| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | 12 May – 2 June 1986 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 22 + Prologue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 3,858.6 km (2,398 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 102h 33' 55" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1986 Giro d'Italia was the 69th running of the Giro d'Italia. The cycling race started in Palermo, on 12 May, with a 1 km (0.6 mi) prologue and concluded in Merano, on 2 June, with a 108.6 km (67.5 mi) mass-start stage. A total of 171 riders from nineteen teams entered the 22-stage race, that was won by Italian Roberto Visentini of the Carrera Jeans–Vagabond team. The second and third places were taken by Italian riders Giuseppe Saronni and Francesco Moser, respectively.
Swiss rider Urs Freuler was the first rider to wear the race leader's maglia rosa (English: pink jersey). The race lead was passed between five riders across the first five days of racing. Saronni gained the overall lead after the conclusion of the sixth stage and maintained an advantage through the fifteenth day of racing. As the race crossed several Alpine passes in the sixteenth stage, Visentini gained the race lead due to his strong performance on the stage. Visentini then defended the race lead until the race's conclusion on 2 June.
Amongst the other classifications that the race awarded, Guido Bontempi of Carrera Jeans–Vagabond won the points classification, Pedro Muñoz of Fagor won the mountains classification, and Gis Gelati-Oece's Marco Giovannetti completed the Giro as the best neo-professional in the general classification, finishing eighth overall. Supermercati Brianzoli finishing as the winners of the team classification, ranking each of the twenty teams contesting the race by lowest cumulative time.