The Giro visits Sestri Levante:
The Giro has not finished here in a long time.
Stage 10 in 1960 finished here, and Gastone
Nencini took the sprint ahead of second placed...
Rik Van Looy. Nencini would finish in second
place that year behind Anquetil. Anquetil
would sit out that year's Tour, and Nencini
would move up to the top step in his absence.
Two years later would see Graziano Battistini
take a victory here. The Giro has not finished
here since then.
May 19th in the Giro:
The 1951 Giro began on this date and the stage
went to the Belgian sprinter Rik Van Steenbergen.
He was not known as a stage racer, but he would
wage a fierce battle with Fiorenzo Magni for
the GC. He captured the lead on three different
occasions before yielding in the mountains and
finishing second, 1:46 back.
Merckx would win three times on this date, in
1969, 1970, and 1973.
In 1998 the May 19th stage went to Serguei
Gonchar, and marked the first to stage to be
claimed for Ukraine.
The last three stage wins for Belgium have all
been taken by Rik Verbrugghe, and two of them
have been on this date, in 2001 and 2002. The
2001 stage was a record setting Giro prologue
at 59.97kph. He held the pink jersey for several
days before losing it, and it has yet to be
regained for Belgium.