Isaac Del Toro held his nerve through slippery corners, crashes and late-race chaos to stretch his Giro d’Italia lead to 1:20 on a dramatic stage 14 into Nova Gorica. As Kasper Asgreen soloed to victory from the breakaway, a crash with 22km to go turned the general classification on its head, catching out many of Del Toro’s closest rivals and shifting the momentum decisively toward the 21-year-old Mexican.
On paper, stage 14 was expected to be a relatively controlled affair. The 195km route from Treviso to Nova Gorica featured little in the way of climbing, and most anticipated a sprint finale. But intermittent rain and technical finishing circuits created treacherous conditions, leading to a GC-altering crash in the closing 25km.
Early on, several moves tried and failed to break clear, but eventually five riders established the day’s move: Kasper Asgreen, Clément Davy, Mirco Maestri, Martin Marcellusi, and Louis Meintjes, who later sat up. The four remaining leaders were kept on a tight leash by teams with sprint ambitions, never gaining more than 90 seconds.
Photo Credit: LaPresseThe intermediate sprints sparked their own drama, as Mads Pedersen, chasing more points for the maglia ciclamino, was unexpectedly pipped by Dries De Bondt at the first sprint. Pedersen regained control at the next opportunity, but his day – and that of Lidl-Trek – would unravel later.
The race was largely stable until the final circuit in Gorizia, where tension rose as roads narrowed and the weather worsened. On a tight cobbled corner with 22km to go, the peloton splintered after a crash initiated near the front of the bunch. Antonio Tiberi slid out first, triggering a mass pile-up. Giulio Ciccone, Juan Ayuso, Primož Roglič, Egan Bernal, and several others went down or were delayed.
Visma–Lease a Bike were already leading the chase behind the breakaway, and they continued to press on with Wout van Aert, Bart Lemmen, and Simon Yates driving the front. Isaac Del Toro avoided the worst of the crash, remounted quickly and joined the front split, along with Yates, Derek Gee, Richard Carapaz, and others. The gap to the crashed riders grew rapidly to nearly 50 seconds.
At the front, Asgreen took matters into his own hands, attacking from the break with 5km to go and holding off the chase to win solo after 164km off the front. Behind him, Kaden Groves and Olav Kooij won the sprint for second, 16 seconds down, while Del Toro and Yates crossed safely in the same group.
Photo Credit: LaPresseReactions from a shaken GC field
Del Toro, now 1:20 clear of Yates and 1:26 ahead of Ayuso, was quick to acknowledge the role of luck on a chaotic day.
“To be honest, I don’t have the best luck, but I didn’t have the worst bad luck,” he said. “I didn’t crash, but then someone hit me in the back, and so then I crashed. You cannot control these things; they just happen.”
Quickly back on his bike, Del Toro latched onto the front group. “I saw other GC riders up there like Pidcock and Carapaz. I didn’t even know which group I was in. I just heard the team say: ‘Chill, don’t crash, and get to the finish line.’ That’s what I did.”
Asked if this made him UAE’s outright leader, Del Toro remained modest. “I don’t think so. In my mind, or my body, things are the same. I just want to be up there.”
For Ayuso, it was a damaging blow, and questions remain about UAE’s coordination in the finale. He dropped to third overall, 1:26 behind his teammate. Antonio Tiberi lost 1:44 and slipped from third to eighth, later admitting, “I hit the kerb hard… I think I’ve got more than just road rash.” Giulio Ciccone came off worst, requiring medical attention for a thigh injury and finishing over 16 minutes down. Lidl-Trek’s Daan Hoole summed up the team’s misery: “Ciccone’s classification is gone and everyone except Carlos Verona has fallen.”
Simon Yates avoided the carnage thanks to a strong position in the Visma train. “It was quite obvious we were here to try and win the stage with Olav,” said Van Aert, denying they pushed on deliberately. “When the crash happened, we kept on going because we still wanted to close the gap.”
Derek Gee was another to benefit, climbing to sixth overall. “That’s what the fight is for, in case something happens. I’ve been on the other end of a lot of them.” Roglič, bloodied and bruised again, finished in the Ayuso group and remains fifth, 2:23 down. “We knew it would be slippery, so we tried to be in front,” he said. “We didn’t have everything in control, but we’ll take it day by day.”
2025 Giro d’Italia Stage 14 result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: LaPresse
