manuel Fuente (KAS) @ 1hr 31min 53sec
40. Carlo Chiappano (SCIC) @ 1hr 32min 10sec
41. Louis Pfenninger (G.B.C.) @ 1hr 32min 10sec
42. Marino Basso (Molteni) @ 1hr 33min 5sec
43. Angelo Bassini (SCIC) @ 1hr 35min 7sec
44. Franco Mori (SCIC) @ 1hr 36min 34sec
45. Adriano Passuello (Dreher) @ 1hr 38min 3sec
46. Bernard Vifian (G.B.C.) @ 1hr 40min 1sec
47. Mario Lanzafame (Cosatto) @ 1hr 41min 17sec
48. Romano Tumellero (Molteni) @ 1hr 41min 29sec
49. Ernie De Blaere (Magniflex) @ 1hr 42min 44sec
50. Ottavio Crepaldi (Salvarani) @ 1hr 45min 7sec
51. Sture Pettersson (Ferretti) @ 1hr 45min 54sec
52. Dino Zandegù (Salvarani) @ 1hr 49min 8sec
53. Giancarlo Bellini (Molteni) @ 1hr 49min 19sec
54. Noël van Clooster (Magniflex) @ 1hr 50min 27sec
55. Luigi Sgarbozza (G.B.C.) @ 1hr 51min 56sec
56. Silvano Ravagli (Magniflex) @ 1hr 53min 9sec
57. Giacinto Santambrogio (Molteni) @ 1hr 55min 58sec
58. Oliviero Morotti (Dreher) @ 1hr 56min 15sec
59. Diego Moser (G.B.C.) @ 2hr 0min 13sec
60. Attilio Rota (Dreher) @ 2hr 1min 57sec
61. Pietro Campagnari (Ferretti) @ 2hr 4min 34sec
62. Piero Dallai (Cosatto) @ 2hr 7min 24sec
63. Attilio Benfatto (SCIC) @ 2hr 8min 43sec
64. Wilmo Francioni (Ferretti) @ 2hr 9min 32sec
65. Selvino Poloni (Cosatto) @ 2hr 10min 4sec
66. Arnaldo Caverzasi (Filotex) @ 2hr 12min 5sec
67. Emilio Casalini (Salvarani) @ 2hr 13min 39sec
68. André Poppe (Magniflex) @ 2hr 16min 38sec
69. Patrick Sercu (Dreher) @ 2hr 20min 37sec
70. Pietro Guerra (Salvarani) @ 2hr 32min 1sec
71. Giorgio Favero (Molteni) @ 2hr 42min 56sec
72. Alberto Della Torre (Filotex) @ 2hr 54min 3sec
73. Giuseppe Fezzardi (Dreher) @ 2hr 56min 36sec
74. Eddy Reyniers (Magniflex) @ 3hr 11min 18sec
75. Lucillo Lievore (G.B.C.) @ 3hr 18min 19sec

Climbers' Competition:

1. José-Manuel Fuente (KAS): 360 points
2. Pierfranco Vianelli (Dreher): 270
3. Primo Mori (Salvarani): 190
4. Lino Farisato (Ferretti): 170
5. Vicente López-Carril (KAS): 140

Points Competition:

1. Marino Basso (Molteni): 181 points
2. Patrick Sercu (Dreher): 148
3. Felice Gimondi (Salvarani): 139
4. Ole Ritter (Dreher): 136
5. Albert Van Vlierberghe (Ferretti): 116

Team Classification:

1. Molteni: 5,956 points
2. Salvarani: 4,476
3. SCIC: 4,162

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1971 Giro stage results with running GC:

Thursday, May 20: Prologue relay, Lecce - Brindisi 6.2 km with 10 legs. Did not count towards GC, only to award first Pink Jersey.

First leg:

1. Felice Gimondi (Salvarani)
2. van Springel @ 3sec
3. Zilioli, Bitossi @ 7sec
5. Aldo Moser @ 11sec

Second leg:

1. Marinus Wagmans (Molteni)
2. Michelotto @ 7sec
3. Diego Moser @ 9sec
4. Ritter @ 11sec
5. Gualazzini @ 16sec

Third leg:

1. Ottavio Crepaldi (Salvarani)
2. Nicoletti @ 1sec
3. Tumellero, Balmamion, Cavalcanti 2 3sec

Fourth leg:

1. Antoon Houbrechts (Salvarani)
2. Caverzasi @ 3sec
3. Chiappano, Castelletti @ 19sec
5. Chemello @ 20sec

Fifth leg:

1. Giacinto Santambrogio (Molteni), Fabrizio Fabbri (Cosatto)
3. Farisato @ 3sec
4. Franco Mori @ 7sec
5. Della Torre, Primo Mori @ 8sec

Sixth leg:

1. Dino Zandegù (Salvarani)
2. Campagnari @ 10sec
3. Paolini @ 19sec
4. Bellini @ 20sec
5. Lazcano @ 30sec

Seventh leg:

1. Attilio Benfatto (Salvarani)
2. Rosolen @ 6sec
3. Piero Poloni @ 11sec
4. Simonetti @ 21sec
5. Favero @ 28sec

Eighth leg:

1. Pietro Di Caterina (Dreher)
2. Sture Pettersson @ 27sec
3. Bassani, Poggiali @ 29sec
5. Swerts @ 31sec

Ninth leg:

1. Guerrino Tosello (Molteni)
2. Guerra @ 25sec
3. Urbani @ 26sec
4. Erik Pettersson @ 27sec
5. Sorlini @ 30sec

Tenth leg:

1. Gösta Pettersson (Ferretti)
2. Boifava, Motta @ 1sec
4. Basso @ 6sec
5. Vianelli @ 18sec

Prologue results:

1. Salvarani: 1hr 10min 46sec
2. Molteni @ 3sec
3. SCIC @ 34sec
4. Ferretti @ 42sec
5. Filotex @ 1min 39sec

Friday, May 21: Stage 1, Brindisi - Bari, 175 km

1. Marino Basso: 4hr 2min 42sec
2. Franco Bitossi s.t.
3. Gianni Motta s.t.
4. Franco Mori s.t.
5. Albert van Vlierberghe s.t.
6. Alberto Della Torre and 41 others given same time and place s.t.

Saturday, May 22: Stage 2, Bari - Potenza, 260 km

Major ascent: Scivano

Motta was declassified a few days later after a dope positive in this stage. I posted results as they were at the time.

1. Enrico Paolini: 7hr 55min 29sec
2. Gianni Motta @ 3sec
3. Michele Dancelli @ 14sec
4. Gösta Pettersson s.t.
5. Franco Bitossi s.t.
6. Giancarlo Polidori @ 2min 44sec
7. Italo Zilioli s.t.
8. Herman van Springel s.t.
9. Franco Balmamion s.t.
10. Aldo Moser s.t.

GC after Stage 2:

1. Enrico Paolini: 11hr 58min 11sec
2. Gianni Motta @ 3sec
3. Michele Dancelli, Gösta Pettersson, Franco Bitossi @ 14sec
6. Giancarlo Polidori, Aldo Moser, Italo Zilioli, Ugo Colombo, Wladimiro Panizza @ 2min 44sec

Sunday, May 23: Stage 3, Potenza - Benevento, 177 km

1. Ercole Gualazzini: 5hr 5min 23sec
2. Patrick Sercu s.t.
3. Marino Basso s.t.
4. Pietro Guerra s.t.
5. Albert van Vlierberghe s.t.
6. Luigi Sgarbozza s.t.
7. Gianni Motta s.t.
8. Giancarlo Polidori s.t.
9. Enrico Paolini s.t.
10. Franco Bitossi s.t.

GC after Stage 3:

1. Enrico Paolini: 17hr 3min 34sec
2. Gianni Motta @ 3sec
3. Franco Bitossi, Michele Dancelli, Gösta Pettersson @ 14sec
6. Giancarlo Polidori, Aldo Moser, Italo Zilioli, Ugo Colombo, Wladimiro Panizza @ 2min 44sec

Monday, May 24: Stage 4, Benevento - Pescasseroli, 203 km

Major ascents: Taburno, Calvario

1. Guerrino Tosello: 6hr 22min 50sec
2. Roberto Sorlini s.t.
3. Ole Ritter @ 3min 39sec
4. Donato Giuliani s.t.
5. José-Luis Uribezubia s.t.
6. Wladimiro Panizza s.t.
7. Ugo Colombo @ 3min 46sec
8. Antoon Houbrechts @ 3min 50sec
9. Marino Basso @ 4min 1sec
10. Gianni Motta s.t.

GC after Stage 4:

1. Enrico Paolini: 23hr 50min 25sec
2. Gianni Motta @ 3sec
3. Franco Bitossi, Michele Dancelli, Gösta Pettersson @ 14sec
6. Wladimiro Panizza @ 2min 22sec
7. Ugo Colombo @ 2min 29sec
8. Giancarlo Polidori, Aldo Moser, Italo Zilioli @ 2min 44sec

Tuesday, May 25: Stage 5, Pescasseroli - Gran Sasso, 198 km

1. Vicente López-Carril: 6hr 9min 40sec
2. Antoon Houbrechts @ 4sec
3. Pierfranco Vianelli @ 29sec
4. Ole Ritter @ 41sec
5. Roger Swerts @ 50sec
6. Claudio Michelotto @ 57sec
7. Erik Pettersson @ 1min 2sec
8. Aldo Moser s.t.
9. Ugo Colombo s.t.
10. Donato Giuliani @ 1min 10sec

GC after Stage 5:

1. Ugo Colombo: 29hr 43min 36sec
2. Aldo Moser @ 15sec
3. Claudio Michelotto @ 52sec
4. Silvano Schiavon @ 1min 17sec
5. Giancarlo Polidori @ 4min 45sec
6. Antoon Houbrechts @ 5min 2sec
7. Pierfranco Vianelli @ 5min 38sec
8. Enrico Paolini @ 5min 47sec
9. Donato Giuliani @ 5min 57sec
10. Gianni Motta @ 6min 42sec

Wednesday, May 26: Stage 6, L'Aquila - Orvieto, 163 km

1. Domingo Perurena: 3hr 58min 45sec
2. Lino Farisato @ 1sec
3. Arturo Pecchielan s.t.
4. Dino Zandegù @ 9sec
5. Albert van Vlierberghe s.t.
6. Giancarlo Polidori s.t.
7. Patrick Sercu s.t.
8. Erik Pettersson s.t.
9. Mario Lanzafame s.t.
10. Primo Mori s.t.

