# 1990 Giro d'Italia

The 1990 Giro d'Italia was the 73rd edition of the race. It started off in Bari on May 18 with a 13 km (8.1 mi) individual time trial. The race came to a close with a mass-start stage that began and ended in Milan on June 6. Twenty-two teams entered the race, which was won by the Italian Gianni Bugno of the Château d'Ax–Salotti team. Second and third respectively were the Frenchman Charly Mottet and the Italian rider, Marco Giovannetti. Bugno wore the pink jersey as leader in the general classification from the first to the last stage (before him, only Girardengo in 1919, Binda in 1927 and Merckx in 1973 achieved the same).
In addition to the general classification, Gianni Bugno also won the points classification. In the race's other classifications, Vladimir Poulnikov of the Alfa Lum–BFB Bruciatori team completed the Giro as the best neo-professional in the general classification, finishing in fourth place overall; Carrera Jeans–Vagabond rider Claudio Chiappucci won the mountains classification, and TVM rider Phil Anderson won the intergiro classification. ONCE finished as the winners of the Trofeo Fast Team classification, ranking each of the twenty-two teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time.

## Teams

Twenty-two teams were invited by the race organizers to participate in the 1990 edition of the Giro d'Italia, ten of which were based outside of Italy. The starting riders came from a total of 20 different countries; Italy (89), Spain (24), France (20), Switzerland (12), and the Netherlands (11) all had more than 10 riders. Each team sent a squad of nine riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 198 cyclists. Of these, 92 were riding the Giro d'Italia for the first time. The average age of riders was 26.85 years, ranging from 21–year–old Florido Barale (Amore & Vita–Fanini) to 39–year–old Pierino Gavazzi (Amore & Vita–Fanini). The team with the youngest average rider age was Malvor–Sidi (24), while the oldest was Z–Tomasso (29).
The teams entering the race were:
| Alfa Lum Amore & Vita–Fanini Ariostea Carrera Jeans–Vagabond Castorama Chateau d'Ax–Salotti CLAS–Cajastur Del Tongo | Diana–Colnago–Animex Frank–Monte Tamaro Gis Gelati–Benotto Italbonifica–Navigare Jolly Componibili–Club 88 Malvor–Sidi ONCE | Panasonic–Sportlife RMO Selle Italia–Eurocar Seur 7-Eleven TVM Z–Tomasso |

## Pre-race favorites

Reigning champion Laurent Fignon (Castorama) returned to defend his title and was seen as a favorite to win despite a sub–par Classics season. Marco Giovannetti (Seur) who won the Vuelta a España a few weeks prior was seen as a contender. He was seen as one of the better Italian riders with a chance to win the overall, while it was noted that it would be difficult to win the Giro and Vuelta in the same season as only two riders – Eddy Merckx (1973) and Giovanni Battaglin (1981) – had accomplished that prior. Milan–San Remo winner Gianni Bugno (Chateau d'Ax–Salotti) entered the race and writers considered him a contender, others wrote him off as Classics rider. La Repubblica mentioned that he could be the new Francesco Moser. RMO's Charly Mottet due to his recent victory in the Tour de Romandie also received consideration as a favorite. For the 1990 season, Mottet altered his normal schedule to include the Giro d'Italia and not ride the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré.
Other riders that received attention as contenders were Steven Rooks, Urs Zimmermann, and Gert-Jan Theunisse. Rooks and Theunisse were expected to make their presence known in the final week of racing. Spanish rider Marino Lejaretta (ONCE) was thought to be the best Spanish rider to make a run during the three weeks. Reigning world road race champion Greg LeMond (Z–Tomasso) entered the race in poor form and without and high placings. IT was reported that LeMond had been recovering from a viral illness two months prior. Polish rider Zenon Jaskuła (Diana–Colnago–Animex) was seen as a rider who had a chance to place high.
Twenty–seven year old Adriano Baffi (Ariostea) was thought to be the premier sprinter in the race. The strongest team in the race was thought to be Panasonic–Sportlife as they had won 26 races before the start of the Giro. Former winner Stephen Roche and Pedro Delgado chose not to participate in the Giro in favor of racing the Tour de France. Moreno Argentin and Maurizio Fondriest did not participate either. Mexican Raúl Alcalá (PDM–Concorde–Ultima) who recently won the Trump Tour chose to ride the Tour over the Giro.

