with the absence of merckx from the 1975 edition due to illness, the competition increased between the other riders. fausto bertoglio and francisco galdós battled during the latter half of the race. the final stage of the race had a summit finish on the passo dello stelvio where bertoglio fended off the attacks of galdós to seal his overall victory. johan de muynck was in the lead of the 1976 giro d'italia when he crashed during the twentieth stage. muynck's injuries prevented him from performing well in the next day's individual time trial. felice gimondi capitalized on muynck's woes and took the lead on the final day of racing and went on to win his second giro d'italia. this was the last giro that merckx raced; he finished eighth overall.