In the long, storied history of professional cycling, the 1912 Giro d’Italia stands out as an extraordinary anomaly. For just one year, the Italian Grand Tour abandoned the idea of individual glory in favor of team-based competition—a format that would seem radical even today, yet somehow closer in spirit to modern cycling than its contemporaries might have guessed.
A Radical Experiment
By 1912, the Giro was still in its infancy, only in its fourth edition. Organized by La Gazzetta dello Sport, the race’s directors sought to inject new life into the format. Instead of awarding the general classification to the best individual rider, the overall victory would go to the best team.
Each of the 14 trade teams that entered the race fielded exactly four riders, and all four had to finish every stage for the team to remain in contention. The general classification was determined by a points system, based on team performances in each of the nine stages. No individual time gaps were recorded—victory was collective, not personal.
The format emphasized discipline, strategy, and cooperation, with no room for solo heroics or breakaway legends—a stark contrast to the mythic style of racing favored by Henri Desgrange, founder of the Tour de France, who believed that a true champion rode and suffered alone. Desgrange once famously declared that the perfect Tour would be one in which only a single man finishes.
The Winning Machine: Atala-Dunlop
The team that triumphed in this experiment was Atala-Dunlop, a powerhouse squad featuring Carlo Galetti (a previous two-time Giro winner), Giovanni Micheletto, Eberardo Pavesi, and Luigi Ganna—the very first winner of the Giro in 1909.
They dominated the race, winning five of the nine stages and finishing with a comfortable points lead. Yet despite the high-profile success of the format’s first and only outing, it left fans and media lukewarm. The loss of individual drama and unpredictable attacks made the race feel formulaic. Audiences missed the romance of solo escapes, mechanical misfortunes, and gritty comebacks that had already become part of cycling lore.
A One-Time Affair
The 1912 team format was never repeated.
By the next edition, the Giro returned to the traditional individual general classification, setting the template for decades to come. Yet in hindsight, the 1912 race feels prophetic. While Grand Tour winners today are still crowned as individuals, their victories are impossible without the cohesive machinery of their teams—from domestiques pacing on mountain passes to lead-outs in sprint finishes, and the tactical nuance shaped by radios and directeur sportifs.
Legacy of a Forgotten Vision
Today, the 1912 Giro seems like a footnote in cycling history—but it’s more than that. It was a brief glimpse into a future where cycling would evolve from the myth of the solitary hero into a sport where teamwork, strategy, and structure define the margins of greatness. Ironically, in their short-lived experiment, the Giro’s organizers touched on something far ahead of their time—even if they didn’t realize it yet.