## Route and stages

The route for the 1990 edition of the Giro d'Italia was revealed to the public on television by head organizer Vincenzo Torriani on 16 December 1989 in Milan. In order to avoid overlap with the World Cup held in Italy, the race was moved forward a week and two stages were removed. It contained three time trial events, all of which were individual. There were eleven stages containing categorized climbs, of which four had summit finishes: stage 3, to Mount Vesuvius; stage 7, to Vallombrosa; stage 16, to Passo Pordoi; and stage 17, to Aprica. Another stage with a mountain-top finish was stage 19, which consisted of a climbing time trial to Sacro Monte di Varese. In total, there were 35 categorized climbs across 13 stages and made for 27.3 km (17 mi) of climbing, less than the previous year. The organizers chose to not include any rest days. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was 336 km 32 km (20 mi) longer, contained the same amount of rest days, and one less individual time trial. In addition, this race contained the same number of half stages, one, as the year before. The event traveled into the neighboring Austria when the race reached the Dolomites, specifically into Klagenfurt.
The route was found to be balanced with five summit finishes and three time trials, while the difficult parts had adequate rest in between. There were thought to be chances for puncheurs and traditional sprinters.
Stage characteristics and winners :
| Stage | Date | Course | Distance | Type | Type | Winner |
| 1 | 18 May | Bari to Bari | 13 km (8 mi) | | Individual time trial | Gianni Bugno (ITA) |
| 2 | 19 May | Bari to Sala Consilina | 239 km (149 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Giovanni Fidanza (ITA) |
| 3 | 20 May | Sala Consilina to Mount Vesuvius | 190 km (118 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Eduardo Chozas (ESP) |
| 4a | 21 May | Ercolano to Nola | 31 km (19 mi) | | Plain stage | Stefano Allocchio (ITA) |
| 4b | 21 May | Nola to Sora | 164 km (102 mi) | | Plain stage | Phil Anderson (AUS) |
| 5 | 22 May | Sora to Teramo | 233 km (145 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Fabrizio Convalle (ITA) |
| 6 | 23 May | Teramo to Fabriano | 200 km (124 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Luca Gelfi (ITA) |
| 7 | 24 May | Fabriano to Vallombrosa | 197 km (122 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Gianni Bugno (ITA) |
| 8 | 25 May | Reggello to Marina di Pietrasanta | 188 km (117 mi) | | Plain stage | Stefano Allocchio (ITA) |
| 9 | 26 May | La Spezia to Langhirano | 176 km (109 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Vladimir Poulnikov (URS) |
| 10 | 27 May | Grinzane Cavour to Cuneo | 68 km (42 mi) | | Individual time trial | Luca Gelfi (ITA) |
| 11 | 28 May | Cuneo to Lodi | 241 km (150 mi) | | Plain stage | Adriano Baffi (ITA) |
| 12 | 29 May | Brescia to Baselga di Pinè | 193 km (120 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Éric Boyer (FRA) |
| 13 | 30 May | Baselga di Pinè to Udine | 224 km (139 mi) | | Plain stage | Mario Cipollini (ITA) |
| 14 | 31 May | Klagenfurt (Austria) to Klagenfurt (Austria) | 164 km (102 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Allan Peiper (AUS) |
| 15 | 1 June | Velden am Wörther See (Austria) to Dobbiaco | 226 km (140 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Éric Boyer (FRA) |
| 16 | 2 June | Dobbiaco to Passo Pordoi | 171 km (106 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Charly Mottet (FRA) |
| 17 | 3 June | Moena to Aprica | 223 km (139 mi) | | Stage with mountain(s) | Leonardo Sierra (VEN) |
| 18 | 4 June | Aprica to Gallarate | 180 km (112 mi) | | Plain stage | Adriano Baffi (ITA) |
| 19 | 5 June | Gallarate to Sacro Monte di Varese | 39 km (24 mi) | | Individual time trial | Gianni Bugno (ITA) |
| 20 | 6 June | Milan to Milan | 90 km (56 mi) | | Plain stage | Mario Cipollini (ITA) |
| | Total | Total | 3,450 km (2,144 mi) | 3,450 km (2,144 mi) | 3,450 km (2,144 mi) | 3,450 km (2,144 mi) | 3,450 km (2,144 mi) |

