1939 Giro d'Italia

Of the 89 riders that began the Giro d'Italia on 28 April,[1] 54 of them made it to the finish in Milan on 18 May.[2] Riders were allowed to ride as a member of a team or group; 56 riders competed as part of a team, while the remaining 33 competed as a part of a group.[1] The eight teams that partook in the race were: Bianchi, Fréjus, Ganna, Gloria, Legnano, Lygie, Olympia, and Belgium.[1][2] The teams ranged from six to eight riders each.[1] There were also seven groups, made up of three to five riders each, that participated in the race.[1] Those groups were: U.S. Azzini, Dopolavoro Di Novi, S.S. Genova 1913, Il Littoriale, La Voce Di Mantova, U.C. Modenese, and S.C. Vigor.[1][2]

The peloton was composed primarily of Italian riders.[2] The field featured three former Giro d'Italia winners with two-time winner Gino Bartali, Vasco Bergamaschi who won the 1935 edition, and reigning champion Giovanni Valetti.[1][2] Other notable Italian riders included Olimpio Bizzi, Ezio Cecchi, and Cino Cinelli.[1][2]

The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider – wore a pink jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro.[3]

In the mountains classification, the race organizers selected different mountains that the route crossed and awarded points to the riders who crossed them first.[3]

The winner of the team classification was determined by adding the finish times of the best three cyclists per team together and the team with the lowest total time was the winner.[4] If a team had fewer than three riders finish, they were not eligible for the classification.[4] The group classification was decided in the same manner, but the classification was exclusive to the competing groups.[4]

The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.

Stage	Winner	General classification	Mountains classification	Team classification	Group classification
1	Vasco Bergamaschi	Vasco Bergamaschi	not awarded	?	S.C. Vigor
2	Gino Bartali	Gino Bartali		Legnano
3	Cino Cinelli	Cino Cinelli		?	?
4	Carmine Saponetti			Fréjus	La Voce di Mantova
5	Olimpio Bizzi
6a	Carmine Saponetti
6b	Giovanni Valetti		Giovanni Valetti
7	Adolfo Leoni		Giovanni Valetti & Gino Bartali		S.C. Vigor
8	Diego Marabelli
9a	Glauco Servadei	Secondo Magni
9b	Gino Bartali	Giovanni Valetti	Enrico Mollo
10	Olimpio Bizzi		Enrico Mollo & Michele Benente
11	Pietro Chiappini
12	Giordano Cottur
13	Giovanni Valetti
14	Secondo Magni		Gino Bartali
15	Gino Bartali	Gino Bartali
16	Giovanni Valetti	Giovanni Valetti
17	Gino Bartali
Final		Giovanni Valetti	Gino Bartali	Fréjus	S.C. Vigor

Notes

Citations