GC after Stage 6:

1. Ugo Colombo: 33hr 44min 49sec
2. Aldo moser @ 15sec
3. Claudio Michelotto @ 52sec
4. Silvano Schiavon @ 1min 17sec
5. Giancarlo Polidori @ 2min 26sec
6. Antoon Houbrechts @ 5min 2sec
7. Pierfranco Vianelli @ 5min 38sec
8. Enrico Paolini @ 5min 47sec
9. Donato Giuliani @ 5min 57sec
10. Franco Bitossi @ 6min 37sec

Thursday, May 27: Stage 7, Orvieto - San Vincenzo, 220 km

1. Felice Gimondi: 5hr 22min 22sec
2. Marinus Wagtmans s.t.
3. Wladimiro Panizza s.t.
4. Enrico Paolini s.t.
5. Francisco Galdos s.t.
6. Gösta Pettersson s.t.
7. Herman van Springel s.t.
8. Claudio Michelotto s.t.
9. Aldo Moser s.t.
10. Romano Tumellero @ 6min 22sec

GC after stage 7:

1. Aldo Moser: 39hr 7min 26sec
2. Claudio Michelotto @ 37sec
3. Enrico Paolini @ 5min 32sec
4. Ugo Colombo @ 6min 7sec
5. Gösta Pettersson @ 6min 54sec
6. Silvano Schiavon @ 7min 24sec
7. Enrico Polidori @ 8min 33sec
8. Herman van Springel @ 8min 58sec
9. Wladimiro Panizza @ 9min 2sec
10. Francisco Galdos @ 9min 20sec

Friday, May 28: Stage 8, San Vincenzo - Casciana Terme, 203 km

Major ascent: Monte Serra Buti

1. Romano Tumellero: 5hr 27min 39sec
2. Roger Swerts @ 3sec
3. Wilmo Francioni s.t.
4. José-Luis Uribezubia s.t.
5. Roberto Poggiali s.t.
6. Louis Pfenninger s.t.
7. Lino Farisato s.t.
8. Ole Ritter @ 7sec
9. Renato Laghi s.t.
10. Mauro Simonetti @ 11sec

GC after Stage 8:

1. Claudio Michelotto: 44hr 39min 24sec
2. Aldo Moser @ 2min 2sec
3. Enrico Paolini @ 4min 52sec
4. Ugo Colombo @ 5min 30sec
5. Gösta Pettersson @ 6min 16sec
6. Herman van Springel @ 8min 18sec
7. Francisco Galdos @ 8min 43sec
8. Silvano Schiavon @ 9min 26sec
9. Marinus Wagtmans @ 9min 44sec
10. Antoon Houbrechts @ 10min 32sec

Saturday, May 29: Stage 9, Casciana Terme - Forte dei Marmi, 141 km

1. Marino Basso: 3hr 27min 37sec
2. Patrick Sercu s.t.
3. Dino Zandegù s.t.
4. Albert van Vlierberghe s.t.
5. Noël van Clooster s.t.
6. Michele Dancelli s.t.
7. Luigi Sgarbozza s.t.
8. Ole Ritter s.t.
9. Giancarlo Polidori s.t.
10. Marinus Wagtmans s.t.

GC after Stage 9:

1. Claudio Michelotto: 48hr 7min 1sec
2. Aldo Moser @ 2min 2sec
3. Enrico Paolini @ 4min 52sec
4. Ugo Colombo @ 5min 30sec
5. Gösta Pettersson @ 6min 17sec
6. Herman van Springel @ 8min 18sec
7. Francisco Galdos @ 8min43sec
8. Silvano Schiavon @ 9min 26sec
9. Marimus Wagtmans @ 9min 44sec
10. Antoon Houbrechts @ 10min 32sec

Sunday, May 30: Stage 10, Forte dei Marmi - Pian del Falco di Sestola, 123 km

Major ascents: Cipollalo, Radici, Pian del Falco

1. José-Manuel Fuente: 3hr 38min 18sec
2. Lino Farisato @ 3sec
3. Erik Pettersson @ 17sec
4. Arturo Pecchielan @ 18sec
5. Giovanni Cavalcanti @ 28sec
6. José-Luis Uribezubia @ 31sec
7. Donato Giuliani @ 43sec
8. Andrés Gandarias @ 52sec
9. Antoon Houbrechts @ 59sec
10. Roger Swerts @ 1min 8sec

GC after Stage 10:

1. Claudio Michelotto: 51hr 47min 51sec
2. Aldo Moser @ 2min 25sec
3. Enrico Paolini @ 4min 55sec
4. Ugo Colombo @ 5min 33sec
5. Gösta Pettersson @ 6min 20sec
6. Herman van Springel @ 8min 18sec
7. Frnacisco Galdos @ 8min 58sec
8. Antoon Houbrechts @ 8min 59sec
9. Silvano Schiavon @ 9min 29sec
10. Marinus Wagtmans @ 9min 47sec

Monday, May 31: Stage 11, Sestola - Mantova, 199 km

1. Marino Basso: 4hr 51min 17sec
2. Patrick Sercu s.t.
3. Noël van Clooster s.t.
4. Albert van Vlierberghe s.t.
5. Luigi Sgarbozza s.t.
6. Sture Pettersson s.t.
7. Dino Zandegù s.t.
8. Guerrino Tosello s.t.
9. Mauro Simonetti s.t.
10. Davide Boifava s.t.

GC after Stage 11:

1. Claudio Michelotto: 56hr 39min 8sec
2. Aldo Moser @ 2min 15sec
3. Enrico Paolini @ 4min 55sec
4. Ugo Colombo @ 5min 33sec
5. Gösta Pettersson @ 6min 20sec
6. Herman van Springel @ 8min 18sec
7. Francisco Galdos @ 8min 58sec
8. Antoon Houbrechts @ 8min 59sec
9. Silvano Schiavon @ 9min 29sec

Tuesday, June 1: Rest Day

Wednesday, June 2: Stage 12, Desenzano - Serniga Salò 28 km individual time trial

1. Davide Boifava: 43min 10sec
2. Ole Ritter @ 7sec
3. Felice Gimondi @ 33sec
4. Gösta Pettersson @ 1min 3sec
5. Herman van Springel @ 1min 16sec
6. Gianni Motta @ 1min 34sec
7. Louis Pfenninger @ 1min 39sec
8. Bernard Vilfian @ 1min 42sec
9. Marimus Wagtmans @ 1min 43sec
10. Giovanni Cavalcanti @ 1min 44sec

GC after Stage 11:

1. Claudio Michelotto: 57hr 25min 14sec
2. Aldo Moser @ 2min 13sec
3. Gösta Pettersson@ 4min 37sec
4. Ugo Colombo @ 5min 36sec
5. Enrico Paolini @ 6min 27sec
6. Herman van Springel @ 6min 38sec
7. Antoon Houbrechts @ 7min 52sec
8. Francisco Galdos @ 8min 6sec
9. Marinus Wagtmans @ 8min 34sec
10. Silvano Schiavon @ 9min 39sec

Thursday, June 3: Stage 13, Salò - Chioggia Sottomarina Lido, 218 km

Major ascent: Fugazze

1. Patrick Sercu: 5hr 41min 50sec
2. Marino Basso s.t.
3. Albert van Vlierberghe s.t.
4. Franco Bitossi s.t.
5. Luigi Sgarbozza s.t.
6. Dino Zandegù s.t.
7. Felice Gimondi s.t.
8. Ole Ritter s.t.
9. Mauro Simonetti s.t.
10. Marinus Wagtmans s.t.

GC after Stage 13:

1. Claudio Michelotto: 63hr 7min 4sec
2. Aldo Moser @ 2min 18sec
3. Gösta Pettersson @ 4min 37sec
4. Ugo Colombo @ 5min 36sec
5. Enrico Paolini @ 6min 27sec
6. Herman van Springel @ 6min 38sec
7. Antoon Houbrechts @ 7min 52sec
8. Francisco Galdos @ 8min 6sec
9. Marinus Wagtmans @ 8min 34sec
10. Silvano Schiavon @ 9min 39sec

Friday, June 4: Stage 14, Chioggia Sottomarina Lido - Bibione, 170 km

1. Patrick Sercu: 3hr 56min37sec
2. Marino Basso s.t.
3. Albert van Vlierberghe s.t.
4. Michele Dancelli s.t.
5. Franco Bitossi s.t.
6. Gianni Motta s.t.
7. Giancarlo Polidori s.t.
8. Dino Zandegù s.t.
9. Marinus Wagtmans s.t.
10. Luigi Sgarbozza s.t.

GC after Stage 14:

1. Claudio Michelotto: 67hr 3min 41sec
2. Aldo Moser @ 2min 18sec
3. Gösta Pettersson @ 4min 37sec
4. Ugo Colombo @ 5min 36sec
5. Enrico Paolini @ 6min 27sec
6. Herman van Springel @ 6min 38sec
7. Antoon Houbrechts @ 7min 52sec
8. Francisco Galdos @ 8min 6sec
9. Marimus Wagtmans @ 8min 34sec
10. Silvano Schiavon @ 9min 39sec

Saturday, June 5: Stage 15, Bibione - Ljubljana (Lubiana), 203 km

1. Franco Bitossi: 5hr 9min 34sec
2. Patrick Sercu @ 18sec
3. Domingo Perurena s.t.
4. Luigi Sgarbozza s.t.
5. Ole Ritter s.t.
6. Dino Zandegù s.t.
7. Albert van Vlierberghe s.t.
8. Gianni Motta s.t.
9. Noël van Clooster s.t.
10. Sture Pettersson s.t.