## Classification Leadership

Five different jerseys were worn during the 1990 Giro d'Italia. The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers on mass-start stages – wore a pink jersey. This classification is the most important of the race, and its winner is considered as the winner of the Giro.
For the points classification, which awarded a purple (or cyclamen) jersey to its leader, cyclists were given points for finishing a stage in the top 15; additional points could also be won in intermediate sprints. 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 Passo Pordoi. It was crossed twice by the riders, for the first climbing of the mountain, Italian Maurizio Vandelli was the first over the climb, while Charly Mottet was first over the second passing. 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 neo-professional cyclists (in their first three years of professional racing).
The intergiro classification was marked by a blue jersey. The calculation for the intergiro is similar to that of the general classification, in each stage there is a midway point that the riders pass through a point and where their time is stopped. As the race goes on, their times compiled and the person with the lowest time is the leader of the intergiro classification and wears the blue jersey. 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.
The rows in the following table correspond to the jerseys awarded after that stage was run.
Classification leadership by stage :
| Stage | Winner | General classification | Points classification | Mountains classification | Young rider classification | Team classification |
| 1 | Gianni Bugno | Gianni Bugno | Gianni Bugno | not awarded | Joachim Halupczok | Diana–Colnago–Animex |
| 2 | Giovanni Fidanza | Gianni Bugno | Giovanni Fidanza | Claudio Chiappucci | Joachim Halupczok | Castorama |
| 3 | Eduardo Chozas | Gianni Bugno | Gianni Bugno | Eduardo Chozas | Daniel Steiger | Castorama |
| 4a | Stefano Allocchio | Gianni Bugno | Giovanni Fidanza | Eduardo Chozas | Daniel Steiger | Castorama |
| 4b | Phil Anderson | Gianni Bugno | Giovanni Fidanza | Eduardo Chozas | Daniel Steiger | Castorama |
| 5 | Fabrizio Convalle | Gianni Bugno | Giovanni Fidanza | Claudio Chiappucci & Eduardo Chozas | Daniel Steiger | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond |
| 6 | Luca Gelfi | Gianni Bugno | Giovanni Fidanza | Phil Anderson | Daniel Steiger | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond |
| 7 | Gianni Bugno | Gianni Bugno | Gianni Bugno | Claudio Chiappucci | Daniel Steiger | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond |
| 8 | Stefano Allocchio | Gianni Bugno | Giovanni Fidanza | Claudio Chiappucci | Daniel Steiger | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond |
| 9 | Vladimir Poulnikov | Gianni Bugno | Giovanni Fidanza | Claudio Chiappucci | Joachim Halupczok | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond |
| 10 | Luca Gelfi | Gianni Bugno | Gianni Bugno | Claudio Chiappucci | Joachim Halupczok | Diana–Colnago–Animex |
| 11 | Adriano Baffi | Gianni Bugno | Phil Anderson | Claudio Chiappucci | Joachim Halupczok | Diana–Colnago–Animex |
| 12 | Éric Boyer | Gianni Bugno | Phil Anderson | Claudio Chiappucci | Joachim Halupczok | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond |
| 13 | Mario Cipollini | Gianni Bugno | Phil Anderson | Claudio Chiappucci | Joachim Halupczok | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond |
| 14 | Allan Peiper | Gianni Bugno | Phil Anderson | Claudio Chiappucci | Joachim Halupczok | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond |
| 15 | Éric Boyer | Gianni Bugno | Phil Anderson | Claudio Chiappucci | Joachim Halupczok | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond |
| 16 | Charly Mottet | Gianni Bugno | Phil Anderson | Claudio Chiappucci | Vladimir Poulnikov | ONCE |
| 17 | Leonardo Sierra | Gianni Bugno | Gianni Bugno | Claudio Chiappucci | Vladimir Poulnikov | ONCE |
| 18 | Adriano Baffi | Gianni Bugno | Phil Anderson | Claudio Chiappucci | Vladimir Poulnikov | ONCE |
| 19 | Gianni Bugno | Gianni Bugno | Gianni Bugno | Claudio Chiappucci | Vladimir Poulnikov | ONCE |
| 20 | Mario Cipollini | Gianni Bugno | Gianni Bugno | Claudio Chiappucci | Vladimir Poulnikov | ONCE |
| Final | Final | Gianni Bugno | Gianni Bugno | Claudio Chiappucci | Vladimir Poulnikov | ONCE |

## Final standings

Legend :
| Denotes the winner of the General classification | | Denotes the winner of the Mountains classification |
| Denotes the winner of the Points classification | | Denotes the winner of the Young rider classification |
| Denotes the winner of the Intergiro classification | Denotes the winner of the Intergiro classification | Denotes the winner of the Intergiro classification |

### General classification

Final general classification (1–10) :
| Rank | Name | Team | Time |
| 1 | Gianni Bugno (ITA) | Château d'Ax–Salotti | 91h 51' 04" |
| 2 | Charly Mottet (FRA) | RMO | + 6' 33" |
| 3 | Marco Giovannetti (ITA) | Seur | + 9' 01" |
| 4 | Vladimir Poulnikov (URS) | Alfa Lum–BFB Bruciatori | + 12' 19" |
| 5 | Federico Echave (ESP) | CLAS–Cajastur | + 12' 25" |
| 6 | Franco Chioccioli (ITA) | Del Tongo–Rex | + 12' 36" |
| 7 | Marino Lejarreta (ESP) | ONCE | + 14' 31" |
| 8 | Piotr Ugrumov (URS) | Alfa Lum–BFB Bruciatori | + 17' 02" |
| 9 | Massimiliano Lelli (ITA) | Ariostea | + 17' 14" |
| 10 | Leonardo Sierra (VEN) | Selle Italia–Eurocar | + 19' 12" |

