Dates 20 May – 12 June Winning time 107h 27' 16" | Distance 3,968 km (2,466 mi) | |
 | ||
Stages 22 + Prologue, including four split stages Winner Michel Pollentier (BEL) | ||
The 1977 Giro d'Italia was the 60th running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours races. The Giro started in Bacoli, on 20 May, with a 7 km (4.3 mi) prologue and concluded in Milan, on 13 June, with a 122 km (75.8 mi) mass-start stage. A total of 130 riders from thirteen teams entered the 22-stage race, that was won by Belgian Michel Pollentier of the Flandria team. The second and third places were taken by Italians Francesco Moser and Gianbattista Baronchelli, respectively.
Contents
Amongst the other classifications that the race awarded, Sanson's Moser won the points classification, Faustino Fernandez Ovies of KAS won the mountains classification, and Sanson's Mario Beccia completed the Giro as the best neo-professional in the general classification, finishing ninth overall. Flandria finishing as the winners of the team points classification.
Teams
A total of 14 teams were invited to participate in the 1977 Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of ten riders, so the Giro began with a peloton of 140 cyclists. Out of the 140 riders that started this edition of the Giro d'Italia, a total of 121 riders made it to the finish in Milan.
The teams entering the race were:
Pre-race favorites
The starting peloton did include the 1976 winner, Felice Gimondi. Freddy Maertens, Gianbattista Baronchelli, and Gimondi were seen by many news outlets to be the favorites to win the race.
Classification leadership
Four different jerseys were worn during the 1977 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.
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. The Cima Coppi for this Giro was the Valparola Pass. The first rider to cross the Valparola Pass was Spanish rider Faustino Fernández Ovies. 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 neo-professional cyclists (in their first three years of professional racing). 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.
Although no jersey was awarded, there was also one classification for the teams, in which the awarded points to each team based off their riding's finishing position in every stage; the leading team was the one with the most points.
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.