The 1912 Giro d'Italia was the fourth edition of the Giro d'Italia, a Grand Tour set up and sponsored by the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. The race began on 19 May in Milan with a stage that stretched to Padua. The race was composed of nine stages that covered a total distance of . The race came to a close in Bergamo on 4 June after a stage. The race was won by the Atala-Dunlop team that finished with Carlo Galetti, Eberardo Pavesi, and Giovanni Micheletto. Second and third respectively were Peugeot and Gerbi.
The calculation of the general classification changed from the previous editions of the race, shifting to a team-based event, with each team only allowed four riders. Points were awarded to teams based upon winning the stage, having multiple riders in the top four places in each stage, and finishing the stage with a minimum of three riders. A total of fourteen teams participated, with 56 riders registering and 54 officially starting the race.
Micheletto won the opening stage of the race to give Atala-Dunlop the first lead in the race. Despite two consecutive stage wins by Legnano riders, Atala-Dunlop still retained the lead going into the fourth stage. The fourth leg was held in rainy conditions that caused some rivers to overflow on the course and riders to take the wrong roads for extensive distances; this led to the cancellation of the stage and addition of a ninth leg that drew some of its route from the Giro di Lombardia. An Atala-Dunlop rider won the fifth stage, but the team lost the lead to Peugeot for one stage. Following the stage, Atala-Dunlop regained the lead and held that to the race's finish in Bergamo.
Changes from the 1911 Giro d'Italia
Outside the yearly changes in the route, race length, and number of stages, the biggest change was in how the general classification was to be calculated. The organizers chose to make the general classification centered on teams rather than individuals as the race was contested in the first three years of its existence. They chose to only allow teams of four riders to compete in the race, making this the first Giro d'Italia to not contain any independent riders. Each team was required to have three riders finish each stage in order to remain in the race. The general classification was still determined by a point system: four points went to the team that the stage winner came from, if a team got two riders in the top four placings on a stage they got two points, and if a team completed the stage with the minimum three riders, they earned one point.
The new point system for the general classification was met with some resistance as many people were very confused by how the new system operated or simply preferred the original system the organizers had used in years past. In response to the confusion surrounding the general classification format, the race organizers released a supplement to help better explain how the new points system operated. A La Stampa writer claimed that the supplement provided several lengthy example calculations and stated that they would know after the first stage how successful this new system would be.
The team that won general classification won a grand prize of 4000 lire. The runner-up of the race received 2000 lire, third was rewarded with 1000 lire, fourth got 600 lire, and fifth place received 400 lire. Each stage winner received 600 lire and second place on the day got 300 lire.
Participants
Of the 56 riders that signed up to participate in the 1912 Giro d'Italia, 54 of them began the race on 19 May. Since the race's general classification was to be based around team points there were no independent riders as in years past. The organizers allowed the participating teams to have up to four riders, with each team needing three riders to finish each stage to remain in the race. There were a total of fourteen teams that started the 1912 Giro d'Italia. A French team was planning on competing in the race, but opted not to and so all the teams that competed were based in Italy. This edition of the Giro d'Italia saw the first teams enter the race that were not sponsored by a bicycle related industry. Each team was required to wear identical colored jerseys.
The fourteen teams that took part in the race were: