1913 Giro d'Italia

5th edition: May 6 - May 22

Results, stages with running GC, photos and history

1912 Giro | 1914 Giro | Giro d'Italia Database | 1913 Giro Quick Facts | 1913 Giro d'Italia Final GC | Stage results with running GC | Teams | The Story of the 1913 Giro d'Italia

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1913 Giro Quick Facts:

2932 km raced at an average speed of 26.38 km/hr

99 starters and 35 classified finishers

The 1913 Giro was the last edition run under the points system. If elapsed time had been used, the top standings would have been thus:

1. Carlo Oriani: 111hr 8min 57sec
2. Giuseppe Azzini @ 22min 53sec
3. Eberardo Pavesi: 1hr 11min 55sec
4. Luigi Ganna @ 1hr 43min 33sec
5. Costante Girardengo @ 1hr 45min 26sec

Winning Team: Maino

Les Woodland's book Cycling Heroes: The Golden Years is available as an audiobook here.

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1913 Giro d'Italia Complete Final General Classification:

1. Carlo Oriani (Maino): 37 points
2. Eberardo Pavesi (Legnano): 43
3. Giuseppe Azzini (Otav): 48
4. Pierino Albini (Legnano): 65
5. Luigi Ganna (Ganna): 64
6. Costante Girardengo (Maino): 74
6. Leopoldo Toricelli (Maino) (tied for 6th): 74
8. Giuseppe Contesini (Globo-Dunlop): 81
9. Giovanni Cervi (Gerbi-Dunlop): 82
10. Giovanni Rossignoli (Globo-Dunlop): 89
11. Ugo Agostini: 93
12. Clemente Canepari: 97
13. Michele Robotti (Ganna): 99
14. Camillo Bertarelli (Ganna): 103
15. Emilio Petiva: 116

16. Luigi Lucotti: 120
17. Lauro Bordin: 125
18. Luigi Azzini: 127
19. Giovanni Cocchi (Otav) : 130
20. Giovanni Casetta (Goericke) : 131
21. Emilio Cucchetti: 132
22. Natale Bosco: 134
22. Gino Brizzi (tied for 22nd): 134
24. Domenico Cittera: 135
24. Alfredo Sivocci (tied for 24th): 135
26. Luigi Molon: 138
26. Mario Bonalenza (tied for 26th) 138
27. Giovanni Roncon: 139
29. Giuseppe Bonfanti: 143
30. Umberto Ripamonti: 147
31. Giovanni Bassi: 149
31. Oreste Locatelli (tied for 31st): 149
33. Mario Secchi: 157
34. Alfredo Corti: 158
34. Mario Lonati (tied for 34th): 158

1913 Giro stage results with running GC:

Stage 1: Tuesday, May 6, Milano - Torino - Genova, 341 km

99 starters, 81 finishers

Ascents: Scoffera

1. Giuseppe Santhià: 12hr 4min 51sec. 28.22 km/hr
2. Pierini Albini
3. Ottavio Pratesi (disqualified)
4. Luigi Ganna
5. Giovanni Rossignoli
6. Vincenzo Borgarello
7. Eberardo Pavesi
8. Ugo Agostoni
9. Carlo Oriani
10. Costante Girardengo
11. Giovanni Cervi

GC after Stage 1:

1. Giuseppe Santhià: 1 points
2. Pierino Albini: 2
3. Luigi Ganna: 3
4. Giovanni Rossignoli: 4
5. Vincenzo Borgarello: 5
6. Eberardo Pavesi: 6
7. Ugo Agostini: 7
8. Carlo Oraini: 8
9. Costante Girardengo: 9
10. Giovanni Cervi: 10

Stage 2: Thursday, May 8, Genova - Firenze - Siena, 332 km

77 starters, 68 finishers

Ascent: Passo del Bracco

1. Eberardo Pavesi: 12hr 29min 23sec. 26.6 km/hr
2. Giovanni Rossignoli
3. Giovanni Cervi
4. Pierino Albani
5. Carlo Oriani
6. Costante Girardengo
7. Giuseppe Santhià
8. Giuseppe Azzini
9. Ugo Agostini
10. Luigi Ganna

