If someone would ask you, what do you think, who was the first non-Italian stage winner in the history of Giro d’Italia, you would most likely pick Lucien Pretit-Breton.
And you would be wrong.
(Although it would make sense, Petit-Breton, the winner of the first Milano-Samremo, had significant success during his career not just in France, but also in Italy. )
The first non-Italian stage winner was another French cyclist, a guy named Jean-Baptiste Dortignacq.
It was the 2nd stage of the 2nd edition of Giro d’Italia.
Interesting fun fact about Dortignac’s career, that he participated only in the 4th stage of the very first Tour de France in 1903, when it was allowed cyclistd to enter individual stages of the race.