1969 Giro d'Italia
The 1969 Giro d'Italia was the 52nd edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race consisted of 23 stages, one of which was a split stage, starting in Garda on 16 May and finishing Milan on 8 June. There were two time trial stages and a single rest day. Felice Gimondi of the Salvarani team won the overall general classification, his second victory. Italians Claudio Michelotto (Max Meyer) placed second, 3 min and 35 s slower than Gimondi, and Italo Zilioli (Filotex) was third, over four minutes behind Gimondi. Eddy Merckx, who was leading the general classification, was excluded from the race after an extremely controversial anti-doping control in Savona. Teams A total of 13 teams were invited to participate in the 1969 Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of ten riders, so the Giro began with a peloton of 130 cyclists. Riders of Italian nationality numbered the most with 113, while Belgium had the second most with eight. Out of the 130 riders that started this edition of the Giro d'Italia, a total of 81 riders made it to the finish in Milan. The teams that took part in the race were: Pre-race favorites Eddy Merckx (Faema), the previous year's winner returned to defend his crown. He arrived in Italy amid a great season already with victories in the three Monuments Milan–San Remo, Tour of Flanders, and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Merckx named Felice Gimondi () his top rival for the upcoming race. Both Merckx and 1967 champion Gimondi were viewed as the principal favorites to win the race. Gimondi had won the Tour de Romandie and placed second in the Tour of Flanders. Both riders hoped to achieve the Giro–Tour double, for the first time since Jacques Anquetil achieved it in 1964. Gimondi had previously attempted the feat in 1965 and 1967. Merckx had specifically hoped to ride a conservative race in order to help his chances to complete the double. Reigning world champion Vittorio Adorni () who placed second the year before was viewed as a rider who could challenge the Gimondi–Merckx duel, despite being winless that season so far. Filotex's Italo Zilioli and Franco Bitossi were other riders who were speculated to challenge for high general classification positions. Top sprinters entering the race were Molteni's Michele Dancelli and Marino Basso. Spanish and French rider participation was lacking, as the former had only a single team entered and there were zero French riders competing. Notable absences included Gianni Motta and Franco Balmamion. Route and stages The route was revealed on 27 March 1969 by race director Vincenzo Torriani. The announced route covered , across twenty-four stages of racing. The average stage length for this edition was . In total the route traversed 600 municipalities over 44 provinces. The route featured 26 categorized climbs that awarded points for the mountains classification, including eight of which were being scaled for the first time in race history. Five of those climbs would be stage finishes for the race.