The 1980 Giro d'Italia was the 63rd running of the Giro. It started in Genoa, on 15 May, with a prologue and concluded in Milan, on 8 June, with a mass-start stage. A total of 130 riders from thirteen teams entered the 22-stage race, that was won by Frenchman Bernard Hinault of the RenaultâÂÂGitaneâÂÂCampagnolo team. The second and third places were taken by Italians Wladimiro Panizza and Giovanni Battaglin, respectively.
Amongst the other classifications that the race awarded, Gis Gelati's Giuseppe Saronni won the points classification, Claudio Bortolotto of Mobilifico San GiacomoâÂÂBenotto won the mountains classification, and BianchiâÂÂPiaggio's Tommy Prim completed the Giro as the best rider aged 24 or under in the general classification, finishing fourth overall. BianchiâÂÂPiaggio finishing as the winners of the team classification, ranking each of the twenty teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time.
A total of thirteen teams were invited to participate in the 1980 Giro d'Italia. The starting riders came from a total of 12 different countries; 73 riders were from Italy, while the remaining 57 riders came from: Switzerland (13), Spain (10), France (9), Belgium (8), Germany (6), the Netherlands (5), Sweden (2), Denmark (1), Great Britain (1), Luxembourg (1), and Norway (1). Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 130 cyclists.
Of those starting, 46 were riding the Giro d'Italia for the first time. The average age of riders was 26.4 years, ranging from 21âÂÂyearâÂÂold Guillermo de Le (Selle ItaliaâÂÂZorâÂÂVerecoâÂÂCampagnolo) to 35âÂÂyearâÂÂold Attilio Rota (SansonâÂÂCampagnolo). The team with the youngest average rider age was HoonvedâÂÂBottecchia (24), while the oldest was SansonâÂÂCampagnolo (28). From the riders that began this edition, 89 made it to the finish in Milan.
The teams entering the race were:
The route for the 1980 edition of the Giro d'Italia was revealed to the public by head organizer Vincenzo Torriani on 31 January 1980. Covering a total of , it included three individual time trials, and ten stages with categorized climbs that awarded mountains classification points. Four of these ten stages had summit finishes: stage 8, to Fiuggi; stage 11, to Campotenese; stage 14, to Roccaraso; and stage 18, to Zoldo Alto. In the case the Stelvio was not passable by bike, the nineteenth and twentieth stages had a back-up plan where that took an alternate route through the Pordoi Pass in stage nineteen and would be the new Cima Coppi. The organizers chose to include two rest days. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was longer and contained two less time trials. In addition, this race contained three more stages.
Three different jerseys were worn during the 1980 Giro d'Italia. The leader of the general classification â calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass-start stages â wore a pink jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro. There were no time bonuses in 1980.
The second classification was the points classification. Riders received points for finishing in the top positions in a stage finish, with first place getting the most points, and lower placings getting successively fewer points. The rider leading this classification wore a purple (or cyclamen) jersey.
The green jersey was awarded to the mountains classification leader. In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists. Each climb was ranked as either first, second or third category, with more points available for higher category climbs. The Cima Coppi, the race's highest point of elevation, awarded more points than the other first category climbs. The Cima Coppi for this Giro was the Stelvio Pass. The first rider to cross the Stelvio was French rider Jean-René Bernaudeau.
The white jersey was worn by the leader of young rider classification, a ranking decided the same way as the general classification, but considering only riders aged 24 and younger.
Although no jersey was awarded, there was also one classification for the teams, in which the stage finish times of the best three cyclists per team were added; the leading team was the one with the lowest total time.
There were other minor classifications within the race, including the Campionato delle Regioni classification. The leader wore a blue jersey with colored vertical stripes ("maglia azzurra con banda tricolore verticale"). This classification was the most important intermediate sprint classification in the Giro; the first three riders that crossed the intermediate sprint scored points.
The FIAT classification, created in the 1976 edition, was used again, but this year the winner received a Fiat Panda. For this classification, there was one intermediate sprint per stage, and the first three riders scored points.
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.
There were no positive doping tests in the Giro of 1980. There was almost one: Hinault arrived too late at the doping test after stage 21, because he was held up by reporters. According to the rules, the jury could penalize this as if he had tested positive, but decided not to do so.