1956 Giro d'Italia

Fifteen teams were invited by the race organizers to participate in the 1956 edition of the Giro d'Italia. Each team sent a squad of seven riders, which meant that the race started with a peloton of 105 cyclists. From the riders that began the race, 43 made it to the finish in Milan. The Giro organisation invited five national teams (most of which for the duration of the Giro were sponsored by an Italian company) and ten Italian teams: • Arbos-Bif-Clément • Atala-Pirelli • Bianchi-Pirelli • Carpano-Coppi • Eldorado (Belgium) • Faema-Guerra (International) • Francia • Fréjus-Superga • Girardengo-ICEP (Spain) • Italcover (the Netherlands) • Ignis • Legnano • Leo-Chlorodont • Nivea-Fuchs • Torpado-Pirelli The "international" team was a combined Swiss-Luxembourgish team. ==Pre-race favorites==

The race was thought to be more open in previous years due to notable absences of top riders like Louison Bobet due to sickness, 1950 winner Hugo Koblet as he was recovering from a back injury and desired to focus on the Tour de France, Stan Ockers, Ferdinand Kübler, and Raphaël Géminiani, along with the innovations regarding the race route. A ''Feuille d'Avis de Neuchatel'' writer felt that the race would offer a great opportunity for the younger riders to succeed as the previous great riders like Coppi are getting too old. Previous year's winner Fiorenzo Magni (Nivea-Fuchs) was one of the older generation of riders to enter the race in great form, coming off of a win at the Tour of Piedmont. In addition, Magni had announced that this would be his last Giro as he would retire as the season's end. The writer continued naming young Italians with potential to contend like Gastone Nencini (Leo–Chlorodont), following his performance in last Giro, amateur road race champion Sante Ranucci (Legnano), and Aldo Moser (Torpado). Jean Brankart lead the primarily Belgian Eldorado team and was viewed as a rider who would win a Tour de France. Some viewed Charly Gaul (Faema) as a favorite to contend for the overall. Spanish contenders were thought to be climber Federico Bahamontes (Girardengo), while sprinter Miguel Poblet (Faema) was thought to be a favorite for the flatter stages. ==Route and stages==

The route was revealed on 24 February 1956. The race contained eight stages with mountains, which contained sixteen categorized climbs. The race route all together contained 3 rest days and 23 stages across 25 days of racing, of which 18 were mass-start stages, two individual time trials, one team time trial event, and one individual time trial run as a relay. the route was thought to be difficult.{{cite news |url=https://archivio.unita.news/assets/main/1956/05/18/page_006.pdf |title=Sara pesante la strada dei "girini"!|language=it |date=18 May 1956 |page=6 |newspaper=l'Unità |publisher=PCI |access-date=27 May 2012 |format=PDF |trans-title=The road of the "tadpoles" will be heavy ==Classification leadership==

One jersey was worn during the 1956 Giro d'Italia. The leader of the general classification – calculated by adding the stage finish times of each rider – 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 three mountains classifications in the 1956 Giro d'Italia, one for the Dolomites, Apennines, and one for the highest mountain in the race, the Passo dello Stelvio. In all mountains classifications, points were earned by the first five riders over a mountain. There was an intermediate sprints classification. Unlike in the years before, points could only be scored at intermediate sprints, and no longer at the finish. The first three riders at each intermediate sprint received points, 5 for the winner down to 1 for the third. Newly introduced was the piste classification, in Italian known as . There were seven stages that ended on a velodrome, and the first five riders on those stages received points (5 for the winner, down to 1 for the fifth). There was also one classification for the teams, based on stage positions: the stage positions of the three best riders per team were added, and the team with the lowest total rank was the best team. There was no jersey for this classifications. There was also a time trial award in 1956, calculated by adding the times of each time trial, this was won by Pasquale Fornara. ==Final standings==

General classification Trofeo Dolomiti Trofeo Appennini Intermediate sprints classification Trofeo della plata Team classification ==References==