Kasper Asgreen wins a crash-filled stage of the Giro d'Italia that leaves Del Toro even more in the lead

Today the Giro d'Italia 2025 touched the lands of Slovenia in a seemingly uneventful stage that, at the last minute, was complicated by the weather and the tricky final circuit in the surroundings of the border city of Gorizia that the organization had prepared. A pile-up at the front of the peloton as they passed through the streets of this town caused unexpected differences in the lead-up to the mountain finish.

Del Toro, Simon Yates, and Carapaz reaffirm their chances after surviving a crash in the final part

It seemed like a transitional stage before the mountainous stage tomorrow. A fourteenth stage of the Giro d'Italia with a practically flat profile that connected, over 195 kilometers, the cities of Treviso and Gorizia, the latter bordering Slovenia, a country where the stage ventured for a few kilometers so that cyclists like Jan Tratnik or Primoz Roglic could enjoy some crowd support.

However, the stage started off very lively when, in the first attempts to form the breakaway of the day, quality cyclists like Wout van Aert or Quinten Hermans managed to get ahead. This configuration did not sit well with the peloton and they were caught after a crazy start at over 50 km/h. After being caught, Martin Marcellusi, Mirco Maestri, Clement Davy, Kasper Asgreen, and Louis Meinjes took advantage of the pause to launch an adventure that began to take shape, although the latter quickly fell behind, leaving the breakaway composed of 4 riders.

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The stage dawned with overcast skies and, halfway through the stage, the clouds began to unleash their fury in the form of intermittent showers that complicated what had initially seemed like a calm day.

In the final part, after entering Slovenian territory, a small 4th category climb was faced, which did not have much significance. The final circuit around Gorizia included another small climb, barely 800 m, and a section of narrow streets through the city center. The beautiful cobblestone streets became an ice rink under the rain.

As expected, a crash occurred in the peloton right from the start, and in very advanced positions. Moments of chaos ensued until it was determined who had been affected, but the first image that could be seen at the front was the Visma-Lease a Bike team riding at full speed, an unmistakable sign that some favorites had been involved.

The entire Lidl-Trek team was affected by the crash, including their leader Giulio Ciccone, who practically says goodbye to the general classification not only due to the significant time loss but also because of the clear signs of pain that even raise doubts about his participation in tomorrow's stage.

As the race passed the finish line, the positions were established. The leader Isaac del Toro was in the leading group, with Visma-Lease a Bike working for Simon Yates. In a second group, about 45 seconds behind, were Egan Bernal, Primoz Roglic, and Juan Ayuso, while a minute later the Bahrain-Victorious team tried to minimize the losses of Antonio Tiberi.

Meanwhile, in troubled waters, the three remaining escapees were gaining advantage, and at the end of the descent of the small climb, just over 5 kilometers from the finish, Kasper Asgreen decided to attack, showcasing his skills as a classics rider to easily drop Maestri and Marcellusi and go for the victory. The twisty streets of Gorizia played in his favor, allowing him to secure an unexpected win.

16 seconds later, the group with Simon Yates and Isaac del Toro crossed the finish line. 48 seconds later, a small group with Juan Ayuso and Primoz Roglic arrived, and maintaining the difference from the first pass through the finish line, another group with Antonio Tiberi arrived a minute later. Significant time gaps ahead of the start of the mountain stage tomorrow, with the medium mountain stage where the tough Monte Grappa will be tackled.

Stage 14 Classification

1. Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost) 4h04'40''
2. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +16''
3. Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) +16''
4. Orluis Aular (Movistar) +16''
5. Stefano Oldani (Cofidis) +16''
6. Mirco Maestri (Polti-Visit Malta) +16''
7. Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech) +16''
8. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5) +16''
9. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +16''
10. Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) +16''

General Classification

1. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 50h37'55''
2. Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'20''
3. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1'26''
4. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +2'07''
5. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +2'23''
6. Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech) +2'54''
7. Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) +2'55''
8. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +3'02''
9. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) +3'38''
10. Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +3'45''