Since the first Giro d'Italia in 1909, there have been 2,095 stages. This number includes half-stages, prologues, and a small number of stages cancelled mid-race or immediately before the start. This number is up to date after Stage 20 of the 2024 Giro. Since 1931, the race leader following each stage has been awarded the pink jersey (Italian: Maglia rosa).
Although the leader of the classification after each stage gets a pink jersey, he is not considered the winner of the pink jersey, only the wearer. Only after the final stage is complete, the wearer of the pink jersey is considered the winner of the pink jersey, and thereby the winner of the Giro d'Italia. In 2020, British rider Tao Geoghegan Hart became the first cyclist to win the overall pink jersey, having never worn it during the race itself.[1]
In this article first-place-classifications before 1931 are also counted as if a pink jersey was awarded. Nonetheless, the number of pink jerseys awarded is not equal to the number of stages. In the 1912 Giro d'Italia, the race was contested by teams, so no individual cyclist is counted in this statistic. Sometimes more cyclists were leading the classification (1925 after stages 2 and 3, 1936 after stage 6). On the other hand, jerseys were not awarded in between any of the 51 pairs of half-stages that took place during the history of the Giro. Thus, as of 2024, 2,019 pink jerseys have been awarded in the Giro d'Italia to 280 different riders.
Individual records
Key:
Cyclists who are still active
In previous Giri d'Italia, sometimes a stage was split in two. On such occasions, only the cyclist leading at the end of the day is counted. The "Maglia Rosa" column gives the number of days that the cyclist wore the pink jersey as the leader of the classification[a], the "Giro wins" column gives the number of days that the cyclist won the pink jersey. The next four columns indicate the number of times the rider won the points classification, the King of the Mountains classification, and the young rider competition, and the years in which the pink jersey was worn, with bold years indicating an overall Giro win. For example: Eddy Merckx has spent 76 days as leader of the race, won the general classification five times; won the points classification two times, won the mountains classification one time, and never won the young rider classification. He wore the pink jersey in the 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, and 1974 editions of the race (which he all won) as well as 1969 (which he did not win).
^There were prologues for three Giro editions that did not count towards the general classification, but were used to determine what rider would wear the race leader's maglia rosa on the first stage of the race.
The winners of these prologues therefore wore the leader's jersey for one more day, but were not the leaders of the general classification:
the prologue for the 1973 Giro was not a typical prologue as it was a two-man team time trial, not the normal individual time trial.[6] Results from the stage were used to determine the first wearers of the maglia rosa and maglia ciclamino (English: mauve, or purple, jersey).[7][8] The rider with the quickest time of the two winners (Merckx) would wear the pink jersey, while the second rider (Roger Swerts) wore the purple jersey.
The prologue for the 1978 Giro not only did not count towards GC, but also did not award its winner Dietrich Thurau any distinctive jersey.[9]
^Danilo Di Luca wore the pink jersey for seven additional days in 2009, when he also won the points classification; these results have been stripped, and are not included in this table.
Per country
The pink jersey has been awarded to 28 different countries since 1903. In the table below, "Jerseys" indicates the number of pink jerseys that were given to cyclists of each country. "Giro wins" stands for the number of Giro wins by cyclists of that country, "Points" for the number of times the points classification was won by a cyclist of that country, "KoM" for the number of times the mountains classification was won by a cyclist of that country, and "White" for the number of times the young rider classification was won by a cyclist of that country.
The "Most recent" column shows the cyclist of the country that lead the general classification most recently. The "Different holders" column gives the number of different cyclists of the country that lead the general classification.
^Hart won the overall race on the last stage, having gone into the final day time-trial level on time, but second overall on countback behind then leader, Australian Jai Hindley.
^Bill and Carol McGann. "1968 Giro d'Italia". Bike Race Info. Dog Ear Publishing. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
^Bill and Carol McGann. "1971 Giro d'Italia". Bike Race Info. Dog Ear Publishing. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
^"Estas son las etapas" [These are the stages] (PDF) (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 20 May 1971. p. 15. Archived(PDF) from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
^Bill and Carol McGann. "1973 Giro d'Italia". Bike Race Info. Dog Ear Publishing. Archived from the original on 2 January 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
^"Il Giro di ieri e di Oggi" [The Tour of Yesterday and Today] (PDF). l'Unità (in Italian). PCI. 16 May 1973. p. 10. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
^Gino Sala (19 May 1973). "Eddy Parte In Rosa" [Eddy Starts in Pink] (PDF). l'Unità (in Italian). PCI. p. 12. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
^Maurizio Caravella (8 May 1978). "Dopo il prologo "turistico", parte il vero Giro" [After the "touristic" prologue, the real Giro begins]. La Stampa (in Italian). Editrice La Stampa. p. 18. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
