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1719_1 | The tournament rotates its venues across different major countries and regions each year. South Korea's T1 is the most successful team in the tournament's history, having won three world championships.
Trophy
Riot Games, which owns League of Legends, commissioned the winner's trophy known as the Summoner's Cup. Riot specified that it should weigh 70 pounds, though the actual weight of the finished cup was reduced so it would not be too heavy to lift in victory. Thomas Lyte, having already created the Season Two World Championship Cup in 2012, crafted the winners' trophy for the 2014 games.
Overview
Results
Regions which have reached the top four
(*): The region had two teams that finished in 3rd–4th place that year.
Teams which have reached the top four
Background shading indicates a team/organization has been disbanded, acquired or no longer participates in the regional league. |
1719_2 | Season 1 (2011)
The Season 1 Championship was held in June 2011 at Dreamhack Summer 2011, and featured a US$100,000 tournament prize pool. 8 teams from Europe, North America, Southeast Asia participated in the championship. Over 1.6 million viewers watched the streaming broadcast of the event, with a peak of over 210,069 simultaneous viewers in the final. Maciej "Shushei" Ratuszniak of the winning team Fnatic was named the most valuable player (MVP) of the tournament.
Top four
Season 2 (2012)
After Season 1, Riot announced that 5,000,000 would be paid out over Season 2. Of this $5 million, $2 million went to Riot's partners including the IGN Pro League and other major esports associations. Another $2 million went to Riot's Season 2 qualifiers and championship. The final $1 million went to other organizers who applied to Riot to host independent League of Legends tournaments. |
1719_3 | The Season 2 World Championship was held in early October 2012 in Los Angeles, California to conclude the 5 million season. Twelve qualifying teams from around the world participated in the championship, which boasted the largest prize pool in the history of esports tournaments at the time at 2 million, with 1 million going to the champions. The group stage, quarterfinal, and semifinal matches took place between 4 and 6 October. The grand final took place a week after, on 13 October in the University of Southern California's Galen Center in front of 10,000 fans, and were broadcast in 13 different languages. In the grand final, Taiwan's professional team Taipei Assassins triumphed over South Korea's Azubu Frost 3 to 1 and claimed the 1 million in prize money. |
1719_4 | Over 8 million viewers tuned in to the Season 2 World Championship broadcast, with a maximum of 1.1 million concurrent viewers during the grand final, making the Season 2 World Championship the most watched esports event in history at the time.
Top four
Season 3 (2013)
The Season 3 World Championship was held in late 2013 in Los Angeles, California. 14 teams from North America, Korea, China, Southeast Asia, Europe, and one of the emerging League of Legends territories measured up at the World Playoffs after having qualified through their regional competitions. The grand final was held in the Staples Center on 4 October 2013, where Korean team SK Telecom T1 defeated the Chinese team Royal Club, granting them the title of the Season 3 world champions, the Summoner's Cup and the $1 million prize. |
1719_5 | The Season 3 World Championship grand final broadcast on 4 October was watched by 32 million people with a peak concurrent viewership of 8.5 million. The numbers once again beat the previous records for esports viewership.
Top four
2014
The 2014 World Championship featured 16 teams competing for a $2.13 million prize pool, with 14 teams qualifying from the primary League of Legends regions (China, Europe, North America, Korea and Taiwan/SEA) and two international wildcard teams. Riot stopped numbering seasons and instead simply used the year for the 2014 and future championships. |
1719_6 | The group stage began 18 September in Taipei and concluded 28 September in Singapore with eight teams advancing to the bracket stage. The bracket stage started on 3 October in Busan, South Korea, and concluded on 19 October with the grand final hosted at the 45,000-seats Seoul World Cup Stadium, where South Korean team Samsung Galaxy White beat the Chinese team Star Horn Royal Club to become the 2014 League of Legends world champions.
American band Imagine Dragons contributed the theme song "Warriors" for the tournament, and performed live on the grand final stage in South Korea. All games were made available for free via live streaming.
The 2014 World Championship games were streamed live by 40 broadcast partners, and cast in 19 languages. The grand final was watched by 27 million people, with concurrent viewership peaking at over 11 million viewers. |
1719_7 | Top four
The name and player ID in bold letters''' refer to the player who received the final MVP award. This is same in the tournaments below.
2015
After the 2014 season, Riot Games introduced a number of changes to competitive League of Legends. The number of teams in the League Championship Series was increased from 8 to 10 in both the North America and Europe regions. A second Riot Games official international tournament was announced, the Mid-Season Invitational, which took place in May 2015, and featured a single team from each major region and one international wildcard. Additionally, starting from 2015, all teams are required to field a head coach in their competitive matches, who will stay on stage and speak with the team via voice-chat in the pick–ban phase of the game. This change makes the head coach an officially recognized member of the team. |
1719_8 | The 2015 World Championship concluded the 2015 season, and was held at several venues across Europe in October 2015. Like the 2014 World Championship, the 2015 World Championship was a multi-city, multi-country event.
2015 Worlds was won by SK Telecom T1, their second title, as they won the 2013 Worlds too. SKT top laner Jang "MaRin" Gyeong-Hwan was named the tournament most valuable player (MVP).
The final was watched by 36 million people, with a peak concurrent viewership of 14 million viewers.
Top four
2016
The various stages of the 2016 Worlds were held throughout the United States in Chicago, San Francisco, New York City, and the final in Los Angeles. |
1719_9 | The groups of teams were decided through a live group draw show on 10 September. The games were played on the 6.18 patch of the game with Yorick disabled, and Aurelion Sol disabled for days 1–3. There were 16 teams and 4 groups that consisted of 4 teams. The group stage was Bo1 and the top two teams from each groups would advance to the Knockout Stage.
The Knockout Stage was Bo5 and the #1 vs #2 teams from each group would face each other in the bracket.
The total prize pool was US$5,070,000 and it was spread among the teams. The first place (SK Telecom T1) took $2,028,000, the second team (Samsung Galaxy) took $760,500, the third place (ROX Tigers) took $380,250. The rest of the prize pool was distributed among the 5th–16th places.
SKT won 3–2 versus Samsung Galaxy in the 2016 World Championship final, with Faker winning the MVP award.
The final was watched by 43 million people, with a peak concurrent viewership of 14.7 million viewers, breaking 2015's final's viewer records. |
1719_10 | Top four
2017
The 2017 World Championship series started in September 2017, and concluded in November 2017. It was held in 4 different locations throughout China: Wuhan (play-in and groups), Guangzhou (quarterfinals), Shanghai (semifinals), and Beijing (final). It was played on patch 7.18, with the newest champion Ornn being disabled. Patch 7.18 is slightly older than patches 7.19 and 7.20, which are the new standard for online matches during the September - November period. The most notable difference being the stronger Ardent Censer support meta with patch 7.18. |
1719_11 | A total of 24 teams participated in the tournament: 3 teams from South Korea, China, North America, Europe and Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau; 1 team from Brazil, Latin America North, Latin America South, Japan, Oceania, Turkey, Southeast Asia and CIS/Russia; and 1 team from the Wildcard region with the highest rank finish at the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational (GPL in Southeast Asia, due to Gigabyte Marines from Vietnam prevailing there, and Vietnam received 1 more slot for VCS's second seed to participate GPL 2017 summer split).
Samsung Galaxy reversed the previous year's result and defeated SK Telecom T1 3–0 in the 2017 World Championship final. Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk, the AD carry of Samsung, was named MVP. |
1719_12 | The final was watched by 60 million people, breaking 2016's final's viewer records. The tournament is widely praised for its high quality of plays and amazing ceremonial performances, while receiving worldwide attention for its dramatic and emotional series. It is currently the most watched tournament in League of Legends history, and is lauded as one of the best.