GC after Stage 15:

1. Claudio Michelotto: 72hr 13min 33sec
2. Aldo Moser @ 2min 18sec
3. Gösta Pettersson @ 4min 37sec
4. Ugo Colombo @ 5min 36sec
5. Enrico Paolini @ 6min 27sec
6. Herman van Springel @ 6min 38sec
7. Antoon Houbrechts @ 7min52sec
8. Francisco Galdos @ 8min 6sec
9. Marinus Wagtmans @ 8min 34sec
10. Silvano Schiavon @ 9min 39sec

Sunday, June 6: Stage 16, Ljubljana (Lubiana) - Tarvisio, 100 km

1. Dino Zandegù: 2hr 24min 20sec
2. Felice Gimondi s.t.
3. Marino Basso s.t.
4. Roger Swerts s.t.
5. Albert van Vlierberghe s.t.
6. Noël van Clooster s.t.
7. Arnaldo Caverzasi s.t.
8. Enrico Maggioni s.t.
9. Luigi Sgarbozza s.t.
10. Ole Ritter s.t.

GC after Stage 16:

1. Claudio Michelotto: 74hr 37min 53sec
2. Aldo Moser @ 2min 18sec
3. Gösta Pettersson @ 4min 37sec
4. Ugo Colombo @ 5min 36sec
5. Enrico Paolini @ 6min 27sec
6. Herman van Springel @ 6min 38sec
7. Antoon Houbrechts @ 7min 52sec
8. Francisco Galdos @ 8min 6sec
9. Marinus Wagtmans @ 8min 34sec
10. Silvano Schiavon @ 9min 29sec

Monday, June 7: Stage 17: Tarviso - Grossglockner, 106 km

Major ascents: Galberg Sattel, Felbertauern tunnel, twice up Grossglockner

1. Pierfranco Vianelli: 6hr 8min 45sec
2. Primo Mori @ 1min 9sec
3. Giancarlo Polidori @ 1min 37sec
4. André Poppe @ 2min 30sec
5. Gösta Pettersson @ 4min 31sec
6. Herman van Springel s.t.
7. Felice Gimondi s.t.
8. Francisco Galdos s.t.
9. Ugo Colombo s.t.
10. Silvano Schiavon s.t.

GC after Stage 17:

1. Claudio Michelotto: 80hr 52min 44sec
2. Aldo Moser @ 1min 22sec
3. Gösta Pettersson @ 2min 2sec
4. Ugo Colombo @ 3min 1sec
5. Herman van Springel @ 4min 3sec
6. Francisco Galdos @ 5min31sec
7. Enrico Paolini @ 5min 37sec
8. Pierfranco Vianelli @ 6min 27sec
9. Antoon Houbrechts @ 6min 40sec
10. Silvano Schiavon @ 7min 4sec

Tuesday, June 8: Stage 18, Lienz - Falcade, 195 km

Major ascents: Tre Croci, Falzarego, Pordoi, Valles

1. Felice Gimondi: 6hr 11min 21sec
2. Herman van Springel s.t.
3. Gösta Pettersson s.t.
4. Francisco Galdos s.t.
5. Luis Zubero @ 14sec
6. Silvano Schiavon @ 17sec
7. Ugo Colombo @ 35sec
8. Vicente López-Carril s.t.
9. Giovanni Cavalcanti s.t.
10. Enrico Maggioni @ 1min 10sec

GC after stage 18:

1. Gösta Pettersson: 87hr 7min 7sec
2. Ugo Colombo @ 1min 34sec
3. Herman van Springel @ 2min 1sec
4. Francisco Galdos @ 3min 29sec
5. Silvano Schiavon @ 5min 19sec
6. Pierfranco Vianelli @ 5min 55sec
7. Antoon Houbrechts @ 6min 3sec
8. Felice Gimondi @ 7min 26sec
9. Claudio Michelotto @ 7min 39sec
10. Enrico Paolini @ 9min 5sec

Wednesday, June 9: Stage 19, Falcade - Ponte di Legno, 172 km

Major ascents: San Pellegrino, Mendola, Tonale

1. Lino Farisato: 5hr 10min 54sec
2. Marinus Wagtmans @ 13sec
3. Felice Gimondi @ 3min 39sec
4. Herman van Springel @ 3min 40sec
5. Ugo Colombo s.t.
6. Gianni Motta s.t.
7. Enrico Maggioni @ 3min 44sec
8. Luis Zubero @ 3min 47sec
9. Francisco Galdos @ 3min 49sec
10. Davide Boifava @ 3min51sec

GC after Stage 19:

1. Gösta Pettersson: 92hr 22min 0sec
2. Ugo Colombo @ 1min 15sec
3. Herman van Springel @ 1min 42sec
4. Francisco Galdos @ 3min 19sec
5. Silvano Schiavon @ 5mn 41sec
6. Pierfranco Vianelli @ 5min 55sec
7. Felice Gimondi @ 7min 6sec
8. Antoon Houbrechts @ 7min 51sec
9. Wladimiro Panizza @ 11min 33sec
10. Enrico Paolini @ 12min 39sec

Thursday, June 10: Stage 20A, Ponte di Legno - Lainate, 185 km

1. Giacinto Santambrogio: 4hr 35min 19sec
2. Wilmo Francioni s.t.
3. Guerrino Tosello s.t.
4. Emilio Casalini @ 2sec
5. Wladimiro Panizza s.t.
6. Attilio Benfatto s.t.
7. Attilio Rota s.t.
8. Selvino Poloni @ 5sec
9. Marino Basso @ 24sec
10. Patrick Sercu s.t.