### Points classification

Final points classification (1-5) :
| | Rider | Team | Points |
| 1 | Gianni Bugno (ITA) | Château d'Ax–Salotti | 195 |
| 2 | Phil Anderson (AUS) | TVM | 176 |
| 2 | Mario Cipollini (ITA) | Del Tongo–Rex | 176 |
| 4 | Giovanni Fidanza (ITA) | Château d'Ax–Salotti | 167 |
| 5 | Adriano Baffi (ITA) | Ariostea | 118 |

### Mountains classification

Final mountains classification (1-5) :
| | Rider | Team | Points |
| 1 | Claudio Chiappucci (ITA) | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond | 74 |
| 2 | Maurizio Vandelli (ITA) | Gis Gelati–Benotto | 56 |
| 3 | Gianni Bugno (ITA) | Château d'Ax–Salotti | 48 |
| 4 | Eduardo Chozas (ESP) | ONCE | 47 |
| 5 | Phil Anderson (AUS) | TVM | 34 |

### Young rider classification

Final young rider classification (1-5) :
| | Rider | Team | Time |
| 1 | Vladimir Poulnikov (URS) | Alfa Lum–BFB Bruciatori | 92h 03' 27" |
| 2 | Piotr Ugrumov (URS) | Alfa Lum–BFB Bruciatori | + 4' 43" |
| 3 | Massimiliano Lelli (ITA) | Ariostea | + 4' 55" |
| 4 | Leonardo Sierra (VEN) | Selle Italia–Eurocar | + 6' 53" |
| 5 | Enrico Zaina (ITA) | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond | + 18' 10" |

### Intergiro classification

Final intergiro classification (1-5) :
| | Rider | Team | Time |
| 1 | Phil Anderson (AUS) | TVM | 47h 56' 08" |
| 2 | Massimo Ghirotto (ITA) | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond | + 39" |
| 3 | Luca Gelfi (ITA) | Del Tongo–Rex | + 3' 33" |
| 4 | Werner Stutz (SUI) | Frank | + 4' 22" |
| 5 | Gianni Bugno (ITA) | Château d'Ax–Salotti | + 5' 08" |

### Combativity classification

Final combativity classification (1-5) :
| | Rider | Team | Points |
| 1 | Stefano Giuliani (ITA) | Jolly Componibili–Club 88 | 75 |
| 2 | Maarten Ducrot (NED) | TVM | 39 |
| 3 | Massimo Podenzana (ITA) | Italbonifica–Navigare | 32 |
| 4 | Gianni Bugno (ITA) | Château d'Ax–Salotti | 26 |
| 5 | Masatoshi Ichikawa (JPN) | Frank-Monte Tamaro | 26 |

### Intermediate sprints classification

Final intermediate sprints classification (1–5) :
| | Rider | Team | Points |
| 1 | Alessio Di Basco (ITA) | Gis Gelati–Benotto | 39 |
| 2 | Danilo Gioia (ITA) | Gis Gelati–Benotto | 31 |
| 3 | Stefano Giuliani (ITA) | Jolly Componibili–Club 88 | 25 |
| 4 | Marcel Wüst (FRG) | RMO | 18 |
| 5 | Gianni Bugno (ITA) | Château d'Ax–Salotti | 15 |

### Traguardo Italia '90 classification

Final traguardo Italia '90 classification (1-5) :
| | Rider | Team | Points |
| 1 | Fabrizio Convalle (ITA) | Amore & Vita–Fanini | 18 |
| 2 | Roberto Pelliconi (ITA) | Amore & Vita–Fanini | 10 |
| 3 | Marco Lietti (ITA) | Ariostea | 8 |
| 4 | Roberto Pagnin (ITA) | Malvor–Sidi | 7 |
| 5 | Claudio Chiappucci (ITA) | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond | 5 |

### Traguardi Fiat Uno classification

Final traguardi Fiat Uno classification (1-5) :
| | Rider | Team | Points |
| 1 | Gianni Bugno (ITA) | Château d'Ax–Salotti | 18 |
| 2 | Stefano Giuliani (ITA) | Jolly Componibili–Club 88 | 18 |
| 3 | Phil Anderson (AUS) | TVM | 10 |
| 4 | Éric Boyer (FRA) | Z–Tomasso | 8 |
| 5 | Eduardo Chozas (ESP) | ONCE | 8 |

### Team classification

Final team classification (1-5) :
| | Team | Time |
| 1 | ONCE | 276h 33' 04" |
| 2 | Carrera Jeans–Vagabond | + 3' 57" |
| 3 | Del Tongo–Rex | + 7' 39" |
| 4 | Alfa Lum–BFB Bruciatori | + 16' 48" |
| 5 | Ariostea | + 28' 54" |