GC after Stage 2:

1. Pierino Albini: 6 points
2. Giovanni Rossignoli: 6
3. Eberardo Pavesi: 7
4. Giuseppe Santhià: 8
5. Luigi Ganna: 13
6. Giovanni Cervi: 13
7. Carlo Oriani: 13
8. Costante Girardengo: 15
9. Ugo Agostini: 16
10. Vincenzo Borgarello: 20

Stage 3: Saturday, May 10, Siena - Perugia - Roma, 317.9 km

68 starters, 63 finishers

Ascent: Palazzolo

1. Giuseppe Santhià: 10hr 48min 50sec. 29.39 km/hr
2. Giuseppe Azzini
3. Eberardo Pavesi
4. Ezio Corlaita
5. Luigi Ganna
6. Emilio Petiva
7. Carlo Oriani
8. Enrico Verde
9. Pierino Albini
10. Leopoldo Torricelli

GC after Stage 3:

1. Giuseppe Santhià: 9 points
2. Eberardo Pavesi: 10
3. Pierino Albini: 15
4. Luigi Ganna: 18
5. Giovanni Rossignoli: 19
6. Carlo Oriani: 20
7. Giuseppe Azzini: 26
8. Giovanni Cervi: 27
9. Ugo Agostini: 28
10. Costante Girardengo: 30

Stage 4: Monday, May 12, Roma - Capua - Salerno, 341 km

62 starters, 60 finishers

Ascent: Grottolella

1. Giuseppe Azzini: 12hr 1min. 28.39 km/hr
2. Carlo Oriani
3. Giuseppe Santhià
4. Lepoldo Torricelli
5. Eberardo Pavesi
6. Giuseppe Contesini
7. Luigi Ganna
8. Pierino Albini
9. Ugo Agostini
10. Ezio Corlaita

GC after Stage 4:

1. Giuseppe Santhià: 12 points
2. Eberardo Pavesi: 15
3. Carlo Oriani: 22
4. Pierino Albini: 23
5. Luigi Ganna: 25
6. Giuseppe Azzini: 27
7. Giovanni Rossignoli: 32
8. Ugo Agostini: 37
9. Leopoldo Torricelli: 39
10. Giovanni Cervi: 41

Stage 5: Wednesday, May 14, Salerno - Bari, 295.6 km

60 starters, 45 finishers

Ascent: Tricarico

1. Giuseppe Azzini: 14hr 7min 30sec. 29.39 km/hr
2. Luigi Ganna
3. Eberardo Pavesi
4. Carlo Oriani
5. Giovanni Cervi
6. Enrico Verde
7. Pierino Albini
8. Emilio Chironi
9. Leopoldo Torricelli
10. Giuseppe Contesini

GC after Stage 5:

1. Eberardo Pavesi: 18 points
2. Giuseppe Santhià: 25
3. Carlo Oriani: 26
4. Luigi Ganna: 27
5. Giuseppe Azzini: 28
6. Pierino Albini: 30
7. Giovanni Rossignoli: 44
8. Giovanni Cervi: 46
9. Leopoldo Torricelli: 48
10. Ugo Agostini: 51

Stage 6: Friday, May 16, Bari - Campobasso, 256 km

45 starters, 39 finishers

Ascent: Montecorvino

1. Costante Girardengo: 9hr 21min 39sec
2. Giuseppe Azzini
3. Carlo Oriani
4. Emilio Petiva
5. Michele Robotti
6. Eberardo Pavesi
7. Pierino Albini
8. Clemente Canepari
9. Luigi Ganna
10. Giovanni Rossignoli

GC after Stage 6:

1. Eberardo Pavesi: 24 points
2. Carlo Oriani: 29
3. Giuseppe Azzini: 30
4. Luigi Ganna: 36
5. Pierino Albini: 37
6. Giovanni Rossignoli: 54
7. Costante Girardengo: 57
8. Giovanni Cervi: 59
9. Leopoldo Torricelli: 60
10. Ugo Agostini: 64

