The 2025 Giro d'Italia has it all, and lots of mountains

Start in Albania, two individual time trials, sterrato on the roads of the Strade Bianche and a final week of excitement mark a Giro d'Italia with a design not as extreme as in other editions but with a perfectly adjusted toughness so that, a priori, we can enjoy an exciting race that will take place between May 9 and June 1, 2025.

Presented the Giro d'Italia 2025, the last of the three big ones left to be known

The route of the Giro d'Italia 2025 has been eagerly awaited. Organizational problems with Albania for an unprecedented grande partenza have kept the final design of the route in suspense over the last few months, which will finally start on the other side of the Adriatic Sea with three stages in this country.

A start that begins in a very attractive way with a leg-breaking route in which the final part the RCS organization has established a circuit that will be completed twice and includes the ascent to a small 3rd category port with a downhill finish to the streets of Tirana, the capital of Albania.

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Just a taste before we see the first serious confrontation between the favorites with the first of the two individual time trials that the cyclists will have to face, although their just under 14 kilometers should not establish excessive differences with the forces still intact.

There will still be a third day in Albanian lands, starting and finishing in the town of Valona, again with a leg-breaking profile and a couple of ports, the last one, classified as 2nd category, 40 km from the conclusion, which could prevent us from seeing a sprint finish that may not have occurred in the first stage either.

As is customary in the Giro d'Italia, the transfer from Albania, despite its relative proximity, will mean the first rest day on Monday, May 12, as the race continues in the southern area of Italy, which means that the entire race caravan will have to cross the Adriatic Sea to the port of Brindisi.

The race will resume with a completely flat stage between Aberobello and Lece, again with a small final circuit to make the day more attractive to the on-site audience. A stage that, now, will be the first opportunity for sprinters who will not have too many chances to shine in this Giro d'Italia 2025. It will be followed by a slightly more leg-breaking stage but that should also offer a conclusion among the fast men in a race that will continue to travel through the Gulf of Taranto

Neither should the 6th stage be a surprise, between Potenza and Naples despite having a broken first part as its final part is totally favorable. However, despite its 210 kilometers, it will only be the second longest stage of this Giro d'Italia 2025 which features among its characteristics some distances that seemed forgotten in current cycling and which will undoubtedly be decisive in managing efforts throughout the three weeks.

The 7th stage, between Castel di Sangro and Tagliacozzo, will be when the race faces its first mountainous day on the way north of the peninsula to enter the Abruzzo region. A stage that starts with the ascent to Roccaraso as a prelude to a leg-breaking terrain where cyclists will face another pair of categorized difficulties: Monte Urano and Vado della Forcella, both classified as 2nd category, before the final ascent to Tagliacozzo, long, over 12 kilometers and with a demanding final stretch that will allow us to see a first face-to-face confrontation among the contenders for the general classification.
To finish off the first week, the Giro d'Italia 2025 has reserved a stage between Giulianova and Castelramondo again with the medium mountain of central Italy as the protagonist; and the final climax in the 9th stage heading to Siena, a city that we all inevitably associate with the Strade Bianche and precisely so will be its finish in which 5 dirt sectors will be faced, except that the fearsome Monte Santa Maria is avoided, copying the finish of the classic, including the arrival in Siena with the tough wall of Via Santa Caterina.

The cyclists will have well earned the second rest day. A day that they must take advantage of conscientiously since the second week of the race begins with an important day, the individual time trial between Lucca and Pisa, 28.6 kilometers and a completely flat route that will surely define the general classification significantly, conditioning how the favorites for victory will have to face the rest of the Giro d'Italia 2025.

With barely time to recover from the time trial, the Giro has prepared a tough mountain day through the Apennines between Viareggio and Castelnovo ne'Monti, also long, 185 km, and with the tough Alpe San Pellegrino, halfway through the stage and the ascents in the final part to Toano and Pietra di Bismantova, both classified as 2nd category and that, due to the design of the stage, should allow us to see interesting movements.

After these two intense stages, the Giro d'Italia 2025 gives the peloton a bit of respite, giving the sprinters a chance to shine again. First with a stage that enters the Po plain between Modena and Viadana to, from there, continue towards the Veneto to conclude in Vicenza where the organization has prepared one of those small traps that the Giro d'Italia is accustomed to with a final circuit that will be completed twice and includes a small climb towards the finish line. A design similar to that of the 14th stage that heads towards nearby Slovenia to finish in Nova Gorica also through a small final circuit.

The second week will end with a timid incursion into the Dolomites, the great absentees of this edition, with the Veneto province again as the protagonist of a stage that will head towards Monte Grappa, prior to the traditional wall of Ca' del Poggio. After the always tough ascent to Monte Grappa, there will still be the ascent to Dori, crowned just under 30 kilometers from the finish in Asiago with the incentive that after the summit there is hardly a real descent but there will be a leg-breaking terrain that can provide us with an exciting spectacle. By the way, mention that this is the longest stage of the race, with its distance shooting up to 214 km.

After the third rest day, the last week of the race will begin with a profile without respite except for the final day in Rome. To start, a very tough mountain stage with five ascents and a finish after 17 kilometers of ascent to San Valentino. After that, the race will enter the Alps towards Bormio, in a stage marked by the passo Tonale and the Mortirolo although, as in last year's edition, climbed from its Monno side, from where it is a tough port but without the impossible ramps of the ascents that start in the Valtellina valley.

It should be noted that both this 17th stage and the twentieth are the only stages where we will see true high mountain in a Giro d'Italia that has preferred to avoid the great colossi that come to mind for all of us, surely, to avoid problems with the weather that in recent years has forced them to have to mutilate some of the supposed queen stages. Just last year, we all remember the images in Livigno.

Stage 18 will offer a respite to the peloton but not without toughness in its first part before heading towards the Aosta valley in the 19th stage, which, along with the following stage, could be classified as the queen stages of the race. A nineteenth stage of the Giro d'Italia 2025 with 5 tremendous ascents highlighting the chain of Col de Tzecore, Saint Pantaleon, and Col de Joux, all three over 15 kilometers of ascent and the dessert of the ascent to Antagnod, crowned just 5 kilometers from the finish.

If there is still something to decide, the 19th stage has the formidable Colle delle Finestre and its very tough dirt ramps in addition to an iconic finish in the Giro like the ascent to Sestriere, which always turns out to be tougher than its ramps denote as a result of the ascents that always precede it. By the way, the Colle delle Finestre, with its 2,178 m of altitude, will be the Cima Coppi of this edition of the Giro d'Italia.

A Giro d'Italia 2025 that, while avoiding the Dolomites and other major ascents of the race, has a classic feel with a route that becomes tougher as the race progresses to culminate in the classic and inhuman third week that, on paper, should be exciting. Now we just need the participation to match although, so far, the only one to confirm his presence in the Italian race has been Mikel Landa although the rumors of recent months suggest that Jonas Vingegaard could be in the race and it is also still to be known if Tadej Pogacar will defend his pink jersey on a route that goes all the way to Slovenia and that is presented as ideal for his characteristics. Undoubtedly a candy that will be difficult to refuse.