1970 Giro d'Italia

Template:Short description The 1970 Giro d'Italia was the 53rd edition of the Giro, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race consisted of 20 stages, starting in San Pellegrino Terme on 18 May and finishing Bolzano on 7 June. There was one time trial stage and a single rest day. Eddy Merckx of the Faemino team won the overall general classification, his second victory. Italians Felice Gimondi (Salvarani) placed second, 3 min and 14 s slower than Merckx, and Martin Van Den Bossche (Molteni) was third, nearly five minutes behind Merckx.

Teams

A total of 13 teams were invited to participate in the 1970 Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of ten riders, so the Giro began with a peloton of 130 cyclists. Out of the 130 riders that started this edition of the Giro d'Italia, a total of 97 riders made it to the finish in Bolzano.

The teams that took part in the race were:

Cosatto Dreher Faemino Ferretti Filotex

G.B.C. Germanvox La Casera Magniflex

Molteni Sagit Salvarani Scic

Pre-race favorites

The starting peloton did feature the previous year's winner Felice Gimondi (Salvarani). Despite an initial unwillingness to participate relating to his expulsion the year before, Eddy Merckx chose to enter the race after the race organizers agreed to send all doping controls to Rome rather than conduct them in a van that moved with the race.Template:Sfn Merckx entered as the primary favorite to win the race. He entered the race having already won several races that season including: Paris–Nice, Paris–Roubaix, and La Flèche Wallonne, among others. Le Confédéré felt that Merckx's greatest challenge would come not from Italian riders, but the Belgian Walter Godefroot (Salvarani). Godefroot was thought to be the leader for the Salvarani team as Gimondi entered the race in poor form. Gianni Motta was absent from the race as he was recovering from a knee operation earlier in the season.

Route and stages

The route was revealed on 31 March 1970 by race director Vincenzo Torriani. The race covered across twenty stages and one rest day. Compared to the previous edition, the 1970 edition was shorter and included only four stages longer than with stage 14 being the longest at . In April, the route was announced to have nineteen categorized climbs that awarded points towards the mountains classification, while the final route included seven more categorized climbs. In total, were climbed.

San Pellegrino Terme hosted the race's start and then it travelled west, visiting the Alps before turning south and then east towards Treviso. A transfer then occurred to Terracina and the race moved north along the coast. The race made its way to the Dolomites for three stages before finishing in Bolzano. The route did not visit Milan for the first time in race history.

The route featured less transition stages than in previous years, which was thought to allow for more action in the race.

Stage characteristics and results

Stage	Date	Course	Distance	Type		Winner
1	18 May	San Pellegrino Terme to Biandronno		File:Plainstage.svg	Plain stage	Template:Flagathlete
2	19 May	Comerio to Saint-Vincent		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
3	20 May	Saint-Vincent to Aosta		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
4	21 May	Saint-Vincent to Lodi		File:Plainstage.svg	Plain stage	Template:Flagathlete
5	22 May	Lodi to Template:Ill		File:Plainstage.svg	Plain stage	Template:Flagathlete
6	23 May	Zingonia to Malcesine		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
7	24 May	Malcesine to Brentonico		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
8	25 May	Rovereto to Bassano del Grappa		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
9	26 May	Bassano del Grappa to Treviso		File:Time Trial.svg	Individual time trial	Template:Flagathlete
	27 May	Rest day
10	28 May	Terracina to Rivisondoli		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
11	29 May	Rivisondoli to Francavilla al Mare		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
12	30 May	Francavilla al Mare to Loreto		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
13	31 May	Loreto to Faenza		File:Plainstage.svg	Plain stage	Template:Flagathlete
14	1 June	Faenza to Casciana Terme		File:Plainstage.svg	Plain stage	Template:Flagathlete
15	2 June	Casciana Terme to Mirandola		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
16	3 June	Mirandola to Lido di Jesolo		File:Plainstage.svg	Plain stage	Template:Flagathlete
17	4 June	Lido di Jesolo to Arta Terme		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
18	5 June	Arta Terme to Marmolada		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
19	6 June	Rocca Pietore to Dobbiaco		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
20	7 June	Dobbiaco to Bolzano		File:Mountainstage.svg	Stage with mountain(s)	Template:Flagathlete
	Total

Classification leadership

Two different jerseys were worn during the 1970 Giro d'Italia. The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider – wore a pink jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro.

For the points classification, which awarded a cyclamen jersey to its leader, cyclists were given points for finishing a stage in the top 15. Before the start of the 1970, Termozeta replaced Dreher Brewery as the sponsor of the points classification and so the color of the leader's jersey changed from red to cyclamen. The mountains classification leader. The climbs were ranked in first and second categories, the former awarded 50, 30, and 20 points while the latter awarded 30, 20, and 10 points. In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists. In addition there was the Cima Coppi, the Passo Pordoi, which was the highest mountain crossed in this edition of the race, which gave 200, 100, 80, 70, and 50 points to the first five riders summit the climb. The first rider over the Passo Pordoi was Luciano Armani. Although no jersey was awarded, there was also one classification for the teams, in which the stage finish times of the best three cyclists per team were added; the leading team was the one with the lowest total time.

Classification leadership by stage

Stage	Winner	General classification A pink jersey	Points classification A violet jersey	Mountains classification	Team classification
1	Franco Bitossi	Franco Bitossi	Franco Bitossi	not awarded	?
2	Eddy Merckx
3	Franco Bitossi			Italo Zilioli
4	Marino Basso
5	Patrick Sercu
6	Enrico Paolini			Martin Van Den Bossche
7	Eddy Merckx	Eddy Merckx		Eddy Merckx
8	Walter Godefroot
9	Eddy Merckx
10	Italo Zilioli			Martin Van Den Bossche
11	Michele Dancelli
12	Miguel María Lasa
13	Michele Dancelli
14	Michele Dancelli		Michele Dancelli
15	Marino Basso
16	Dino Zandegù
17	Franco Bitossi		Franco Bitossi		Faemino
18	Michele Dancelli		Michele Dancelli	Italo Zilioli
19	Franco Bitossi		Franco Bitossi	Martin Van Den Bossche
20	Luciano Armani
Final		Eddy Merckx	Franco Bitossi	Martin Van Den Bossche	Faemino

Final standings

Legend
A pink jersey	Denotes the winner of the General classification	A violet jersey	Denotes the winner of the Points classification

General classification

Final general classification (1–10)

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Template:Flagathlete Pink jersey	Faemino	90h 08' 47"
2	Template:Flagathlete	Salvarani	+ 3' 14"
3	Template:Flagathlete	Molteni	+ 4' 59"
4	Template:Flagathlete	Molteni	+ 7' 07"
5	Template:Flagathlete	Faemino	+ 8' 14"
6	Template:Flagathlete	Ferretti	+ 9' 20"
7	Template:Flagathlete violet jersey	Filotex	+ 13' 10"
8	Template:Flagathlete	La Casera	+ 19' 25"
9	Template:Flagathlete	Germanvox	+ 21' 17"
10	Template:Flagathlete	Scic	+ 21' 29"

Mountains classification

Final mountains classification (1–10)

	Name	Team	Points
1	Template:Flagathlete	Molteni	460
2	Template:Flagathlete	Faemino	420
3	Template:Flagathlete	Scic	300
4	Template:Flagathlete Pink jersey	Faemino	210
5	Template:Flagathlete	Molteni	190
6	Template:Flagathlete violet jersey	Filotex	100
7	Template:Flagathlete	Salvarani	70
	Template:Flagathlete	Feretti
9	Template:Flagathlete	Scic	60
10	Template:Flagathlete	La Casera	50

Points classification

Final points classification (1–10)

	Name	Team	Points
1	Template:Flagathlete violet jersey	Filotex	252
2	Template:Flagathlete	Molteni	241
3	Template:Flagathlete Pink jersey	Faemino	193
4	Template:Flagathlete	Molteni	185
5	Template:Flagathlete	Salvarani	112
6	Template:Flagathlete	Faemino	97
7	Template:Flagathlete	Salvarani
8	Template:Flagathlete	Germanvox
9	Template:Flagathlete	Dreher	95
10	Template:Flagathlete	La Casera	94

Traguardi tricolori classification

Final traguardi tricolori classification (1–10)

	Name	Team	Points
1	Template:Flagathlete	Scic	130?
2	Template:Flagathlete	Dreher	80
3	Template:Flagathlete	Faemino	70
4	Template:Flagathlete	Dreher	60
5	Template:Flagathlete	Molteni	60

Teams classification

Final team classification (1–10)

	Team	Points
1	Faemino	5830
2	Molteni	5350
3	Filotex	3890
4	Salvarani	3380
5	Scic	3140
6	Germanvox	2390
7	Ferretti	2080
8	Dreher	2020
9	La Casera	1840
10	Sagit	1200