The 1967 Giro d'Italia was the 50th running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour races. The Giro started in Treviglio, on 20 May, with a stage and concluded in Milan, on 11 June, with a split leg. A total of 130 riders from 13 teams entered the 22-stage race, which was won by Italian Felice Gimondi of the Salvarani team. The second and third places were taken by Italian Franco Balmamion and Frenchman Jacques Anquetil, respectively.
Thirteen teams were invited by the race organizers to participate in the 1967 edition of the Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of ten riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 130 cyclists. From the riders that began the race, 70 made it to the finish in Milan.
The teams entering the race were:
The starting peloton did include the 1966 winner, Gianni Motta. l'UnitÃÂ writer Gino Sala named Felice Gimondi, Jacques Anquetil, Vittorio Adorni, Eddy Merckx, and Motta as the main contenders for the overall crown.
The race route was revealed to the public on 28 March 1967 by race director Vincenzo Torriani. The route visited all Italian regions except for Sardinia. With the route entering Sicily for the fifth time in race history, the race scaled Mount Etna for the first time.
There were plans to hold a prelude the night before the first stage. This would have been 15 km, and would not have counted for the general classification, but the winner would have been allowed to wear the pink jersey on the first stage. The Italian Communist Party took the opportunity to protest against the bombing of Hanoi during the Vietnam War, and the prelude was cancelled.
The sixth leg saw an overnight ferry transfer from Palermo on mainland Italy to the island of Sicily for the next two stages. Following the sixth stage's conclusion the race took a fiveâÂÂhour train to Catania where the upcoming stage began. With the seventh stage hosting a summit finish to Mount Etna () it was hoped to be pivotal in the general classification race. However, due to the long transfers forced on the riders by organizer Torriani, the riders rode at a slow pace until the race's final three kilometers.
On the penultimate stage, Frenchman Anquetil was attacked several times. Felice Gimondi finally made the decisive attack, escaping alone and winning by four minutes. Jacques Anquetil considered himself robbed, claiming that Felice Gimondi had escaped by being taken away by the assistant race director's car. He finished third in the Giro, behind Felice Gimondi and Franco Balmamion. Jacques Anquetil's words were corroborated on his deathbed in 2012 by Giovanni Michelotti, the race director at the time.
Two leader's jerseys were worn during the 1967 Giro d'Italia. The leader of the general classification â calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider 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 1967.
For the points classification, which awarded a red jersey to its leader, cyclists were given points for finishing a stage in the top 15.
A major secondary classification was the mountains classification. In this ranking, points were won by reaching the summit of a climb ahead of other cyclists. There were three categories of mountains. The first category awarded 50, 40, 30, 20, and 10 points, the second distributed 40, 30, 20, and 10 points, and the third category gave 30, 20, and 10 points. The highest climb of the Giro was designated as Cima Coppi, and gave 200, 100, 80, 70 and 50 points.
There was also an intermediate sprints classification.
Although no jersey was awarded, there was also one classification for the teams. Here riders scored points for their teams for a high stage finish, leading the general classification, or beging amongst the first riders at a mountain pass or intermediate sprint.