Stage 7: Sunday, May 18, Campobasso - Ascoli Piceno, 313.2 km

39 starters, 36 finishers

Ascents: Macerone, Rionero Sannitico, Roccaraso, Cinquemiglia, Capannelle

1. Clemente Canepari: 12hr 34min 7sec. 24.89 km/hr. Canepari won the stage after a 236 km solo break.
2. Giuseppe Azzini
3. Giuseppe Contesini
4. Carlo Oriani
5. Costante Girardengo
6. Leopoldo Torricelli
7. Camillo Bertarelli
8. Luigi Lucotti
9. Michele Robotti
10. Giovanni Cervi

GC after stage 7:

1. Giuseppe Azzini: 32 points
2. Carlo Oriani: 33
3. Eberardo Pavesi: 35
4. Pierino Albini: 49
5. Luigi Ganna: 49
6. Costante Girardengo: 62
7. Leopoldo Torricelli:66
8. Giovanni Rossignoli: 68
9. Giovanni Cervi: 69
10. Giuseppe Contesini: 71

Stage 8: Tuesday, May 20, Ascoli Piceno - Rovigo, 413.8 km

37 starters, 36 finishers

1. Lauro Bordin: 15hr 42min 42sec. 26.17 km/hr
2. Carlo Oriani
3. Pierino Albini
4. Leopoldo Torricelli
5. Giuseppe Azzini
6. Ugo Agostini
7. Giovanni Cervi
8. Luigi Azzini
9. Camillo Bertarelli
10. Clemente Canepari

GC after Stage 8:

1. Carlo Oriani: 35 points
2. Giuseppe Azzini: 37
3. Eberardo Pavesi: 43
4. Pierino Albini: 52
5. Luigi Ganna: 57
6. Costante Girardengo: 70
7. Leopoldo Torricelli: 70
8. Giovanni Rossignoli: 74
9. Giovanni Cervi: 75
10. Giuseppe Contesini: 79

9th and Final Stage: Thursday, May 22, Rovigo - Milan, 321.5 km

36 starters, 35 finishers

Ascent: San Eusebio

1. Eberardo Paversi: 10hr 17min 16sec. 28.814 km/hr
2. Carlo Oriani
3. Giuseppe Contesini
4. Leopoldo Torricelli
5. Costante Girardengo
6. Clemente Canepari
7. Giovanni Cervi
8. Luigi Ganna
9. Pierino Albani
10. Michele Robotti

1913 Giro d'Italia Complete Final General Classification

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Teams:

Ganna-Dunlop
Gerbi-Dunlop
Globo-Dunlop
Legnano-Dunlop
Maino-Pirelli
Otav-Pirelli
Peugeot Italy-Tedeschi
Stucchi-Dunlop

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The Story of the 1913 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 either purchase easy.

1913. La Gazzetta dello Sport was thriving. Management decided to go from a thrice-weekly to a daily. While the sponsoring newspaper was enjoying ever-improving fortunes, the Giro’s team format was acknowledged a failure. In 1913 the Giro was returned to an individual competition and was the last time the General Classification was calculated using points. The organizers were conservative, designing a race with nine stages, just one more than the previous year.

The peloton was Italian. Not only were there no notable foreign riders; as far as I can see, no foreign riders entered at all. Most of the well-known Italians were in attendance: Pavesi, Rossignoli, Ganna, Borgarello, Galetti, Alfredo Sivocci and two of the Azzini brothers, Giuseppe and Luigi.

Also entered was a racer who had recently returned from fighting in the Italo-Turkish War (called the Libyan War by the Italians). He’d come in fifth overall in the 1909 Giro but was first in the independent category. Resuming his professional racing career, Carlo Oriani signed with the Maino team and late in 1912 won the Tour of Lombardy. Oriani, like Ganna, was originally a stonemason.

Carlo Oriani

There was also an important freshman entrant, Costante Girardengo, also riding for Maino. He turned pro in 1912 and in that same year he won a race long forgotten, the Coppa Bagni di Casciana. In 1913, only 20 years old, he would win six races including the Italian Championship. At some point early in the 1913 Giro, Galetti looked Girardengo over and asked, “Where do you come from and what’s your name, Giribaldengo?” It is likely that Galetti was making an off-color dialect pun from the young rider’s name. It is clear, too, that Galetti wasn’t giving this man from Novi Ligure much respect. Galetti had addressed Girardengo disdainfully, using the familiar form. In Italian, this is a verb conjugation used only with close friends, children and pets. Galetti may have given the young man a bit of trash talk but he’d soon have reason to respect young Girardengo.

Accounts differ as to the number of riders who departed Milan on May 6, a 341-kilometer stage that went first to Turin and ended in Genoa. Of the roughly 111 entrants, 99 headed east for over twelve hours in the saddle. Santhià won the stage and became the year’s first leader.

Gerbi was forced to quit partway through the second stage because of an inflamed tendon in his right foot. He said it was the only physical problem that ever kept him from finishing a race.

The race continued south on the western side of the Apennines. By the fourth stage the Giro had reached Salerno and Santhià was still leading with Pavesi three points behind.

The fifth stage took the race to Bari and its 295 kilometers took longer than expected. As the riders came close to completing the fourteen-hour stage the light began to fail. Fans along the roadside held lit matches to illuminate the way. Those who were there said that the sight of the hundreds of flickering flames lining the road was eerie. Santhià, coming in a distant eighteenth, lost the lead to Pavesi that day (evening). Oriani, never winning but always careful to be in the front, was now sitting in third place.

The sixth stage to Campobasso was Girardengo’s first Giro stage win. Santhià abandoned.

That left the General Classification thus:
1. Eberardo Pavesi: 24 points
2. Carlo Oriani: 29
3. Giuseppe Azzini: 30

Girardengo after winning stage 6

Clemente Canepari went on a monumental 236-kilometer solo break that earned him victory in stage seven. While Canepari was flying off ahead to the finish line in Ascoli Piceno, Pavesi was having a bad day, the result of a crash. His eighteenth place dropped him down to third while Azzini jumped to first. Oriani remained in second until the next stage. There, with a second place in the stage, he became the leader. He might not have done so well if Azzini hadn’t stepped into a restaurant to get some food and, exhausted, fell asleep for a few minutes.

Oriani held the lead the rest of the way to Milan. If we don’t count the strange circumstance surrounding the cheating scandal of the 1904 Tour de France where the top four placers were disqualified, Carlo Oriani is the first man to win a Grand Tour without winning a single stage.

A contemporary writer said that Oriani’s Maino team (Oriani, Girardengo, Ugo Agostini, Leopoldo Torricelli and Lauro Bordin), exhibited a better grasp of team tactics than the other squads and the team’s ability to work together was a major reason for Oriani’s win, but the French were really the masters of bicycle teamwork.

Only 35 riders made it over the 2,932 kilometers out and back to Milan.

Final 1913 Giro d’Italia General Classification:
1. Carlo Oriani (Maino): 37 points, 135 hours 15 minutes 56 seconds
2. Eberardo Pavesi (Legnano): 43
3. Giuseppe Azzini (Otav): 48
4. Pierino Albini (Legnano): 61
5. Luigi Ganna (Ganna): 64
6. Costante Girardengo (Maino): 74

Carlo Oriani as portayed by La Gazzetta dello Sport

Since Oriani wasn’t able to finish the 1914 Giro it would be fitting to mention his heroic end. Oriani rejoined the Italian Army in 1914 and fought in the battle of Caporetto, a disaster for the Italian army. During the Italian retreat, Oriani tried to save a comrade by diving into the frozen waters of the Tagliamento River (it was November in the Carnic Alps). He caught pneumonia and died a few months later.

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