Top four
2018
The 2018 World Championship was held from 1 October to 3 November 2018, in 4 cities across South Korea: Seoul (play-in), Busan (groups & quarterfinals), Gwangju (semifinals), and Incheon (final). Twenty four teams qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits such as those in North America, Europe, South Korea, and China, with twelve of those teams having to reach the group stage via a play-in round. |
1719_13 | The 2018 World Championship was played on Patch 8.19. Notably, champions Aatrox, Alistar and Urgot were extremely prevalent in the tournament, with the three characters being picked or banned in over 90 percent of the 78 games played. The World Championship final was played between Invictus Gaming and Fnatic. Invictus Gaming won 3–0 against Fnatic, granting China and the LPL their first World Championship. Gao "Ning" Zhenning was named the MVP of the series in their victory.
The final was watched by 99.6 million unique viewers, with concurrent viewership reaching a peak of 44 million viewers, breaking 2017's final's viewership record.
Top four |
1719_14 | 2019
The 2019 World Championship was held between 2 October to 10 November 2019, in three countries and cities in Europe: Berlin (play-in & groups), Madrid (quarterfinals and semifinals), and Paris (final). Twenty-four teams qualified to participate at the World Championship based on placement within their own regional leagues and previous regional results in international play.
The 2019 World Championship was played on Patch 9.19 from start to finish. The World Championship final was played on 10 November 2019 between LPL's FunPlus Phoenix and LEC's G2 Esports at AccorHotels Arena in Paris. FunPlus Phoenix won 3–0 against G2 Esports, granting China and the LPL back-to-back World Championships. Gao "Tian" Tianliang was named the MVP of the series in their victory.
Top four |
1719_15 | 2020
The 2020 World Championship was held from 25 September to 31 October 2020 in Shanghai, China. 22 teams qualified to participate at the World Championship based on placement within their own regional leagues and previous regional results in international play. As a result of travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the two teams that qualified from the Vietnam Championship Series were unable to attend the event. |
1719_16 | All games leading up to the final were hosted in the Shanghai Media Tech Studio with no fans in attendance. The final was hosted in the Pudong Football Stadium as the building's inaugural event, hosting a limited number of 6,312 fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The final was played on 31 October 2020 between Suning, from China's League of Legends Pro League, and Damwon Gaming, from League of Legends Champions Korea, with Damwon Gaming winning the championship 3–1. During the second game, Suning's top laner Chen "Bin" Zebin achieved the first "Pentakill" in the final of a World Championship. Damwon Gaming's jungler, Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu, was named the MVP of the series. Damwon's win ended the LPL's back-to-back streak of world championship victories.
Top four
2021 |
1719_17 | The 2021 World Championship was held from 5 October to 6 November 2021 in Reykjavík, Iceland. In line with last year's iteration, 22 teams qualified to participate at the World Championship based on placement within their own regional leagues and previous regional results in international play. As a result of travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the two teams that qualified from the Vietnam Championship Series were once again unable to attend the event. |
1719_18 | All games of the tournament were hosted in the Laugardalshöll, with no fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Iceland. The final was played on 6 November 2021 between Edward Gaming, from China's League of Legends Pro League, and defending champions DWG KIA (formerly Damwon Gaming), from League of Legends Champions Korea, with Edward Gaming winning the championship 3–2. Edward Gaming's mid laner, Lee "Scout" Ye-chan, was named the MVP of the series. Edward Gaming's win ended DWG KIA's chance to win back-to-back world championships.
Top four
2022
Riot Games announced the return of the multi-city hosting format, with the event set to take place in 4 cities across North America: Mexico City (play-in), New York City (groups & quarterfinals), Toronto (semifinals), and San Francisco (final). The final is set to be hosted in the Chase Center.
Notes
References |
1719_19 | League of Legends competitions
World championships in esports
Recurring sporting events established in 2011
League
2011 multiplayer online battle arena tournaments |
1720_0 | MBASIC is the Microsoft BASIC implementation of BASIC for the CP/M operating system. MBASIC is a descendant of the original Altair BASIC interpreters that were among Microsoft's first products. MBASIC was developed initially for teaching the principles of programming back in the late 1960s. MBASIC was one of the two versions of BASIC bundled with the Osborne 1 computer. The name "MBASIC" is derived from the disk file name MBASIC.COM of the BASIC interpreter.
Environment
MBASIC version 5 required a CP/M system with at least 28 kB of random access memory (RAM) and at least one diskette drive.
Unlike versions of Microsoft BASIC-80 that were customized by home computer manufacturers to use the particular hardware features of the computer, MBASIC relied only on the CP/M operating system calls for all input and output. Only the CP/M console (screen and keyboard), line printer, and disk devices were available. |
1720_1 | MBASIC in the uncustomized form had no functions for graphics, color, joysticks, mice, serial communications, networking, sound, or even a real-time clock function. MBASIC did not fully support the features of the host CP/M operating system, for example, it did not support CP/M's user areas for organizing files on a diskette. Since CP/M systems were typically single-user and stand alone, there was no provision for file or record locking, or any form of multitasking. Apart from these limitations, MBASIC was considered at the time to be a powerful and useful implementation of BASIC.
Features |
1720_2 | Language system
MBASIC is an interpreter. Program source text was stored in memory in tokenized form, with BASIC keywords replaced by one-byte tokens which saved memory space and speeded execution. Any line prefixed with a line number was stored as program text; BASIC statements not prefixed with a line number were executed immediately as commands. Programs could be listed on the screen for editing, or saved to disk in either a compressed binary format or as plain ASCII text. Every source line was identified with a number, which could be used as the target of a GOTO or GOSUB transfer. Only line editing commands were provided. It was often beneficial to save a program as plain text and edit it with a full featured editor. |
1720_3 | Program text, variables, disk buffers and the CP/M operating system itself all had to share the 64 kilobyte address space of the 8080 processor. Typically when first starting MBASIC there would be less than 32 kB memory available for programs and data, even on a machine equipped with a full 64 kilobytes of RAM. Comment lines, prefixed with the REM keyword or an apostrophe, could be placed in the program text but took up valuable memory space, which discouraged BASIC users from fully documenting their code. To allow larger and more complex programs to be run, later versions of MBASIC supported functions that allowed portions of program text to be read in and executed under program control (the " CHAIN " and MERGE statements). No support for "shell" command execution was provided, though this functionality could be duplicated by a determined programmer. |
1720_4 | A particular advantage of MBASIC was the full-text error messages provided for syntax and run-time errors. MBASIC also had a "trace" function that displayed line numbers as they were executed. While this occupied the same screen space as normal program output, it was useful for detecting conditions such as endless loops.
Files and input/output
Data could be read and stored to disk as either sequential files (delimited by the CP/M convention of CR/LF at the end of each line) or else as fixed-record-length random access files, which, given a sufficiently determined programmer, could be used to perform database-type record manipulation. The Microsoft Binary Format for floating point numbers was proprietary to the implementation, which meant that data could only be interchanged with other programs using ASCII text representation or else with extensive programming to convert the binary format. |
1720_5 | Variables and data types
MBASIC supported the following data types:
8-bit character data, in strings of length 0 to 255 characters;
16-bit integers;
32-bit floating point (single precision), equivalent to six decimal digits, with a two-digit exponent;
64-bit floating point (double precision), equivalent to sixteen decimal digits, with a two-digit exponent.
String operators included substring selection, concatenation, assignment, and testing for equality. |
1720_6 | Arrays of the above types were allowed with up to 7 dimensions, but no functions or operators worked on arrays; for example, there was no assignment of arrays. Unlike some other BASIC implementations of the time, MBASIC did not provide support for matrix operations, complex numbers, or a decimal (BCD) data type for financial calculations. All floating point operations were carried out in software since typical CP/M systems did not have floating point hardware. The built-in mathematics functions (sine, cosine, tangent, natural log, exponential, square root) only gave single precision results. A software pseudorandom number generator was provided; this relied on the user to key in a seed number to obtain a sequence of numbers useful for games and some simulations. MBASIC permitted but did not require the LET keyword for assignment statements. |
1720_7 | Early versions of BASIC on microcomputers were infamous for one- or two-character variable names, which made the meanings of variables difficult to recall in complex programs. MBASIC version 5 allowed identifiers up to 40 characters long, which permitted programmers to give variables readable names.
Program flow control
Program flow control in MBASIC was controlled by IF...THEN...ELSE... conditional tests, WHILE...WEND loops, and GOTO and GOSUB instructions. No CASE statement was available, although an ON...GOTO... (computed GOTO) provided multi-way branches. Subroutines had no parameters and all variables were global. MBASIC did not make structured programming mandatory for programmers and it was easy to write spaghetti code. |
1720_8 | PEEKs, POKEs, and user functions
No discussion of BASICs on the 8-bit computers of the late '70s and early '80s would be complete without mentioning the importance of the PEEK and POKE functions for directly reading and writing to memory. Since these systems typically had no memory protection, this allowed a programmer to access portions of the operating system, or functions that would not otherwise be available. This also provided opportunities for user programs to hang the system (by accident, usually). For example, a CP/M programmer might use a POKE function to allow BASIC to switch the console device to the serial port, if the system BIOS supported this. For machines with real-time clocks, a set of PEEK instructions might have been used to access the time. |
1720_9 | For more complex operations, MBASIC allowed user-defined functions that could be called from a BASIC program. These were typically placed in a reserved area of memory, or POKEd into string constants, as a series of machine codes (op codes). MBASIC also provided hardware INP and OUT instructions that read and wrote directly to the 8080 hardware input/output ports. This could be used to control peripheral devices from a BASIC program if the system hardware permitted.
Any MBASIC programs that made use of PEEK and POKE, and of machine code user functions, were not portable between machines without modifications.
Successors to MBASIC
Besides Microsoft's BASIC-80 for CP/M, a variant of MBASIC was also available as for the ISIS-II operating system.
MSX-BASIC is also a well known successor of MBASIC, featuring several extensions specific to the MSX machines. |
1720_10 | All the functions of CP/M MBASIC were available in the IBM PC disk-based BASICA or GWBASIC which made migration of programs from CP/M systems to PC-compatibles possible. The tokens used to represent keywords were different, so CP/M programs had to be saved in ASCII source form. Typically screen formatting escape sequences put into the CP/M version would be replaced with the cursor positioning commands found in the PC versions of BASIC, otherwise little rewriting would be needed.
BASCOM
Microsoft sold a CP/M BASIC compiler (known as BASCOM) which used a similar source language to MBASIC. A program debugged under MBASIC could be compiled with BASCOM. Since program text was no longer in memory and the run-time elements of the compiler were smaller than the interpreter, more memory was available for user data. Speed of real program execution increased about 3 fold. |
1720_11 | Developers welcomed BASCOM as an alternative to the popular but slow and clumsy CBASIC. Unlike CBASIC, BASCOM did not need a preprocessor for MBASIC source code so could be debugged interactively. A disadvantage was Microsoft's requirement of a 9% royalty for each compiled copy of a program and $40 for hardware-software combinations. The company also reserved the right to audit developers' financial records. Because authors' typical royalty rates for software was 10-25%, InfoWorld in 1980 stated that BASCOM's additional 9% royalty rate "could make software development downright unprofitable", concluding that "Microsoft has the technical solution [to CBASIC's flaws], but not the economic one". |
1720_12 | Importance of MBASIC
MBASIC was an important tool during the era of 8-bit CP/M computers. Skilled users could write routines in MBASIC to automate tasks that in modern-day systems would be performed by powerful application program commands or scripting languages. Exchange of useful MBASIC programs was a common function of computer users' groups. Keying in long BASIC listings from a magazine article was one way of "bootstrapping" software into a new CP/M system. At least one compiler for a high-level language was written in MBASIC, and many small games and utility programs ranging from a few lines to a few thousand lines of code were written.
Other uses
MBASIC is also the name of a commercial BASIC compiler for the Microchip Technology PIC microcontroller family developed by Basic Micro, Inc., unrelated to the CP/M interpreter.
References |
1720_13 | Thom Hogan and Mike Iannamico, Osborne 1 User's Reference Guide,(1982) Osborne Computer Corporation
David A. Lien, The BASIC Handbook, 2nd Edition Encyclopedia of the BASIC Computer Language",(1981), Compusoft Publishing
BASIC 80 Reference Manual, Microsoft Corporation, no date
CP/M software
Discontinued Microsoft BASICs
BASIC programming language family
Microsoft programming languages |
1721_0 | The fictional races and peoples that appear in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth include the seven listed in Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings: Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits, Ents, Orcs and Trolls, as well as various spirits such as the Valar and Maiar. Other beings of Middle-earth are of unclear nature such as Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry.
Ainur
The Ainur were angelic spirits created by Eru Ilúvatar at the Beginning. The Ainur who subsequently entered the physical world of Middle-earth were the Valar ("powers"), though that term came to refer primarily to the mightiest among them. Lesser spirits were called the Maiar. Most of the Valar and Maiar withdrew from Middle-earth to the Undying Lands of Valinor, though some of the Maiar assumed mortal forms to help or hinder the peoples of Middle-earth, such as the Istari (Wizards), Melian, Balrogs, and the Dark Lord Sauron.
Wizards |
1721_1 | The wizards of Middle-earth were Maiar: spirits of the same order as the Valar, but lesser in power. Outwardly resembling Men but possessing much greater physical and mental power, they were called Istari (Quenya for "Wise Ones") by the Elves. They were sent by the Valar to assist the people of Middle-earth to contest Sauron. The first three of these five wizards were known in the Mannish tongues of the Lord of the Rings series as Saruman "man of skill" (Rohirric), Gandalf "elf of the staff" (northern Men), and Radagast "tender of beasts" (possibly Westron). Tolkien never provided non-Elvish names for the other two; one tradition gives their names in Valinor as Alatar and Pallando, and another as Morinehtar and Rómestámo in Middle-earth. Each wizard in the series had robes of a characteristic colour: white for Saruman (the chief and the most powerful of the five), grey for Gandalf, brown for Radagast, and sea-blue for the remaining two, known consequently as the Blue Wizards. Gandalf |
1721_2 | and Saruman play important roles in The Lord of the Rings, while Radagast appears only briefly, innocently helping Saruman to deceive Gandalf, who believes Radagast since he is honest, and fortuitously alerting Gwaihir to rescue Gandalf again. The Blue Wizards do not feature in the story, as they are said to have journeyed far into the east after their arrival in Middle-earth. |
1721_3 | As the Istari were Maiar, each one served a Vala in some way. Saruman was the servant and helper of Aulë, and so learned much in the art of craftsmanship, mechanics, and metal-working, as was seen in the later Third Age. Gandalf was the servant of Manwë or Varda, but was a lover of the Gardens of Lórien, and so knew much of the hopes and dreams of Men and Elves. Radagast, servant of Yavanna, loved the things of nature, both animals and plants. As each of these Istari learned from their Vala, so they acted in Middle-earth.
Balrogs
Demonic creatures of fire and shadow, Balrogs were fallen Maiar, loyal to the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. They participated in the wars of the First Age of Middle-earth but were mostly destroyed during the War of Wrath which ended the Age. By the Third Age, the only remaining Balrog was "Durin's Bane," the Balrog of Moria, killed by Gandalf.
Free peoples |
1721_4 | The Free Peoples of Middle-earth were the four races that had never fallen under the sway of the evil spirits Morgoth or Sauron: Elves, Men, Dwarves and Ents. Strictly speaking, among Men it was only the Men of the West who were Free People, particularly the descendants of the Dúnedain of the Isle of Númenor, as most Men of the East and South of Middle-earth became servants of Morgoth and Sauron over the ages. The Ent Treebeard quotes lines from a traditional lay listing them
First came the four, the free peoples
Eldest of all, the elf-children
Dwarf the delver, dark are his houses
Ent the earthborn, old as mountains
Man the mortal, master of horses
After encountering the hobbits Merry and Pippin, he consents that hobbits are a fifth free people, adding a fifth line, "Half-grown hobbits, the hole-dwellers".
Dwarves |
1721_5 | The race of Dwarves preferred to live in mountains and caves, settling in places such as Erebor (the Lonely Mountain), the Iron Hills, the Blue Mountains, and Moria (Khazad-dûm) in the Misty Mountains. Aulë the Smith created Dwarves; he also invented the Dwarven language, known as Khuzdul. Dwarves mined and worked precious metals throughout the mountains of Middle-earth. The seven different groups of Dwarf-folk originated in the locations where the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves first awoke before the First Age.
Elves |
1721_6 | The Elves, or Firstborn, were the first of Eru's Children to awaken. Born under the stars before the ascension of the Moon and the Sun, they retain a special love for light and an inner spirit endowed with unique gifts. They call themselves the Quendi, or "Speakers", for they were the first to utter words; and, even now, no race understands language and song like the Firstborn. Fair and fine featured, brilliant and proud, immortal and strong, tall and agile, they are the most blessed of the Free Peoples. They can see as well under moon or starlight as a man at the height of day. They cannot become sick or scarred, but if an Elf should die, from violence or losing the will to live from grief, their spirit goes to the halls of Mandos, and as they are bound to Arda and cannot leave until the world is broken and remade. Elven skill and agility is legendary: for instance, walking atop freshly fallen snow without leaving a trace of their passing. On a clear day they can see ten miles with |
1721_7 | perfect clarity and detail up to 100 miles. These gifts come at great cost, though: they are strongly bound to Fate (see Mandos) and hated by Morgoth. No other race has been blessed and cursed more than the Quendi. |
1721_8 | The Quendi were sundered after the awakening and many sub-groups appeared. The First Sundering occurred when some left Middle-earth to live in the blessed realm of Valinor, while others stayed behind. This produced the Eldar, who accepted the call to come to Valinor, and the Avari who refused the great journey.
Elves who stayed in Middle-earth and never saw the light of the trees became known as the Moriquendi or "Dark-elves". This did not imply that the Dark-elves were evil, they just never saw the light of the trees. |
1721_9 | On the journey to Valinor, some of the Teleri ("Those who tarried") abandoned the main group and those of them who did not mingle with the Moriquendi became the Laiquendi (Green-elves), the Sindar (Grey-elves) and the Nandor. These elves of the great journey who remained in Middle-earth were then called the Úmanyar (The Unwilling). The Eldar who reached Valinor were eventually divided into three distinct groups: Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri. These three groups became known as the Calaquendi or "Light-elves" because they beheld the light of the Two Trees of Valinor. Later some of the Noldor went back to Middle-earth in their quest for the Silmarils, while the Vanyar remained in Valinor.
The Silvan Elves, of Nandor and Avari descent, inhabited Mirkwood and Lothlórien.
Men |
1721_10 | During the time of The Lord of the Rings, Men in Middle-earth were located in many places, with the largest group of free men in the countries of Gondor and Rohan. When the island of Númenor fell, only the Faithful escaped and founded the twin kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor. The Faithful were known in Middle-earth as the Dúnedain, and as leaders of these kingdoms, they were able to lead the resistance to Sauron, and preserve the Men of the West as Free People. There were also free men at the village of Bree, at Esgaroth, in Drúadan Forest (home to "wild men" known as Drúedain or Woses), and in the icy regions of Forochel. Those who served evil powers, such as the men of Dunland, Rhûn, Harad, and Umbar, were not considered free men. Men bear the so-called Gift of Men, mortality.
The descendants of the Dúnedain include the Rangers of the North and the Rangers of Ithilien.
Drúedain |
1721_11 | The Drúedain, one of the earliest varieties of men, lived in small numbers, often in tribes. They were little folk, shorter than dwarves, yet taller than hobbits. They were known for their voodoo-like magic, their black eyes (which glow red when they are angry), and their ability to sit for hours and days on end without moving or blinking. They grew little hair, except that on their heads and sometimes small tufts on their chins. They were short and stout, and other men tended to dislike them due to their harsh, rough voices. Their laughter, however, was full of mirth. It is said that their skill of stonework rivaled the Dwarves'. The Drughu were not evil. They were mortal enemies of orcs, defending the homes of their human neighbors with their own lives and with the aid of their magical Watch-Stones. The Elves of Beleriand developed a special fondness for them and valued their skill at fighting orcs.
Ents |
1721_12 | Ents were an ancient race of tree-like creatures, having become like the trees that they shepherd. They were created by Yavanna and given life by Ilúvatar. By the Third Age, they were a dwindling race, having long ago lost their mates, the Entwives.
Huorns
Close kin of the Ents, Huorns were animated trees that possessed sentience. They were said to have voices but could only be understood by the Ents, not by the other peoples of Middle-earth. It is unclear if Huorns were simply trees that became aware or Ents that became more "treeish" over time (both varieties were thought to exist). Huorns were found in Fangorn Forest and possibly the Old Forest near Buckland. Legolas mentions that the Elves helped to wake up the trees. The Huorns decided the Battle of Helm's Deep, destroying Saruman's army of Orcs.
Hobbits |
1721_13 | Hobbits are a race of Middle-earth, also known as 'halflings' on account of their short stature, roughly half the size of men. They are characterized by curly hair on their heads and leathery feet that have furry insteps, for which they did not wear shoes. Many hobbits live in the Shire as well as Bree, and they once lived in the vales of the Anduin. They are fond of an unadventurous life of farming, eating, and socializing. There were three types of Hobbits: The Harfoots were the most numerous. The Stoors had an affinity for water, boats and swimming; the Fallohides were an adventurous people. The origin of hobbits is unclear, but of all the races they have the closest affinity to men, and in the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings Tolkien calls them relatives of men.
Enslaved peoples |
1721_14 | Enslaved peoples were those races that had fallen under the sway of the evil spirits Morgoth and Sauron, also known by the Free Peoples as 'Servants of the Enemy'. They included Orcs, Trolls and Men. The origin of Orcs and Trolls is unclear, but they were races that were taken by Morgoth and corrupted through sorcery into their final evil nature and appearance. Men were rarely corrupted by Morgoth or Sauron in the same way. Rather, their hearts and minds were corrupted by power and evil impulses, while they retained the physical appearance of men. Prolonged service to Sauron however, did turn the bearers of the Rings of Power from Men into the wraith-like Nazgûl. Those men who were the servants of Morgoth or Sauron were mostly from the east and south of Middle-earth.
Men |
1721_15 | Not all Men were on the side of good; the Men who lived in the east and south were under Sauron's dominion. They included the Haradrim or Southrons and the Black Númenóreans (and later the Corsairs of Umbar) who pledged their allegiance to Mordor, and many different Easterling peoples, such as the Balchoth, the Wainriders, and the Men of Khand, who attacked Gondor and Rohan on numerous occasions. The Men of Dunland served as agents to the traitorous wizard Saruman. In the First Age, some Easterlings were under Morgoth's dominion.
Ringwraiths
The Ringwraiths (also known as Nazgûl or Black Riders) were once great Men until they were given Rings of Power by Sauron. These gradually corrupted them until they became slaves of the Dark Lord's will. Clad in dark hooded cloaks and riding demonic steeds or flying "fell beasts," the Ringwraiths forever hunted for the One Ring to bring it back to their master.
The Dead |
1721_16 | Also known as ghosts or shades, they were spirits of Men unable to pass on to the afterlife. Spirits haunted various regions of Middle-earth, most notably the Dead Marshes and the Paths of the Dead, which were guarded by the Dead Men of Dunharrow.
Orcs
Orcs were a race first bred by Morgoth, which mostly lived in mountain caves and disliked sunlight. Many of them lived in the Misty Mountains while others lived in Mordor. They are also known as goblins. The Orcs were not created, since "evil cannot create, only corrupt" in Tolkien's philosophical perspective. One version of their origin, widely known in part due to its use in Peter Jackson's films, postulates that they were Elves who were corrupted and whose appearance was changed over time. However, Tolkien also wrote other accounts of their origin. |
1721_17 | Sauron and Saruman the wizard bred an unusually large and powerful type of orc, the Uruk-hai. Although most orcs did not like the sun and could not bear to be in it, the Uruk-hai could stand daylight. Deformed half-orcs also existed, crossbred from Men and Orcs.
Tolkien uses the term "Goblin" mainly interchangeably with Orc, though sometimes in The Hobbit the term is exclusively used for the smaller sub-races of Orcs native to the Misty Mountains.
Trolls
Trolls were said to have been created by Morgoth "in mockery of" the Ents. They disliked the sun, and some types turned to stone if exposed to sunlight. Trolls dwelt in the Misty Mountains as well as in Mordor. Sauron bred the Olog-hai: large, clever, and resistant to the sun.
Barrow-wights
Barrow-wights (from Middle English wight, a man) were dark spirits sent by the Witch-king of Angmar to possess and animate the bodies and bones of the former kings of the Dúnedain. These undead monsters haunted the Barrow-downs near Bree. |
1721_18 | Other beings
Tom Bombadil
Tom Bombadil does not belong to any of the peoples of Middle-earth; Tolkien calls him the spirit of the countryside. Unlike the other races, he is seemingly unaffected by the One Ring and appears to predate the Children of Ilúvatar (Elves and Men). As to the nature of Bombadil, Tolkien himself said that some things should remain mysterious in any mythology, "especially if an explanation actually exists."
Tom is also known as "The First", "Master Tom", "Old Tom", "Iarwain Ben-adar" (a Sindarin name meaning "The Oldest without a father"). The Noldor call him "Orald" meaning "Very Old", Dwarves call him "Forn" (meaning: The Ancient).
River-spirits
Spirits of nature tied to rivers and waterways. Only two are mentioned by Tolkien: Goldberry, the wife of Tom Bombadil, and her mother the River-woman. It is unknown whether these beings were unique, part of a larger race, or a form of Maiar. |
1721_19 | Giants
Giants other than Ents are referred to only a few times by Tolkien. Stone-giants of the Misty Mountains are said to lob stones at Thorin and Company in The Hobbit, although they are mentioned quite vaguely. The film adaptation The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), by Peter Jackson depicts these giants somewhat as being part of the Misty Mountains themselves.
Dragons
Dragons are already present in The Book of Lost Tales. Tolkien had been fascinated with dragons since childhood, and he named four dragons in his Middle-earth writings. Like the Old Norse dragon Fafnir, they are able to speak, and can be subtle of speech. |
1721_20 | Glaurung, in The Silmarillion, is the Father of Dragons in Tolkien's legendarium, the first of the Fire-drakes of Angband. Tolkien wrote that Glaurung had four legs and no wings and could not fly, and sired the brood of Urulóki, wingless fire-breathing dragons. He was bred by Morgoth from some unknown stock and was the first dragon to appear outside of Angband. Glaurung is the main antagonist of The Children of Húrin, and his deceptive actions led to the suicides of its main characters Túrin Turambar and Niënor Níniel.
Ancalagon the Black (Sindarin: rushing jaws from anc 'jaw', alag 'impetuous') was the first of the winged Fire-drakes and the greatest of all dragons, bred by Morgoth during the First Age, as told in The Silmarillion. Ancalagon is so large in size that his body crushed "the towers of Thangorodrim" when he fell on them after being killed by Eärendil. |
1721_21 | Scatha was a mighty "long-worm" of the Grey Mountains. He was killed by Fram in the early days of the Éothéod. After slaying Scatha, Fram's ownership of his recovered hoard was then disputed by the Dwarves of that region. Fram rebuked this claim, sending them instead Scatha's teeth, with the words, "Jewels such as these you will not match in your treasuries, for they are hard to come by." This led to his death in a feud with the Dwarves. The Éothéod retained at least some of the hoard, and brought it south with them when they settled in Rohan. The silver horn that Éowyn gave to Merry Brandybuck after the War of the Ring, crucial in The Scouring of the Shire, came from this hoard.
Smaug of Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, was killed by Bard the Bowman in Dale, as told in The Hobbit. Smaug serves as a main antagonist of Thorin and Company, as they seek to reclaim the Dwarven kingdom of Erebor that Smaug had taken.
References |
1721_22 | Primary
This list identifies each item's location in Tolkien's writings.
Secondary
Middle-earth monsters |
1722_0 | Stage 12 of the 2007 Giro d'Italia took place on 24 May; the race concluded on 3 June. The second half of the Giro began with a challenging mountain stage that finished outside Italy, the first of three stages in this Giro that did so. This stage resulted in the race lead transferring from Andrea Noè to his teammate and team leader Danilo Di Luca, who did not relinquish this lead and finished the race as its champion. |
1722_1 | The battle for the other two spots on the Giro podium also began in stage 12 but was not resolved until later in the race. Andy Schleck from won the white jersey in Milan as the Giro's best rider under 25, and was in a competition with Eddy Mazzoleni, Gilberto Simoni, Damiano Cunego, and Riccardo Riccò to see who would round out the podium with Di Luca. It was in the marquee stages of the second half of the race that Schleck and Mazzoleni distinguished themselves as podium favorites, eventually finishing the race second and third overall, respectively. showed well, with Riccò and Simoni both taking mountain stage wins and Leonardo Piepoli winning the green jersey in Milan as the Giro's best climber.
Alessandro Petacchi from won two stages in the second half of the Giro, and the points classification, but his subsequent disqualification for a non-negative salbutamol test given earlier in the race nullified these victories.
Stage 12
24 May 2007 – Scalenghe to Briançon (France), |
1722_2 | This was the first major mountain stage of the Giro. The course included two difficult first-category climbs, as the route passed from Italy into France. The first of these climbs was the Colle dell'Agnello, which crested just inside the French border. This was the Cima Coppi, the highest climb in the race. The climb took stretched for and reached a vertical elevation of . The Col d'Izoard later on is only marginally shorter and less steep, reaching in elevation after on the road, for a steady 7.1% gradient. The finish came on a steep descent into Briançon, a popular host town for the Tour de France. |
1722_3 | This France-bound stage had a breakaway group consisting of two French riders each representing a French team: Yoann Le Boulanger of and Christophe Riblon of . By the mark, the duo had a 17 and a half minute advantage on the peloton, as the other riders were conserving themselves for the big climbs ahead. The team, and in particular Leonardo Piepoli, did the pacemaking on the ascent of the Colle dell'Agnello, and after a few kilometers of the climb only a select group of overall favorites remained together as the first chase group. One surprising rider to crack was two-time Giro winner Paolo Savoldelli, who lost contact with the group of favorites from the summit of the Agnello and lost five minutes to them at day's end. Savoldelli was still hurt from the previous day's crash, and informed his lieutenant Eddy Mazzoleni that he should keep the pace for as long as he could and ride his own race, and that Savoldelli would look after himself. |
1722_4 | In the front of the race, Le Boulanger was the first over the Agnello, winning the prize that went with conquering the Cima Coppi. Riblon followed 1'30" behind him; the group of overall favorites was still 13 minutes behind at the summit of the climb. Piepoli's pacemaking on the ascent had succeeded in whittling the group down to just himself, Gilberto Simoni, Damiano Cunego, Danilo Di Luca, Mazzoleni, Andy Schleck, and Stefano Garzelli. Riccardo Riccò, Savoldelli, Yaroslav Popovych, and overnight race leader Andrea Noè had all been in this group at the beginning of the climb, but were all eventually cracked by the pace. |
1722_5 | Piepoli continued to pull the Simoni group through the descent from the Agnello and the beginning of the Iozard climb, absorbing Riblon in the process. Le Boulanger was alone in the front of the race as the ascent of the Iozard began, 3 minutes ahead of Simoni's group. With left in the climb, Piepoli broke away from the group he had been pacing, in a move to see who could match his acceleration. Di Luca and Schleck quickly made the bridge, with Simoni holding their wheels, but Cunego and Garzelli did not react as quickly and had to expend more energy to stay with the leaders. Later, Garzelli was dropped by this group's pace, and lost 2 minutes to them at the finish line. This group caught Le Boulanger before the summit of the Iozard. |
1722_6 | Seconds before reaching that summit, Di Luca attacked from the leading group and came free, taking maximum mountains points and, more importantly, opening up a time gap. He opened up a 13-second lead on Schleck, Simoni, and Mazzoleni, and 25 to Cunego. Piepoli faded further and out of contention, at last hitting the wall after doing some strenuous pacemaking for much of this difficult stage. Simoni's descending skills brought himself, Schleck, and Mazzoleni back together with Di Luca minutes later, and they were together in Briançon for the stage finish. Di Luca attacked for the stage win from the finish line, after a sharp right-hand turn, and drew Schleck with him. Simoni went à bloc in his attempt to reach them, and did pass Schleck, but could not come around Di Luca, who won the stage. The others in the leading group of five finished scattered behind them. 's Marzio Bruseghin, who had begun the day second in the overall standings, was in the second chase group most of the day and |
1722_7 | finished 2'33" back, retaining second overall. Noè was 9'45" off the pace and surrendered the pink jersey to his team leader Di Luca. Di Luca still held the green jersey as mountains classification leader after the stage; Piepoli wore it in the next three stages. |
1722_8 | Stage 13
25 May 2007 – Biella to Santuario di Oropa, (individual time trial)
The Giro's first individual time trial consisted entirely of the first-category climb to the Santuario di Oropa. The route was uphill all the way, gaining at an average gradient of 5.8%, with the steepest stretches reaching 13%. Though noted to be a difficult climb, it was expected that the short length of this stage would limit its effect on the overall standings. |
1722_9 | The first rider of the day to post a time under 30 minutes was 's Julio Alberto Pérez. His 29'38" was eventually bettered by American time trial specialist David Zabriskie, who stopped the clock at 29'14". Leonardo Piepoli started slowly, well behind Zabriskie at the intermediate time check, but finished strongly, gaining 4 seconds on Zabriskie at the check and 18 at the finish line. ' Evgeni Petrov posted the best time at the first intermediate time check, but faded as the course wore on and could not beat Piepoli's time. Riccardo Riccò, Franco Pellizotti, Andy Schleck, Damiano Cunego, and Gilberto Simoni all posted solid times, but all fell short of overtaking Piepoli. |
1722_10 | The last two men to take the course were Italian national time trial champion Marzio Bruseghin and race leader Danilo Di Luca. Bruseghin had the second best splits at the first two intermediate time checks and gained against Piepoli in the final where the others had lost time to him, winning the stage by a single second. Di Luca also rode well, finishing 8 seconds back of Bruseghin, and gaining time on his major rivals. After the stage, Simoni expressed disappointment that Piepoli was so narrowly defeated after having worked so hard the day before. Bruseghin held second overall after the stage and slightly narrowed his time gap to Di Luca, but made it clear that his focus going forward would be to work for team leader Cunego and not for any individual aspirations.
Stage 14
26 May 2007 – Cantù to Bergamo, |
1722_11 | The first of this stage were flat, but two categorized climbs followed. The second-category Passo di San Marco and the third-category La Trinità-Dossena had a descent between them. Though a flat stretch followed to the finish, it was not likely that any sprinters would be present in the leading group to contest the stage.
The morning breakaway numbered eleven. During the flat stretch before the Passo di San Marco climb, Stefano Garzelli tried to use his team to soften the main field so he could attack and bridge up to the leaders, but team , working for race leader Danilo Di Luca, nullified the move. |
1722_12 | The group thinned after cresting the climb, leaving only Iván Parra, Paolo Bettini, and Fortunato Baliani just less than two minutes ahead of the pink jersey group, which contained all of the race's overall favorites. Garzelli and teammate Massimo Codol came free of this group on the ascent of La Trinità-Dossena and drew Gilberto Simoni and the powerful duo of Eddy Mazzoleni and Paolo Savoldelli with them. The three breakaway riders were able to stay with them, forming a leading group of seven, after Codol dropped after doing some strenuous pacemaking. They built a 30-second advantage over the pink jersey group, as Liquigas was spent from their earlier effort to keep the race together. They kept their advantage over the other race favorites at that level for most of the stage, contesting a sprint finish among themselves 38 seconds ahead of Di Luca in eighth. Simoni opened the sprint first, with to go to the finish line, but as is so often the case, the first to go was not the |
1722_13 | winner. Garzelli passed him up with left and won his first Giro stage in three years. Simoni moved up from eighth to fifth after the stage, and several time gaps tightened with the day's results. |
1722_14 | Stage 15
27 May 2007 – Trento to Tre Cime di Lavaredo,
This was the Giro's queen stage, featuring four categorized climbs along with an uncategorized wall early on. It concluded at the picturesque Tre Cime di Lavaredo with a demanding final climb, only long but with a steady 7.6% grade and stretches of over 20%.
After a flurry of morning attacks and counterattacks resulted in no group coming clear, the right combination formed after close to an hour and covered. By the mark, the 22-strong breakaway representing 17 teams had three minutes on the main field. Their advantage eventually grew to nearly seven minutes, but with such difficult parcours ahead, they stood little chance of staying away. |
1722_15 | After on the Passo di San Pellegrino, the day's first climb, sent Leonardo Piepoli and Riccardo Riccò on the attack. Iván Parra and Julio Alberto Pérez followed, and they quickly gapped the pink jersey group while trying to bridge up to the leaders. They reached the leading group after the descent of the San Pellegrino, holding four minutes on the pink jersey group at that time. Saunier Duval-Prodir rider David Cañada, part of the original big breakaway, set to the pacemaking once his two teammates joined the group, and tapped out a tempo that cracked about half of the group. When Cañada faded, Piepoli took his turn on the front of the group, at which time only Riccò, Pérez, Parra, and Michael Rasmussen were with him. Piepoli led them over the second-category Passo di Giau together, a little over three minutes ahead of the main field. |
1722_16 | The pink jersey group was, during the Giau climb, some 50 riders strong until Paolo Savoldelli took a pull on the front, working for the better-placed Eddy Mazzoleni, that absolutely shattered it. Race leader Danilo Di Luca lost all of his support riders from the group, and overall contenders Damiano Cunego and Marzio Bruseghin were also quickly gapped. With remaining to the summit of the Giau, Di Luca put in an attack that further broke up the field. Savoldelli was gapped for a time, but his aggressive descent from the Giau brought him back to the pink jersey group, where he again took a strenuous pull on the front, softening up the contenders enough for himself and Mazzoleni to break free. |
1722_17 | The intermediate sprint in Cortina d'Ampezzo resulted in Rasmussen coming out the back of the leading group. Savoldelli and Mazzoleni caught him in the road, and the Dutchman stayed with them to form a three-man chase group. Rain began to fall on the ascent of the Passo Tre Croci, the day's third climb, making the goings even more difficult. The leading group of four had 1'24" on the Mazzoleni group at the top of Passo Tre Croci and a further three minutes on the pink jersey group, meaning Mazzoleni was very nearly the virtual race leader on the road. Mazzoleni dropped Savoldelli and Rasmussen as the stage went on, and finished five minutes before them. |
1722_18 | On the last ascent of the day, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Di Luca made up much of the ground he had in deficit to Mazzoleni on the road, conceding a minute and 24 seconds to him at the finish line. Gilberto Simoni, Damiano Cunego, and Andy Schleck finished just behind him. In the front of the race, Riccò attacked as the Lavaredo climb began and quickly got a 15-second gap. The only rider to bridge to him was his teammate Piepoli. Piepoli, having taken the lead outright in the mountains classification, allowed Riccò the stage win. Their team leader Simoni reflected after the stage that he thought their early break was foolhardy, and that he had not followed because he was focused only on the overall and not stages, but that he was happy that the team took the Giro's marquee stage. |
1722_19 | The true difficulty of the stage was demonstrated by the time gaps and finishing groups. Most of the riders finished the stage alone; no more than five finished together. Only 18 other riders finished within ten minutes of Riccò's winning time, and 78 lost more than half an hour, with 's Franck Renier last on the day 40 minutes and 10 seconds off the pace.
Stage 16
29 May 2007 – Agordo to Lienz (Austria),
After the second rest day, the Giro returned with a rolling stage that entered Austria. The stage began with the second-category Passo di Campolongo and a long descent from it, but the remaining terrain was not difficult enough for any riders to open up significant time gaps. Pre-race analysis thus found it to be an ideal stage for a winning breakaway. |
1722_20 | The peloton's pace in this stage was extremely lax. Through the first hour, they covered only . The second hour was even slower, covering . No breakaways were attempted in this time, save for a quick sprint for the mountains points available on the Passo di Campolongo. Through three hours, there was still no breakaway. |
1722_21 | Finally, with only left in the stage, Benoît Joachim and Laurent Mangel came free. The team at the head of the peloton was uninterested in chasing them down, since only a stage win was on offer this day, with the overall standings very unlikely to change. Little by little, sixteen others joined them. They did not work cohesively; Mangel, Stefano Garzelli, Ricardo Serrano, José Luis Rubiera, Pietro Caucchioli, and Pablo Lastras took two minutes' advantage over the other twelve. This mattered little, as the apathetic peloton let them all go to contest the stage amongst themselves. Garzelli put in an attack on the third-category Bannberg climb, from the end of the race, and stayed out front for the stage win. The main field, led home by László Bodrogi, was 8 minutes and 10 seconds back, but there was no significant change to the overall classification.
Stage 17
30 May 2007 – Lienz (Austria) to Monte Zoncolan, |
1722_22 | This stage brought the riders back into Italy. It was short, but it ended at one of the most difficult climbs in the world, Monte Zoncolan. The climb gains in for a crushing average gradient of almost 12%, and stretches of up to 22%. The Giro previously passed over the Zoncolan in 2003, in a stage won by Gilberto Simoni en route to overall victory.
Race leader Danilo Di Luca's team covered many early breakaway attempts. After , a dozen-strong breakaway group formed. Their pace was frantic, coming to the stage's intermediate sprint 20 minutes faster than the fastest time predicted by Giro organizers. They had five and a half minutes on the pink jersey group containing race favorites at this point, and three and a half minutes on them at the beginning of the Zoncolan climb. |
1722_23 | Jussi Veikkanen, Massimo Codol, and Mauricio Ardila took pulls at the front of the breakaway group, but into the climb, only Dario Cioni, Fortunato Baliani, and Mario Aerts remained out front. Another kilometer later, Cioni was the lone leader. Franco Pellizotti was the last Liquigas rider left for Di Luca in the group of favorites, before he cracked and also fell off the pace. With left in the climb, Simoni himself came to the front of the group and tapped out a pace that left everyone but teammate Leonardo Piepoli and best young rider Andy Schleck behind. They passed Cioni and chaser Codol on the road, and the duo left the young Luxembourger behind them to contest the stage themselves. Since the climb had personal significance for Simoni, Piepoli allowed him to cross the line first. They had covered the climb in 39'05", for a paltry pace of . The win moved Simoni into a podium position, in third, and moved Schleck into second overall. |
1722_24 | Stage 18
31 May 2007 – Udine to Riese Pio X,
The 18th stage was completely flat, and was sure to be contested by the Giro's remaining sprinters. |
1722_25 | A great number of early breakaways were attempted and neutralized in the stage's first hour. Finally, seven broke away at the mark. The seven, Addy Engels, Maxim Gourov, Patxi Vila, Franck Renier, Eric Berthou, Pedro Horrillo and Mikhail Ignatiev, got a maximum advantage of 2'30", but the peloton easily caught them from the finish line. tried to set up the sprint for Alexandre Usov, as did for Matteo Tosatto, who lived in the town where the stage finished. AG2R's leadout train took a left-hand turn in the final kilometer too sharply, and left a handful of riders to contest the stage alone. Since the crash occurred within the final , no time was counted as lost. Alessandro Petacchi easily held off Maximiliano Richeze and Matti Breschel for the victory, though this was one of his many 2007 wins that was later stripped due to his irregular salbutamol levels in a test given earlier in the race. The overall standings were unchanged by the day's results. |
1722_26 | Stage 19
1 June 2007 – Treviso to Terme di Comano,
Two categorized climbs occurred on this course, but since the stage took place one day before a long and likely crucial individual time trial, pre-race analysis determined this stage likely to be decided by a breakaway.
A breakaway group involving double stage winner Stefano Garzelli got away after , but was brought back later after never having more than 45 seconds on the main field. Iban Mayo and Alberto Losada counter-attacked when the original break was brought in, and stayed out front for much of the stage. rode tempo through the mark, until Leonardo Piepoli put in an attack for maximum mountains points on the second-category Pian del Fugazze. He was caught shortly thereafter, but the pace he set severely thinned the pink jersey group. |
1722_27 | A chase group of five riders formed between the pink jersey group and Mayo and Losada in the front of the race, but they were never able to make the bridge. Losada cracked on the day's final climb and finished 4 minutes behind Mayo, the stage winner. Evgeni Petrov, who began the day in eighth place overall, was part of the chase group and gained sufficient time to move into seventh place at day's end.
Stage 20
2 June 2007 – Bardolino to Verona, (individual time trial)
The race's second individual time trial was fairly straightforward, albeit long. It was mostly flat and did not have many turns in the road, thus favoring traditional time trial specialists for the stage win. |
1722_28 | Mikhail Ignatiev set the first competitive time of the day. His 54'21" was almost two minutes better than the times that had come before him. Not long after came United States national time trial champion David Zabriskie, who bettered Ignatiev's time at all three intermediate time checks and was over a minute better than him at the finish, the first rider under 53 minutes on the day. Paolo Savoldelli came a little later and stopped the clock in 52'20". |
1722_29 | Later on, the race's overall favorites took to the road not expressly for the stage win, but rather to iron out the race's overall standings. Savoldelli's teammate Eddy Mazzoleni rode one of the best time trials of his career, 2 seconds better than Zabriskie and 36 back of his teammate to move up from fifth to third overall. Damiano Cunego and Gilberto Simoni, both noted as relatively weak time trialists, lost out on their chances for the podium because of Mazzoleni's ride and settled among themselves the battle for fourth place. Cunego's 54'37" meant Simoni would have to come home better than 55'38" to stay better than his rival. Simoni's time was 55'03", and he remained ahead of Cunego. Danilo Di Luca and Andy Schleck also rode strong time trials, to preserve their places on top of the overall classification with a ceremonial final stage left to race.
Stage 21
3 June 2007 – Vestone to Milan, |
1722_30 | The final stage was flat, containing, per tradition, one early categorized climb. It ended with ten circuits on the Corso Venezia in Milan preceding a mass sprint finish.
Kurt Asle Arvesen and Daniele Contrini briefly broke away early in the stage, but they did not seriously seek to stay away. The peloton was together into Milan. Various breakaway attempts occurred on the Milan circuit, but none succeeded. Alessandro Petacchi won the resultant field sprint, though this was one of his many 2007 wins that was later stripped due to his irregular salbutamol levels in a test given earlier in the race. There were no significant changes to the race's standings, so Danilo Di Luca became the Giro champion.
