Dates 16 May - 7 June Distance 3,830 km (2,380 mi) Winner Marco Pantani (ITA) | Stages 22 + prologue Winning time 98h 48' 32" Second Pavel Tonkov (RUS) | |
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The 1998 Giro d'Italia was the 81st edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro began on May 16 with a brief 8 km (5 mi) prologue that navigated through the streets of the French city Nice. The race came to a close on June 7 with a mass-start stage that ended in the Italian city of Milan. Eighteen teams entered the race that was won by the Italian Marco Pantani of the Mercatone Uno–Bianchi team. Second and third were the Russian rider Pavel Tonkov and Italian Giuseppe Guerini.
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In the race's other classifications, overall winner Marco Pantani also won the mountains classification, Mariano Piccoli of the Brescialat-Liquigas team won the points classification, and Saeco Macchine per Caffè rider Gian Matteo Fagnini won the intergiro classification. Mapei–Bricobi finished as the winners of the Trofeo Fast Team classification, ranking each of the eighteen teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time. The other team classification, the Trofeo Super Team classification, where the teams' riders are awarded points for placing within the top twenty in each stage and the points are then totaled for each team was won by Team Polti.
Teams
A total of 18 teams were invited to participate in the 1998 Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of nine riders, so the Giro began with a peloton of 162 cyclists. Out of the 162 riders that started this edition of the Giro d'Italia, a total of 94 riders made it to the finish in Milan.
The 18 teams that took part in the race were:
Route and stages
The route for the 1998 Giro d'Italia was unveiled by race director Carmine Castellano on 22 November 1997 in Milan. It contained three time trial events, all of which were individual. There were eleven stages containing high mountains, of which four had summit finishes: stage 11, to San Marino; stage 14, to Piancavallo; stage 18, to Passo di Pampeago; and stage 19, to Plan di Montecampione. The organizers chose to include no rest days. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was 82 km (51 mi) shorter, contained the one less rest day, as well as one more individual time trial.
There were a total of seven stages that started outside Italy. The 1998 Giro d'Italia began with a prologue around the French city of Nice, which also served as the start for the race's first stage. Stage 11 finished in San Marino and the twelfth stage began there as well. The Giro's twentieth stage ended in Mendrisio. Stage 21 began in Mendrisio ended in Lugano, which also served as the start for stage 22.
Classification leadership
Four different jerseys were worn during the 1998 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 Passo Sella and was first climbed by the Italian Marco Pantani. The intergiro classification was marked by a blue jersey. The calculation for the intergiro is similar to that of the general classification, in each stage there is a midway point that the riders pass through a point and where their time is stopped. As the race goes on, their times compiled and the person with the lowest time is the leader of the intergiro classification and wears the blue jersey. 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.
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.