Passo di Gavia, 1988: The day the Giro d'Italia turned into hell

June 5, 1988, Passo di Gavia, Giro d'Italia. Short stage, barely 120 kilometers. The race director, the classic Vincenzo Torriani, had been criticized in previous years for shortening hard stages to benefit the local sprinters. This year, despite the inclement weather, he decided not to do so. The 120 kilometer stage with ascent and descent to the colossus, the 2,618-meter-high Passo di Gavia, with an average gradient of 8.5 km in the final 14 kilometers, the last of which are unpaved.

That unpaved land, due to snow and rain, had turned to mud. The images did not seem to come from 1988, they looked like they were from the beginning of the 20th century, when runners were running on unpaved roads in subhuman conditions;

Despite a warning of snow above 1,500 meters, the race was not suspended. In the lead, with the maglia ciclamino, Johan van der Velde seeks eternal glory. He wants to get to the top, score the points and ride as fast as he can down to the finish in Bornio. He finished fifth in the 1985 Giro, but three years later he was not at his best. Behind the Dutchman comes leader Franco Chioccioli and the foreigners looking to take the pink jersey from him: Andrew Hampsten, Erick Breukin and Perico Delgado.

Thus, groups are forming on the muddy ground, with Hampten and Breukin with Breukin with some advantage with Cioccioli and Giovanetti. Perico, devastated by the cold, is already losing a lot of time;

Johan is still in the lead and, despite the inclement weather, he is wearing neither gloves nor sleeves. The spectacle from the television is brutal. Johan arrives at the summit in a chill. The thermometer reads 5 degrees below zero and his extremities are frozen. He has no helpers to give him dry clothes, he does not manage to put on a rain jacket offered by a fan and he starts the descent. With no dry clothes, no (frozen) brakes, he has to put his foot down. He is frozen. Hampten, who had reached the top within a minute, passes him. He is then passed by many more.

The spectacle is tremendous. Breuklin overtook Hampten on the descent and ended up winning the stage. Just past the finish line he faints. Perico Delgado arrives completely broken by the cold. 45 minutes later Johan van der Velde entered the finish line. The man who passed the Passo di Gavia in the lead, with obvious symptoms of hyportemia.

There were insults towards the organizers by the riders and such a stage has never been raced again. That madness of June '88 remains in the history of the Giro d'Italia.