References
2007 Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia stages |
1723_0 | Eight sovereign states have publicly announced successful detonation of nuclear weapons. Five are considered to be nuclear-weapon states (NWS) under the terms of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). In order of acquisition of nuclear weapons these are the United States, the Soviet Union (now Russia), the United Kingdom, France, and China.
Since the NPT entered into force in 1970, three states that were not parties to the Treaty have conducted overt nuclear tests, namely India, Pakistan, and North Korea. North Korea had been a party to the NPT but withdrew in 2003.
Israel is also generally understood to have nuclear weapons, but does not acknowledge it, maintaining a policy of deliberate ambiguity, and is not known definitively to have conducted a nuclear test. Israel is estimated to possess somewhere between 75 and 400 nuclear warheads. One possible motivation for nuclear ambiguity is deterrence with minimum political cost. |
1723_1 | States that formerly possessed nuclear weapons are South Africa (developed nuclear weapons but then disassembled its arsenal before joining the NPT) and the former Soviet republics of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, whose weapons were repatriated to Russia.
According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the worldwide total inventory of nuclear weapons as of 2021 stood at 13,080. Around 30% of these are deployed with operational forces, and more than 90% are owned by either Russia or the United States.
Statistics and force configuration |
1723_2 | The following is a list of states that have admitted the possession of nuclear weapons or are presumed to possess them, the approximate number of warheads under their control, and the year they tested their first weapon and their force configuration. This list is informally known in global politics as the "Nuclear Club". With the exception of Russia and the United States (which have subjected their nuclear forces to independent verification under various treaties) these figures are estimates, in some cases quite unreliable estimates. In particular, under the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty thousands of Russian and U.S. nuclear warheads are inactive in stockpiles awaiting processing. The fissile material contained in the warheads can then be recycled for use in nuclear reactors. |
1723_3 | From a high of 70,300 active weapons in 1986, there are approximately 3,750 active nuclear warheads and 13,890 total nuclear warheads in the world. Many of the decommissioned weapons were simply stored or partially dismantled, not destroyed.
It is also noteworthy that since the dawn of the Atomic Age, the delivery methods of most states with nuclear weapons has evolved—with some achieving a nuclear triad, while others have consolidated away from land and air deterrents to submarine-based forces.
Recognized nuclear-weapon states
These five states are known to have detonated a nuclear explosive before 1 January 1967 and are thus nuclear weapons states under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. They also happen to be the UN Security Council's permanent members with veto power on UNSC resolutions.
United States |
1723_4 | The United States developed the first nuclear weapons during World War II in cooperation with the United Kingdom and Canada as part of the Manhattan Project, out of the fear that Nazi Germany would develop them first. It tested the first nuclear weapon on 16 July 1945 ("Trinity") at 5:30 am, and remains the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war, devastating the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The project expenditure through 1 October 1945 was reportedly $1.845-$2 billion, in nominal terms, roughly 0.8 percent of the US GDP in 1945 and equivalent to about $29 billion in 2020 money. |
1723_5 | It was the first nation to develop the hydrogen bomb, testing an experimental prototype in 1952 ("Ivy Mike") and a deployable weapon in 1954 ("Castle Bravo"). Throughout the Cold War it continued to modernize and enlarge its nuclear arsenal, but from 1992 on has been involved primarily in a program of Stockpile stewardship. The U.S. nuclear arsenal contained 31,175 warheads at its Cold War height (in 1966). During the Cold War, the United States built approximately 70,000 nuclear warheads, more than all other nuclear-weapon states combined.
Russia (successor to the Soviet Union) |
1723_6 | The Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon ("RDS-1") in 1949. This crash project was developed partially with information obtained via espionage during and after World War II. The Soviet Union was the second nation to have developed and tested a nuclear weapon. The direct motivation for Soviet weapons development was to achieve a balance of power during the Cold War. It tested its first megaton-range hydrogen bomb ("RDS-37") in 1955. The Soviet Union also tested the most powerful explosive ever detonated by humans, ("Tsar Bomba"), with a theoretical yield of 100 megatons, intentionally reduced to 50 when detonated. After its dissolution in 1991, the Soviet weapons entered officially into the possession of the Russian Federation. The Soviet nuclear arsenal contained some 45,000 warheads at its peak (in 1986); the Soviet Union built about 55,000 nuclear warheads since 1949.
United Kingdom |
1723_7 | The United Kingdom tested its first nuclear weapon ("Hurricane") in 1952. The UK had provided considerable impetus and initial research for the early conception of the atomic bomb, aided by Austrian, German and Polish physicists working at British universities who had either fled or decided not to return to Nazi Germany or Nazi controlled territories. The UK collaborated closely with the United States and Canada during the Manhattan Project, but had to develop its own method for manufacturing and detonating a bomb as U.S. secrecy grew after 1945. The United Kingdom was the third country in the world, after the United States and the Soviet Union, to develop and test a nuclear weapon. Its programme was motivated to have an independent deterrent against the Soviet Union, while also maintaining its status as a great power. It tested its first hydrogen bomb in 1957 (Operation Grapple), making it the third country to do so after the United States and Soviet Union. |
1723_8 | The UK maintained a fleet of V bomber strategic bombers and ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) equipped with nuclear weapons during the Cold War. It currently maintains a fleet of four ballistic missile submarines equipped with Trident II missiles. In 2016, the UK House of Commons voted to renew the British nuclear weapons system with the , without setting a date for the commencement of service of a replacement to the current system.
France |
1723_9 | France tested its first nuclear weapon in 1960 ("Gerboise Bleue"), based mostly on its own research. It was motivated by the Suez Crisis diplomatic tension in relation to both the Soviet Union and its allies, the United States and United Kingdom. It was also relevant to retain great power status, alongside the United Kingdom, during the post-colonial Cold War (see: Force de frappe). France tested its first hydrogen bomb in 1968 ("Opération Canopus"). After the Cold War, France has disarmed 175 warheads with the reduction and modernization of its arsenal that has now evolved to a dual system based on submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and medium-range air-to-surface missiles (Rafale fighter-bombers). However new nuclear weapons are in development and reformed nuclear squadrons were trained during Enduring Freedom operations in Afghanistan. |
1723_10 | France acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1992. In January 2006, President Jacques Chirac stated a terrorist act or the use of weapons of mass destruction against France would result in a nuclear counterattack. In February 2015, President François Hollande stressed the need for a nuclear deterrent in "a dangerous world". He also detailed the French deterrent as "fewer than 300" nuclear warheads, three sets of 16 submarine-launched ballistic missiles and 54 medium-range air-to-surface missiles and urged other states to show similar transparency.
China |
1723_11 | China tested its first nuclear weapon device ("596") in 1964 at the Lop Nur test site. The weapon was developed as a deterrent against both the United States and the Soviet Union. Two years later, China had a fission bomb capable of being put onto a nuclear missile. It tested its first hydrogen bomb ("Test No. 6") in 1967, 32 months after testing its first nuclear weapon (the shortest fission-to-fusion development known in history). China is the only NPT nuclear-weapon state to give a no first use policy among the three big nuclear powers (United States, Russia, and China). China acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1992. As of 2016, China fielded SLBMs onboard its JL-2 submarines. As of May 2021, China has an estimated total inventory of 350 warheads.
States declaring possession of nuclear weapons
India |
1723_12 | India is not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India adopted the "no first use" policy in 1998. India tested what is called a "peaceful nuclear explosive" in 1974 (which became known as "Smiling Buddha"). The test was the first test developed after the creation of the NPT, and created new questions about how civilian nuclear technology could be diverted secretly to weapons purposes (dual-use technology). India's secret development caused great concern and anger particularly from nations that had supplied its nuclear reactors for peaceful and power generating needs, such as Canada. |
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