GC after Stage 20A

1. Gösta Pettersson

Thursday, June 10: Final Stage, 20B, Lainate - Milano 20 kilometer individual time trial

1. Ole Ritter: 25min 41sec
2. Gösta pettersson @ 39sec
3. Roger Swerts @ 42sec
4. Davide Boifava @ 44sec
5. Pietro Guerra @ 50sec
6. Herman van Springel @ 1mn 1sec
7. Felice Gimondi @ 1min 3sec
8. Roberto Sorlini @ 1min 18sec
9. Pierfranco Vianelli @ 1min 25sec
10. Giacinto Santambrogio, Romano Tumellero, Selvino Poloni @ 1min 33sec

Complete Final 1971 Giro d'Italia General Classification

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The Story of the 1971 Giro d'Italia

This excerpt is from "The Story of the Giro d'Italia", Volume 2. If you enjoy it we hope you will consider purchasing the book, either print or electronic. The Amazon link here will make either purchase easy.

“The Vikings have landed” trumpeted La Gazzetta dello Sport with the arrival of the Pettersson brothers. As the Swedish national team, Gösta, Sture, Erik and Thomas had dominated the now-discontinued 100-kilometer Team Time Trial World Championship. In 1964 (with Sven Hamrin instead of Thomas) they took a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. In 1967, ’68 and ’69 they won gold medals at the World Championships as well as silver at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Gösta turned in a masterful performance in the 1968 Tour of Britain (then called the Milk Race), taking the lead in the first stage and holding it to the end. Offers to turn pro were plentiful, but the Petterssons turned them all down until 1970.

Gösta wanted to avoid the wild-west doping that prevailed among the pros (he also hated racing against the Iron Curtain teams, some of which had very advanced government-financed drug programs) and refused to even consider competing with the professionals until he felt competent drug testing had been implemented. Ferretti team manager Alfredo Martini finally prevailed and signed the four Swedes. Coincidentally the Ferretti kitchen equipment sponsor was owned by four brothers.

In his first year as a pro at the ripe old age of 29, Gösta won the Tour of Romandie and the Coppa Sabatini, came in sixth in the Giro and third in the Tour. It was a splendid way to begin a professional career.

For the 1971 Giro, Martini put three of the Petterssons in his lineup, Gösta, Erik and Sture. Gösta had shown good early-season form when he came in second to Merckx in Paris–Nice.

Spaniard José-Manuel Fuente turned pro in 1969 and made his Grand Tour debut in the 1970 Vuelta. His sixteenth place, 5 minutes 23 seconds behind winner Luis Ocaña, was considered a revelation. The talented climber signed to ride the 1971 season for KAS, one of Spain’s greatest-ever teams. KAS brought their prodigy to the Giro along with Spanish hardmen Vicente López-Carril, Andrés Gandarias, Francisco Gabica and Domingo Perurena.

Eddy Merckx decided not to contest the Giro in 1971, choosing instead to ride the Dauphiné Libéré, which he won along with 54 other races that year, including the Tour and the World Championship. Merckx had moved to Molteni where he wore the iconic brown and black jersey of the Italian sausage company from 1971 through 1976. Molteni’s 1971 Giro team was anchored by Herman van Springel, who’d missed winning the Tour in 1968 by only 38 seconds.

SCIC (another kitchen equipment maker, as was Salvarani) assembled a first-rate squad with Franco Balmamion, Davide Boifava, Michele Dancelli, Giancarlo Polidori and Claudio Michelotto.

Italian observers thought (hoped?) Salvarani’s Felice Gimondi and Gianni Motta would be the men to beat. Yes, these two ferocious opponents were on the same team, some said in order to find a way to beat Merckx. In fact, Gimondi was distressed when he learned that the Salvarani brothers had signed Motta in response to Gimondi’s poor 1969 season.

Gimondi felt Motta’s abilities and psychology made them natural competitors, not collaborators, and they had no business being on the same team. Motta initially turned out to be a poor bet, needing surgery in the spring of 1970 to correct an old problem from a crash in the 1965 Tour of Switzerland, making him unable to ride the Giro that year. But in 1971 he came back, winning the Tour of Romandie—the Swiss stage race that comes just before the Giro, often used by Giro contenders to put a fine edge on their form. Gimondi had no significant victories in the spring of 1971, his best result being a second place to Merckx in Milan–San Remo with Gösta Pettersson third.

