The 1980 Giro d'Italia was the 63rd running of the Giro. It started in Genoa, on 15 May, with a 7 km (4.3 mi) prologue and concluded in Milan, on 8 June, with a 114 km (70.8 mi) mass-start stage. A total of 130 riders from thirteen teams entered the 22-stage race, that was won by Frenchman Bernard Hinault of the Renault–Gitane–Campagnolo team. The second and third places were taken by Italians Wladimiro Panizza and Giovanni Battaglin, respectively.[1][2][3][4][5]
Amongst the other classifications that the race awarded, Gis Gelati's Giuseppe Saronni won the points classification, Claudio Bortolotto of Mobilifico San Giacomo–Benotto won the mountains classification, and Bianchi–Piaggio's Tommy Prim completed the Giro as the best rider aged 24 or under in the general classification, finishing fourth overall. Bianchi–Piaggio finishing as the winners of the team classification, ranking each of the twenty teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time.[6]
A total of thirteen teams were invited to participate in the 1980 Giro d'Italia.[7][8] Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 130 cyclists.[7][8][9] From the riders that began this edition, 89 made it to the finish in Milan.[9][10][11]
The route for the 1980 edition of the Giro d'Italia was revealed to the public by head organizer Vincenzo Torriani on 31 January 1980.[12][13][14] Covering a total of 4,025 km (2,501 mi), it included three individual time trials, and ten stages with categorized climbs that awarded mountains classification points.[15] Four of these ten stages had summit finishes: stage 8, to Fiuggi; stage 11, to Campotenese; stage 14, to Roccaraso; and stage 18, to Zoldo Alto.[16] In the case the Stelvio was not passable by bike, the nineteenth and twentieth stages had a back-up plan where that took an alternate route through the Pordoi Pass in stage nineteen and would be the new Cima Coppi.[12] The organizers chose to include two rest days. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was 724 km (450 mi) longer and contained two less time trials. In addition, this race contained three more stages.
A sample of the 48 hairpin turns near the top of the eastern ramp of the Stelvio Pass, the Cima Coppi (highest elevation point) of the 1980 Giro.
Three different jerseys were worn during the 1980 Giro d'Italia. The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass-start stages – wore a pink jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro.[17]
For the points classification, which awarded a purple (or cyclamen) jersey to its leader, cyclists were given points for finishing a stage in the top 15; additional points could also be won in intermediate sprints. The green jersey was awarded to the mountains classification leader. In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists. Each climb was ranked as either first, second or third category, with more points available for higher category climbs. The Cima Coppi, the race's highest point of elevation, awarded more points than the other first category climbs.[17] The Cima Coppi for this Giro was the Stelvio Pass. The first rider to cross the Stelvio was French rider Jean-René Bernaudeau. The white jersey was worn by the leader of young rider classification, a ranking decided the same way as the general classification, but considering only riders aged 24 and younger.[18]
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.[17]
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.
^"Hinault Apacento Sus Ovejas" [Hinault Grazed His Sheep] (PDF) (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 9 June 1980. p. 32. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^"Così in piazza del Duomo" [So in the Piazza del Duomo] (PDF). La Stampa (in Italian). 8 June 1980. p. 22. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^"Possono infiammare la corsa" [They can ignite the race] (PDF). l'Unità (in Italian). 12 May 1980. p. 17. Archived(PDF) from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^ abc"Questi i 130 protagonisti" [These 130 characters] (PDF). La Stampa (in Italian). Editrice La Stampa. 15 May 1980. p. 23. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^ abc"Gli Iscritti" [Subscribers] (PDF). l'Unità (in Italian). PCI. 15 May 1980. p. 17. Archived from the original(PDF) on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^ abcdefghiBill and Carol McGann. "1980 Giro d'Italia". Bike Race Info. Dog Ear Publishing. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
^ abGino Sala (1 February 1980). "Questo il "Giro" 1980" [This is the "Tour" 1980] (PDF). l'Unità (in Italian). PCI. p. 14. Archived(PDF) from the original on 24 October 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^Gian Paolo Ormezzano (1 February 1980). "Un Giro d'Italia facile (ma non-bisogna dirlo)" [A Tour of Italy easy (but do not say it)] (PDF). La Stampa (in Italian). Editrice La Stampa. p. 21. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^"El "Giro", Sparring Para Hinault" [The Giro, Sparring For Hinault] (PDF). El Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 2 February 1980. p. 28. Archived(PDF) from the original on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^"Queste le salite" [These climbs] (PDF). l'Unità (in Italian). PCI. 12 May 1980. p. 16. Archived from the original(PDF) on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^ abGino Sala (15 May 1980). "Moser, Saronni, Hinault: s'apre la sfida rosa" [Moser, Saronni, Hinault: opens the challenge pink] (PDF). l'Unità (in Italian). PCI. p. 17. Archived from the original(PDF) on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^ abcdefgh"Clasificaciones" [Classifications] (PDF) (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 8 June 1980. p. 25. Archived(PDF) from the original on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2012.