Milano-Torino

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Milano-Torino

Race Logo courtesy of the race organisers (www.gazzetta.it).
Race details
Date	Mid October
Region	North of Italy
English name	Milan-Turin
Local name(s)	Milano-Torino (Italian)
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI Europe Tour
Type	Single-day
History
First edition	1876
Editions	92 (as of 2007)
First winner	Paolo Magretti
Most recent	Danilo Di Luca

Milano-Torino is a semi classic European single day cycling race, between the northern Italian cities of Milan and Turin over a distance of 199 kilometres. The event was first run in 1876 making it the oldest of the Italian classic races and one of the oldest in the World. The event is organised by the RCS media group which owns the Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport. RCS also organises other top Italian cycling events such as the Giro d'Italia, Milan-Sanremo and Tirreno-Adriatico. The race is ranked 1.HC on the UCI continental calendar.

Contents 1 Race Dates 2 The Route 3 Significant winners 4 Winners

[edit] Race Dates

The position of the race in the European calendar has changed several times. Prior to 1987 the event was always seven days before Milan-Sanremo and was seen as an important preparation race for the Spring Classics, however in 1987 Milano-Torino was switched to a date in October just before the Giro di Lombardi because the race organisers were not happy with the inclement weather conditions characterised by early March in northern Italy. In October the race became part of the “Trittico di Autunno” (Autumn Treble) along with the Giro del Piemonte and the Giro di Lombardia which were all run in the same week. In 2005 Milan-Torino returned to its traditional date in early March, however the 2008 edition has again returned to a date in October exchanging dates with the Monte Paschi Eroica race which will now be run in March. The 2000 edition of the race was not held because of torrential rain which caused catastrophic mud slides in the Piedmont area.

[edit] The Route

The race starts in Novate Milanese just to the north west of Milan and crosses the Ticino river at Vigevano after 40 kilometres, leaving the province of Lombardy and entering Piedmont. The first 95 kilometres of the race are run in a south westerly direction on broad flat roads, the climb of the Vignale Monferrato (293 metres) is encountered and then a series of small undulations take the race to the city of Asti after 130 kilometres. The race route crosses four railway level crossings at 70, 75, 129 and 133 kilometres and these can be important in helping any breakaways if the peloton is held up by a train. At Asti the race swings north westerly towards Turin climbing steadily before tackling the tough climb of the Colle di Superga (620 metres) just 16 kilometres from the finish. The Superga climb is often the springboard for a group of riders to escape before the finish. From the top of the Superga it is a fast picturesque descent into Turin down the Strada Panoramica dei Colli through the Parco Naturale della Collina di Superga to finish in the Fausto Coppi velodrome on Corso Casale in Turin.

[edit] Significant winners

Milano-Torino is one of the fastest of the classics, Walter Martin won the 1961 edition at an average speed of 45.094 kilometres per hour and this stood for a time as the fastest speed in a classic race until beaten by Marinio Vigna in the 1964 edition of the Tre Valli Varesine. Swiss rider Markus Zberg now holds the record average speed for the race when he won in 1999 at a speed of 45.75 kilometres per hour. The record for the most wins in Milano-Torino stands to the Italian Costante Girardengo who took five victories between 1914 and 1923. Pierino Favalli took a hat trick of wins between 1938 and 1940. Tour de France and Giro d’Italia winner, the late Marco Pantani almost lost his life in the 1995 edition of Milano-Torino when police allowed a four wheel drive vehicle onto the course by mistake, Pantani and two other riders ploughed into the vehicle. Pantani sustained multiple leg breaks and missed the entire 1996 season.

[edit] Winners

Rider Team 1876 Paolo Magretti 1877- 1893 No race 1894 Luigi Airaldi 1895 No race 1896 Giovanni Moro 1897- 1902 No race 1903 Giovanni Gerbi 1904 No race 1905 Giovanni Rossignoli 1906- 1910 No race 1911 Henri Pélissier 1912 No race 1913 Giuseppe Azzini 1914 Costante Girardengo 1915 Costante Girardengo 1916 No race 1917 Oscar Egg 1918 Gaetamo Belloni 1919 Costante Girardengo 1920 Costante Girardengo 1921 Federico Gay 1922 Adriano Zanaga 1923 Costante Girardengo 1924 Federico Gay 1925 Adriano Zanaga 1926- 1930 No race 1931 Giuseppe Graglia 1932 Giuseppe Olmo 1933 Giuseppe Graglia 1934 Mariano Cipriani 1935 Giovanni Gotti 1936 Cesare Del Cancia 1937 Giuseppe Martano 1938 Pierino Favalli 1939 Pierino Favalli 1940 Pierino Favalli 1941 Pietro Chiappini 1942 Pietro Chiappini 1943 No race 1944 No race 1945 Vito Ortelli 1946 Vito Ortelli 1947 Italo De Zan 1948 Sergio Maggini 1949 Luigi Casola 1950 Adolfo Grosso 1951 Fiorenzo Magni 1952 Aldo Bini 1953 Luciano Maggini 1954 Agostini Coletto

Rider Team 1955 Cleto Maule 1956 Ferdi Kübler 1957 Miguel Poblet 1958 Agostini Coletto 1959 Nello Fabri 1960 Arnaldo Pambianco 1961 Walter Martin 1962 Franco Balmamion 1963 Franco Cribori 1964 Valentin Uriona 1965 Vito Taccone 1966 Marino Vigna 1967 Gianni Motta 1968 Franco Bitossi 1969 Claudio Michelotto 1970 Luciano Armani 1971 Georges Pintens 1972 Roger De Vlaeminck 1973 Marcello Bergamo 1974 Roger De Vlaeminck 1975 Wladimiro Panizza 1976 Enrico Paolini 1977 Rik Van Linden 1978 Pierino Gavazzi 1979 Alfio Zandi 1980 Giovanni Battaglin 1981 Giuseppe Martinelli 1982 Giuseppe Saronni 1983 Francesco Moser 1984 Paolo Rosola 1985 Daniele Carola 1986 No race 1987 Phil Anderson 1988 Rolf Gölz 1989 Rolf Gölz 1990 Mauro Gianetti 1991 Davide Cassani 1992 Gianni Bugno 1993 Rolf Sørensen 1994 Francesco Casagrande 1995 Stefano Zanini 1996 Daniele Nardello 1997 Laurent Jalabert 1998 Niki Aebersold 1999 Markus Zberg 2000 No race 2001 Mirko Celestino 2002 Michele Bartoli 2003 Mirko Celestino 2004 Marcos Serrano 2005 Fabio Sacchi 2006 Igor Astarloa 2007 Danilo Di Luca Liquigas