The 1988 Giro d'Italia was the 71st running of this annual race in cycling's Grand Tour. It started in Urbino on 23 May with a 9 km (5.6 mi) individual time trial, and concluded in Vittorio Veneto on 12 June. A total of 180 riders from 20 teams entered the 21-stage race, which was won by Andrew Hampsten of the United States, with Erik Breukink of the Netherlands finishing second and Urs Zimmermann of Switzerland third. It was the third time – and second successive year – in the history of the Giro with no Italian riders in the top three finishers. In the first half of the race, the overall classification was headed for several days by Massimo Podenzana, who participated in a breakaway during stage 4a and held the race leader's jersey for more than a week. The 14th stage of the race was conducted in adverse weather, including a snowstorm. Hampsten became the first American, and non-European, to win the Giro. Johan van der Velde was the winner of the points classification, and Carrera Jeans–Vagabond won the team classification.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Giro_d%27Italia

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1555:

Giovanni Pietro Carafa became Pope Paul IV and had a short, but tumultuous papacy, during which the Papal States suffered a serious military defeat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_IV

1706:

War of the Spanish Succession: Led by the Duke of Marlborough, the allied forces of England, the Dutch Republic, and Denmark–Norway defeated the Franco-Spanish-Bavarian army in Ramillies, present-day Belgium. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ramillies

1873:

The North-West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, was established to bring law and order to, and assert Canadian sovereignty over, the Northwest Territories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-West_Mounted_Police

1951:

Delegates of the 14th Dalai Lama and the government of the newly established People's Republic of China signed the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, affirming Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_Point_Agreement_for_the_Peaceful_Liberation_of_Tibet

2013:

An oversize load struck several support beams on the bridge carrying Interstate 5 over the Skagit River in the U.S. state of Washington, leading to its immediate collapse (pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-5_Skagit_River_Bridge_collapse

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

veisalgia:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/veisalgia

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Every relation, every gradation of nature is incalculably precious, but only to the soul which is poised upon itself, and to whom no loss, no change, can bring dull discord, for it is in harmony with the central soul.   --Margaret Fuller https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Fuller