80th Giro d'Italia 1997 (Italy)

Gotti Ends a 6 Year Italian Drought

Defending champion Pavel Tonkov returned with great optimism but with a left hand that was fractured twice in three months. The Russian was cleared by doctors to race but he was told he must be careful for the first ten days.

After sprinter Mario Cipollini won the first two stages Tonkov began to display his good leg, winning the 18 km individual time trial on stage 3 and taking his first Maglia Rosa. 

The mountainous stage 14 from Racconigi to Breiuil Cervinia saw Italian Ivan Gotti climb to the stage win and get a 1’46” time gain on race leader Tonkov. The Maglia Rosa passed to Gotti.

SPECIAL NOTE: at the start line of stage 18 (ITT) lead race official Michel Riviere ruled out Tonkov’s special time trial bike. The problem stemmed from a “spoiler” on the frame. Tonkov had to switch to one of the bikes used in warm-up.

On the stage 18 individual time trial Ivan Gotti lost only 14 seconds to main rival Pavel Tonkov, the race lead was reduced to 37second with 4 stages remaining. 

Stage 19 was the first of three brutal stages in the Dolomites. The 220 km stage featured 8 separate climbs including the Sella, Pordoi and Campolongo but the decisive climbs came in the final 50 km. The finishing climb to Falze was short but after 15,000 feet of climbing the final effort to finish would be tough. Spanish climber Jose Rubiera rode solo for more than 25 kilometers to take the stage win. The action behind affected the Giro’s General Classification. 

A crash on the rain-soaked descent from the Passo di Campolongo set back Tonkov’s effort. The Russian chased hard for some 90 kilometers and fought back to cut Gotti's advantage to 55 seconds at the finish. His deficit in the GC was now 1’32” with 3 stages (2 mountain stages) to the finish in Milan. 

The long stage 21 would be Tonkov’s final chance to gain time on Gotti. The Russian attacked on the 12.5 km Passo del Mortirolo but could not shake a persistent race leader. Tonkov did sprint to the stage win but only managed a 1 second time gain on Gotti. 

Ivan Gotti rode into Milan and became the first Italian winner of the Giro d'Italia in six years.

Stage 1 Venezia-Circuito Lido di Venezia, 128 km	Mario Cipollini (Ita)	Mario Cipollini (Ita)
Stage 2 Mestre-Cervia, 211 km	Mario Cipollini (Ita)	Mario Cipollini (Ita)
Stage 3 Santarcangelo-San Marino, 18 km ITT	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)
Stage 4 San Marino-Arezzo, 156 km	Mario Cipollini (Ita)	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)
Stage 5 Arezzo-Terminillo, 215 km	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)
Stage 6 Rieti-Lanciano, 210 km	Roberto Sgambelluri (Ita)	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)
Stage 7 Lanciano-Mondragone, 210 km	Marcel Wust (Ger)	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)
Stage 8 Mondragone-Cava dei Tirreni, 212 km	Mario Manzoni (Ita)	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)
Stage 9 Cava dei Tirreni-Castrovillari, 232 km	Dimitri Konyshev (Rus)	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)
Stage 10 Castrovillari-Taranto, 195 km	Mario Cipollini (Ita)	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)
Stage 11 Camaiore/Circuito della Versilia, 155 km	Gabriele Missaglia (Ita)	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)
Stage 12 La Spezia-Varazze, 214 km	Giuseppe Di Grande (Ita)	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)
Stage 13 Varazze-Cuneo, 150 km	Glenn Magnusson (Swe)	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)
Stage 14 Racconigi-Breuil Cervinia, 240 km	Ivan Gotti (Ita)	Ivan Gotti (Ita)
Stage 15 Verres-Borgomanero, 173 km	Alessandro Baronti (Ita)	Ivan Gotti (Ita)
Stage 16 Borgomanero-Dalmine, 158 km	Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita)	Ivan Gotti (Ita)
Stage 17 Dalmine-Verona, 200 km	Mirko Gualdi (Ita)	Ivan Gotti (Ita)
Stage 18 Baselga di Pine-Cavalese, 40 km ITT	Serguei Gontchar (Ukr)	Ivan Gotti (Ita)
Stage 19 Predazzo-Falzes, 222 km	Jose-Luis Rubiera (Spa)	Ivan Gotti (Ita)
Stage 20 Brunico-Passo Tonale, 176 km	J-J Gonzales-Pico (Col)	Ivan Gotti (Ita)
Stage 21 Male-Edolo, 238 km	Pavel Tonkov (Rus)	Ivan Gotti (Ita)
Stage 22 Boario Terme-Milan, 165 km	Mario Cipollini (Ita)	Ivan Gotti (Ita)
	Mountain Classification	J-J Gonzales-Pico (Col)
	Points Classification	Mario Cipollini (Ita)

GdI 1996

GdI 1998

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