page_title: 1974 Giro d'Italia
section_title: Route and stages
hierarchical_section_title: 1974 Giro d'Italia / Route and stages
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Vista del Monte generoso
context_page_description: The 1974 Giro d'Italia was the 57th running of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours races. The Giro started in Vatican City, on 16 May, with a 164 km stage and concluded in Milan, on 8 June, with 257 km leg. A total of 140 riders from fourteen teams entered the 22-stage race, that was won by Belgian Eddy Merckx of the Molteni team. The second and third places were taken by Italians Gianbattista Baronchelli and Felice Gimondi, respectively.
  Amongst the other classifications that the race awarded, Roger De Vlaeminck won the points classification and José Manuel Fuente of KAS won the mountains classification. KAS finished as the winners of the team points classification. Merckx's victory in the 1974 Giro was his first step in completing the Triple Crown of Cycling–winning the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, and the World Championship road race in one calendar year–becoming the first rider ever to do so.
context_section_description: The route for the 1974 edition of the Giro d'Italia was revealed to the public by race director Vincenzo Torriani on 29 March 1974. It contained one were individual time trial. There were eleven stages containing twenty three categorized climbs, of which four had summit finishes: stage 11a, to Il Cioccio; stage 16, to Monte Generoso; stage 18, to Borgo Valsugana; and stage 20, to Tre Cime di Lavaredo. In total the race route contained 26.78 km (17 mi) of official climbing across the twenty-three climbs. The organizers chose to include two rest days, in Capri and Sanremo. When compared to the previous year's race, the race was 200 km (124 mi) longer, lacked a prologue, and had the same number of rest days and individual time trials. In addition, this race contained two more stages, as well as one more set of half stages. In Italy, the race was televised daily in thirty-minute segments at during the evening on the second channel of RAI. The race, however, was still to be broadcast normally over radio.
  Upon the release of the route in March, La Stampa writer Gianni Pignata believed that the first leg of the split eleventh stage, to Il Cioccio, along with stages 20 and 21, which featured eight total climbs in the Dolomites, would be decisive in determining the race's winner. Pignata believed this edition of the Giro d'Italia was geared towards climbers. He added that if a rider wanted to best Merckx, he would need to make his move earlier in the race and not wait for the Dolomites, as Merckx would likely be in top form by then. After looking over the race route, Italian rider Basso stated that there were few opportunities for sprinters to try and win a stage. Two-time winner Gimondi felt the race started off hard and agreed with Pignata and Basso, in that the race favored climbers and lacked chances for sprint finishes. He stated that the route suited the riding styles of Ocaña, Merckx, and Jose Manuel Fuente. In addition, Gimondi criticized Torriani for placing a rest day in after the third day of racing, stating that there was no justification for it there. The route did not enter the high mountains until 27 May, which was thought to work against Fuente's chances to win the race and take advantage of Merckx's unknown condition.
caption: Monte Generoso hosted the end of the 158 km (98 mi) sixteenth stage.
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