The Salvaranis replaced team boss Luciano Pezzi with recently retired Vittorio Adorni. Adorni announced that for the Giro, Salvarani would have co-captains—Gimondi and Motta. That rarely works.

The Giro started off with a relay prologue at Lecce in Italy’s boot-heel which, although Salvarani won it by three seconds over Molteni, did not count towards the General Classification. The first stage, won in Bari by Molteni’s speedster Marino Basso, did count, making Basso the leader.

The next stage went through the hills of Puglia and Basilicata and Gimondi didn’t enjoy it one bit. He was having a terrible day, trying to disguise his distress, riding in the middle of the peloton during what he hoped would be an easy, or piano, day.

But who attacked? None other than his teammate Motta, in fantastic condition after the Tour of Romandie. Motta’s aggression got everybody’s juices flowing, turning the day’s racing red-hot. Gimondi, suffering his giornata no (a day when a rider has no strength), couldn’t stay with the leaders as they surged ahead. To make things worse, Motta had told Franco Bitossi, Enrico Paolini, Dancelli and Pettersson ahead of time about his planned attack as a way to make sure his off-form teammate was put out the back door. Losing almost nine minutes meant Gimondi’s Giro was over almost before it began. It turned out Salvarani’s Giro was over now as well.

After coming in second to Paolini in that second stage, Motta was found to have an errant chemical in his system. The disfavor of the anti-doping control earned him a relegation to last place along with a ten-minute time penalty, enough damage to render him completely out of contention. Motta blamed the doping positive on a cup of herb tea. I would have paid good money to have been at the Salvarani team meeting that evening.

Paolini now took the Pink Jersey, which he kept until the stage five hilltop finish at Gran Sasso.

Vicente López-Carril, first to reach the top of the Gran Sasso, had suffered catastrophic time losses in the second stage, but sitting high in the standings was the day’s sixth place, Claudio Michelotto, and not far behind were Aldo Moser and Ugo Colombo. Several of the main contenders—Pettersson, Fuente, Gimondi, and Zilioli—finished the stage ten minutes or more behind Lopez-Carril.

That made Colombo the maglia rosa:
1. Ugo Colombo
2. Aldo Moser @ 15 seconds
3. Claudio Michelotto @ 52 seconds
4. Silvano Schiavon @ 1 minute 17 seconds
5. Giancarlo Polidori @ 4 minutes 45 seconds

This was the fruit basket upside-down Giro. Several riders came back from the dead when Gimondi led an elite break of nine riders into the Tuscan coastal town of San Vincenzo. Gaining back more than six minutes were Pettersson, van Springel, Moser and Michelotto. Moser was the new Pink Jersey, with Michelotto a half minute back. Pettersson and van Springel were in the top ten, but more than eight minutes behind Moser.

Back into the Apennines. At the end of stage eight, where Moser had to give up the lead to Michelotto, the exhausted riders dribbled into Casciana Terme either alone or in small groups.

Stage ten gave the riders three good climbs to chew on, the last being to the top of Sestola Pian del Falco, not far from Abetone. Fuente showed why KAS had hired him when he was first over the Passo Radici before finishing alone, though Lino Farisato was only 3 seconds back. La Gazzetta called the stage win a “revelation”, making it two Grand Tours where Fuente was revealed. I wonder if Merckx was paying attention.

The first of two time trials was held at Lake Garda where Pettersson and van Springel turned in excellent rides. Davide Boifava won the 28-kilometer race but Pettersson was fourth at 63 seconds, while van Springel was 13 seconds slower. Michelotto was 25th at nearly three minutes.

With the Alpine and Dolomite stages still to come, the General Classification was getting interesting. Riders who had suffered early race-killing time losses were coming back:
1. Claudio Michelotto
2. Aldo Moser @ 2 minutes 13 seconds
3. Gösta Pettersson @ 4 minutes 37 seconds
4. Ugo Colombo @ 5 minutes 36 seconds
5. Giancarlo Paolini @ 6 minutes 27 seconds
6. Herman van Springel @ 6 minutes 38 seconds

The standings remained unchanged as the Giro traveled to what was then Yugoslavia before heading into the Austrian Alps for a trip to the Grossglockner. Fuente made another attempt for mountain glory and was first to the top of the second major ascent but it was 1968 Olympic road champion Franco Vianelli who carried the day, climbing alone to the top.

Michelotto had been unable to stay with the main chase group containing Pettersson, van Springel, Gimondi and Colombo. He blew up at the Franz-Josefs Höhe where a friendly car door handle gave the leader an easy lift to within a minute and a half of the Pettersson group. The officials didn’t think that was the way the race should be ridden and penalized him a minute. This was far less than he gained by cheating, and allowed him to stay in pink with Pettersson third at two minutes and van Springel fifth, four minutes behind. Michelotto had expected no punishment for his cheating and expressed astonishment at the one-minute penalty.

