1911 Giro d'Italia

In both 1909 and 1910 Milan had served as both the start and finish of the Giro d'Italia.[2][3] The organizers chose to honor the 50th anniversary of the unification of Italy by holding the start and finish of the Giro in the Italian capital of Rome.[4][5]

The organizers chose to expand the Giro d'Italia from ten to twelve stages after its great success.[4] The race also saw an increase of close to 500 kilometers in length.[4] The organizers also included the first climb above 2000 meters in the race, the Sestriere.[4][5] This was also the first edition of the Giro to go deep down into the southern part of Italy, specifically the Bari.[4]

The Bianchi team from the 1911 Giro

Of the 86 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 15 May, 24 of them made it to the finish in Rome on 6 June. Riders were allowed to ride on their own or as a member of a team.[4] There were five teams that competed in the race: Atala-Dunlop, Bianchi-Pirelli, Fiat-Pirelli, Legnano-Dunlop, and Senior-Polack.[4][5]

The peloton was composed of primarily Italians.[4] The field featured two former Giro d'Italia champions in the 1909 winner Luigi Ganna and returning champion Carlo Galetti.[4] Other notable Italian riders included Giovanni Rossignoli, Eberardo Pavesi, and Giovanni Gerbi.[4] Two-time Tour de France winner Lucien Petit-Breton also competed in the race.[4]

Italian Vincenzo Borgarello won the second stage of the race.

The first stage began on 15 May and stretched from Rome to Florence.[6] The racing that day was marred by heavy rain, which led to ten withdrawals.[6] Carlo Galetti won the stage ahead of Giovanni Rossignoli and Dario Beni.[6] The next leg was also dogged by rain and very poor conditions on the road and saw the climbing of the Colle de Bacco.[6][7] Giovanni Gerbi was the first rider to summit the Colle de Bacco.[7] The climb wore Gerbi out and he was caught and passed by three riders and ultimately finished fourth on the stage.[7] Vincenzo Borgarello was the first rider to cross the finish line in Genoa and won the stage, where a large crowd waited for the riders to finish.[6][7] Rossignoli took the race lead after finishing two positions in front of Galetti.[4] The race's third day of racing was the first to have clear weather.[6] Race leader Rossignoli bested the likes of Giovanni Gerbi and Carlo Durando to win the stage and consolidate his lead in the general classification.[4][6] The next stage was hotly contested, with the peloton staying together for the whole stage as Carlo Galetti took the stage win.[6]

The race's fifth stage is considered to be the first real mountain stage in Giro d'Italia history.[4] The stage contained the climb of the Sestriere which rises over 2,000 meters.[4][8] As the race entered the Val Chisone leading up the Sestriere, the peloton ran into muddy roads, which forced many to walk their bikes.[4] Frenchman Lucien Petit-Breton led the riders up the slopes before cracking near the snowy summit.[4] He was passed first by Ezio Corlaita, who was the first to summit the Sestriere, and then by many other riders.[4][8] Petit-Breton caught up with the leading riders on the long descent and rode into the finish in Turin with Corlaita, Rossignoli, and Galetti.[4] Petit-Breton edged out Galetti for the stage win as Galetti tied Rossignoli for the overall lead.[4][9]

The riders started the sixth stage in Turin with a large number of people in attendance for the sendoff.[8] Giuseppe Santhià took the stage as the riders rolled over the packed finish line in Milan.[8] Dario Beni soloed to victory in the seventh leg, finishing over a minute ahead of the second-place finisher Santhià.[4][10] The next stage was won by Lauro Bordin as Galetti extended his overall lead by a single point over Rossignoli.[4] Ezio Corlaita won the Giro's ninth stage,[11] while Lucien Petit-Breton took the race lead and doing so, became the first non-Italian to lead the Giro d'Italia.[4][12] In the following stage, the leading breakaway contained six riders – race leader Petit-Breton and five Bianchi riders – and rode into the finish in Bari together.[4] Carlo Galetti took the stage win and the race lead, while Petit-Breton finished in sixth place on the day and was pushed down to second overall.[4]

The race's penultimate day of racing was scheduled to go from Bari to Naples.[4][11] During the stage, Lucien Petit-Breton crashed and was forced to abandon the race.[4][11] The route had the riders go through rough roads that were heavy with dust and occasional passed over streams, thus flooding the roads.[4][12] The riders were also chase by enraged buffalo.[4][12] All of those factors caused the riders to end the stage a few kilometers short of Naples, in Pompeii with Alfredo Sivocci winning the day.[4] The last stage ended back in Rome, where the race began.[4] Ezio Corlaita took his second stage win as 24 riders that began the Giro finished the day.[1][4] Bianchi's Carlo Galetti became the first rider to win two editions of the Giro d'Italia.[4]