Richard Carapaz joins the party of the Giro d'Italia with a victory of pure class

Despite not making a great performance in yesterday's time trial, Richard Carapaz had already shown himself throughout the first week and today he was able to take advantage of the fact that he was not the focus of attention to avoid the vigilance of the favorites and win the eleventh stage of the Giro d'Italia 2025 while managing to cut some valuable seconds in the overall that allow him to recover some position in the general classification.

The favorites did not hide in the mid-mountain menu that the Giro d'Italia had prepared

Stage number 11 of the Giro d'Italia linking Viareggio with Castelnovo ne'Monti. 186 kilometers again with the Apennines as the backdrop in a mid-mountain stage but which included, midway through the stage, the tremendous ascent to Alpe San Pellegrino, one of the toughest climbs of this Giro d'Italia. Completing the menu were the second category climbs Toano and Pietra di Bismantova, the latter just over 5 kilometers from the finish.

A day that, on paper, after the effort of the time trial, seemed to be the typical stage destined for a breakaway. That meant that the race was launched at a thousand miles per hour from the start with a multitude of attacks in the first two hours of the race. Finally, shortly before the start of the climb to Alpe San Pellegrino, a huge break of around 35 riders was formed with top names like Pello Bilbao, Steinhauser, Joshua Tarling, Daan Hoole, Mads Pedersen, Wout Poels, Wilco Kelderman, Mathias Vacek, Nairo Quintana or, once again, the leader of the mountains Lorenzo Fortunato.

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However, once the climb started, the group began to be selected, and did so even more when, shortly after the start of the climb, Lorenzo Fortunato attacked with the dual objective of seeking a more select group and to continue shoring up his maglia azurra that recognizes him as leader of the mountains of the Giro d'Italia.

The next to move would be Luke Plapp and behind him were Nairo Quintana, Pello Bilbao and Wout Poels who managed to catch Fortunato and formed the final breakaway while behind they saw how the gap to the peloton was not consolidated. A gap that would be reduced to zero when, completely unexpectedly, Egan Bernal started. Ayuso and Del Toro, who were attentive, managed to close the gap quickly, while Primoz Roglic was caught in the middle of the group and had to work a little harder, although he managed to reach the break without too many problems.

The breakaway would reach the finish with just 56 seconds of advantage, with Fortunato achieving his desired points haul. However, on the descent, the peloton assumed that the breakaway was safe and lifted its foot, consolidating its lead. However, the work of UAE Team Emirates-XRG would not let their advantage go much beyond two and a half minutes.

The advantage was dwindling due to fatigue in this mountainous terrain, but already, facing the last climb to Pietra di Bismantova, the pace in the group accelerated as they saw that the victory could be within their reach. They started this climb with less than 30 seconds with UAE Team Emirates-XRG setting a strong pace to maintain control as far as possible while among the escapees there were timid attacks in desperation that had no effect.

And just as the peloton was about to catch them, Richard Carapaz made a surprise appearance, launching a very hard attack that Rafal Majka, the last rider working for the UAE Team Emirates-XRG leaders, tried to close in the first instance. And, once again, there was a moment of tension within the Emirates team when, seeing that Majka was not able to close the gap, Isaac del Toro in the first person was who attacked and left in evidence a Juan Ayuso who could not hook up to the wheel of his teammate as neither could Primoz Roglic.

Unlike what happened in Siena, this time the Mexican did heed the orders that came through his earpiece and lifted his foot, allowing both Roglic and Ayuso to re-enter. A break that resulted in Richard Carapaz widening his gap to 31 seconds at the top, although he would give up a few seconds towards the finish line. What they could not take away from him was a new stage victory that, together with the time saved and the bonus, allowed him to climb to sixth place overall. Completing the bonus places were Isaac del Toro and Giulio Ciccone, with the rest of the favorites behind them.

Classification Stage 11

1. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) 4h35’20’’
2. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +10’’
3. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +10’’
4. Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5) +10’’
5. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) +10’’
6. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +10’’
7. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +10’’
8. Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) +10’’
9. Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech) +10’’
10. Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana)+10’’

Overall Classification

1. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 38h47’31’’
2. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +31’
3. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious ) +1’07’’
4. Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1’09’’
5. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +1’24’’
6. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +1’56’’
7. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +2’09’’
8. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2’16’’
9. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2’33’’
10. Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +2’33’’