When Michelotto cracked on the Franz-Josefs, Pettersson and the other strongmen smelled blood. They weren’t happy with his nominal penalty, but the next two days in the Dolomites weren’t going to give the maglia rosa a moment’s rest. Stage eighteen took the riders from Linz in Austria over the Tre Croci, Falzarego, Pordoi and Valles passes. Given that sprinter Marino Basso was the first rider over the Pordoi, one can assume that the pace for the first three ascents wasn’t exactly white hot. But even that pace was too much for the Pink Jersey who must have been exhausted after riding well beyond himself defending the lead for more than a week. Indeed, Michelotto couldn’t stay with the leaders on the Pordoi’s ascent and while descending he flatted, rolled his tire and crashed.

With the better riders together on the final climb, Alfredo Martini drove up next to Pettersson in the team car and was distressed to find that his team captain, who didn’t have a particularly aggressive personality, was content to sit in the pack. Martini knew Pettersson was riding into magnificent condition and also knew this was the time to make a move.

“Don’t you know how strong you are?” he yelled, and screamed at the Swede to attack. The rest of the riders told Gösta to ignore Martini. At Martini’s furious insistence Pettersson took off with several good riders for company, the move turning into a four-man break of Pettersson, Gimondi, van Springel and Francisco Galdós. Gimondi led them into Falcade ten minutes ahead of Michelotto, who was sporting a bad head wound from his crash.

Michelotto was out of the Pink Jersey and, following his team doctor’s advice, abandoned. Pettersson had quietly (if you ignore Martini’s yelling) moved to the front of the line:
1. Gösta Pettersson
2. Ugo Colombo @ 1 minute 34 seconds
3. Herman van Springel @ 2 minutes 1 second
4. Francisco Galdós @ 3 minutes 29 seconds
5. Silvano Schiavon @ 5 minutes 19 seconds

The next stage had three ascents including the Passo Tonale. It didn’t change things much, except that van Springel was able to sneak into Ponte di Legno 19 seconds ahead of Pettersson. With only the 20-kilometer final-stage time trial left to affect the standings, that could be a big deal. The gap between them was now only 102 seconds and both van Springel and Pettersson were good against the clock.

Giacinto Santambrogio wins the penultimate stage ahead of Wilmo Francioni.

But, there was no way van Springel, as competent as he was, could take the Giro away from Pettersson, one of the world’s best time-trialists. Ole Ritter won the stage while Pettersson was second at 39 seconds. Van Springel gave up 22 seconds to the Swede, but it was a good enough performance to move him past Colombo into second place.

Pettersson’s director Alfredo Martini is given a lot of credit for Pettersson’s careful, economical and measured climb to the lead. Pettersson didn’t waste a single watt, winning a difficult Giro à la Balmamion, without winning a single stage. Martini said that if Pettersson had been a more aggressive rider, his talent would have allowed him far more victories during his short professional career.

Gösta Petterson wins the Giro

Final 1971 Giro d’Italia General Classification:
1. Gösta Pettersson (Ferretti) 97 hours 24 minutes 3 seconds
2. Herman van Springel (Molteni) @ 2 minutes 4 seconds
3. Ugo Colombo (Filotex) @ 2 minutes 35 seconds
4. Francisco Galdós (KAS) @ 4 minutes 27 seconds
5. Franco Vianelli (Dreher) @ 6 minutes 41 seconds

Climbers’ Competition:
1. José-Manuel Fuente (KAS): 360 points
2. Franco Vianelli (Dreher): 270
3. Franco Mori (SCIC): 190

Points Competition:
1. Marino Basso (Molteni): 181 points
2. Patrick Sercu (Dreher): 148
3. Felice Gimondi (Salvarani): 139

Gimondi returned to good form in time for the World Championships where he and Merckx fought an epic duel. The two were alone together for the last twenty kilometers as the Italian withstood attack after attack from Merckx, with the Belgian prevailing in the final sprint. With each acceleration from Merckx, Gimondi would literally grit his teeth, so much so that during the intense final lap, Gimondi dislocated his jaw. Champions are different from the rest of us.

* * *
For much of the twentieth century, Italian sport was cycling. The newspapers sold millions upon millions of copies to the sports-mad Italians who gobbled up the news of their heroes.

But Italy had changed. Following the end of the Second World War, Italians desperate for work poured into the great manufacturing cities of the north, creating an enormous well of cheap labor that fueled Italy’s post-war economic miracle. But big cities are poor venues for road racing. As a result soccer, a stadium sport better suited to city living, grew in popularity. Adding to bicycle racing’s woes was television, which had gone from a rare luxury to an important part of western life. Televising the moving circus that is a road race is a complex, expensive and technologically demanding enterprise. In addition, no one really knows how long a bicycle race will take, making it a scheduling nightmare. Setting up television cameras in a soccer stadium, on the other hand, is a comparative piece of cake.

By the 1970s, professional cycle racing was scrambling to find a way to remain important. To make things worse, over the following decades, the owners of the Giro regularly botched the sale of the Giro’s broadcasting rights, costing it vital spectators when it needed them most. Even the Tour de France had become tawdry with exhausting transfers designed to maximize the number of stage towns paying for the privilege of a Tour visit along with countless awards, each with a sponsor chipping in a few francs.

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