In depth look at the 2025 Giro d’Italia Uomini Route

For the first time in its 108-edition history, the Giro d’Italia crosses the Adriatic for its Grande Partenza, with Albania hosting the opening three stages. While the country is new to Grand Tour cycling, the terrain certainly isn’t shy of bite. Stage 1 from Durrës to Tirana features three classified climbs, including a cat 2 ascent mid-stage and a trio of short, punchy ramps inside the final 25km – the kind of opening test that can quickly expose poor positioning or poor preparation.

Stage 2’s 13.7km individual time trial, also in Tirana, is the first big GC filter. It’s short and technical, with riders tackling city centre corners and a fourth-category ramp halfway through. The GC gaps won’t be massive – this isn’t the Planche des Belles Filles – but the rhythm changes and the risk-reward nature of such a technical course mean mistakes will be punished. It’s also a chance for big engines like Primož Roglič and Juan Ayuso to assert themselves early.

Photo Credit: RCS

Stage 3 adds a little more intrigue before the race returns to Italy, with a 160km loop around Vlorë that includes the cat 2 Llogara Pass – 10.3km at 7.2% – and 40km of fast descending and rolling terrain to the line. It’s not a summit finish, but it’s a proper climbing day that won’t suit the pure sprinters and could reward a punchy GC outsider or a breakaway opportunist if the favourites sit back.

The first rest day then involves a logistical hop across the Adriatic, taking the race to Puglia for a trio of flat stages that look like sprinter territory on paper. But the Giro rarely gifts a clean bunch sprint – think 2023’s stage to Salerno and the chaos in the wet. The quality of the sprint field is high, with Mads Pedersen, Kaden Groves, Olav Kooij and Sam Bennett among the headline names – but they’ll have to fight for every opportunity, especially with reduced bunch finishes and opportunistic attacks already defining recent editions.

Stage 7 to Tagliacozzo, finishing at 1,425m after a long drag from the Castel di Sangro plateau, is the race’s first true GC test – and one that could reveal as much about who’s not ready as it does about who is. But the real sting of week one is still to come. Stage 9, from Gubbio to Siena, borrows heavily from Strade Bianche and features five gravel sectors totalling 24km, with three classified climbs and a finish on the iconic Muro di Santa. Several GC riders, including Roglič, Ayuso and Tiberi, have already named it as one of the most feared days of the Giro. There will be no room for error. Time gaps could be minutes, not seconds. And with another time trial looming in Pisa just a day after the second rest day, week one ends with a double blow for anyone off their rhythm.

Week two – control or chaos before the storm?

Week two of the Giro d’Italia is often a period where the main contenders consolidate rather than attack, and 2025 is no exception. But with a deceptively complex route and another pivotal time trial early in the week, it’s a phase that could just as easily undo a contender as set one up.

Stage 10 brings the race back from its second rest day and wastes no time. The 28.6km individual time trial from Lucca to Pisa is the longest test against the clock in this year’s race and will likely be the last real chance for time trial specialists to make a mark. The profile is flatter and faster than Tirana’s opener – ideal for riders like Ayuso and Roglič, both former stage winners in the discipline. But the final few kilometres into Pisa feature a change of rhythm and a few technical corners near the iconic Leaning Tower, meaning pacing will be crucial. Carapaz, who has quietly improved his time trialling in recent seasons, will be looking to limit losses. For Derek Gee and Antonio Tiberi, both of whom have worked hard on their aero positions this year, it’s a stage to prove their top-five credentials.

Stage 11 to Castelnovo ne’Monti looks benign at first glance, but it could be a trap. The day’s major climb – the cat 1 Alpe di San Pellegrino – comes early, but what follows is relentlessly lumpy terrain. The final 50km feature a sting in the tail with two category 2 climbs packed into the run-in, and the kind of rolling roads that wear down domestiques. It’s a textbook day for a well-timed breakaway or an ambitious GC rider to try something if the teams of the favourites hesitate.

Stage 12 is one of the few genuine sprint stages left, from Modena to Viadana, but it comes with a caveat. Three small climbs break up the middle of the stage, and with fatigue building, the peloton’s ability to control everything could waver. Teams like Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike will be watching for echelons and crosswind splits – the Po Valley is notorious for it, even in late May.

Stage 13 into Vicenza presents a slightly unusual profile – five categorised climbs, but all rated category 4. The final drag to the line tilts up just enough to rule out the pure sprinters, and it has puncheur written all over it. Mads Pedersen might fancy this one. So too could Tom Pidcock, if the GC leash is slackened after a solid time trial. With its transition feel, it’s a day for stage hunters – but anyone eyeing the GC can’t afford a lapse in concentration. If someone like Yates or Landa decides to shake the tree, the damage could be surprisingly high.

Stage 14 takes the race into Slovenia via Nova Gorica and back out again in a subtle diplomatic nod to Primož Roglič. It’s not a summit finish, but the hilly profile and short climbs mirror the terrain of the Ardennes. UAE might want to pressure Roglič here with Ayuso or even Yates. The GC favourites will also have one eye on the fact that this is the last opportunity before the Giro’s most decisive phase – a five-stage mountain barrage in week three that will determine the final podium.

Photo Credit: RCS

Week three – five mountain stages, one maglia rosa

Everything up to this point has been a warm-up. Week three is where the 2025 Giro d’Italia is decided. Five climbing stages in six days, over 17,000 metres of elevation gain, and two summit finishes that could completely reshape the GC standings. No matter how tight the time gaps are after Pisa, they won’t stay that way for long.

Stage 15, from Fiume Veneto to Asiago, marks the start of the Alpine phase and offers the first indication of who’s still strong, and who’s hanging on. The centrepiece is Monte Grappa – 25km of climbing at a deceptively steady 6%, but with pitchy ramps over 10% in the second half. With 80km still to race from the summit, it’s not a stage for fireworks unless someone wants to risk everything early. But a team with depth, like UAE or Bora-Hansgrohe, could test that resolve. The final drag up to Asiago is more of a slog than a showdown, but as with all transition finishes, underestimating it would be a mistake.

Stage 16 to San Valentino is where things get serious. The profile is jagged from start to finish – three category 2 climbs before the final haul to the summit at 1,313m. The last ascent – 17.4km at 6.4% – is long enough to tempt someone like Roglič to attack, especially if the pacing has been high early. For riders like Gee and Tiberi, it’s a moment to test how deep they can go after two weeks of attritional racing. Expect visible suffering. Time gaps will stretch. And if anyone is hoping to ride into form late, this is when that hope gets tested.

Stage 17 brings the Giro into Valtellina, and with it, the Mortirolo. It’s not the Cima Coppi of 2025 (that’s reserved for stage 20’s Colle delle Finestre), but it’s still one of the race’s most brutal ascents – 12.4km at an average of 10.5%, and multiple kilometres in the 12–15% range. Unlike previous editions, the stage doesn’t finish on the summit but descends and climbs again to Bormio, where the GC could be blown open or carefully neutralised depending on the race situation. Expect the final climb to be tactical. If Roglič or Ayuso are isolated, someone like Carapaz could take a flyer. It’s one of the most unpredictable days of the race.

Stage 18 offers momentary respite – a pan-flat sprinters’ day to Cesano Maderno. But by this point, only a handful of sprinters are likely to still be in the race, and fewer still will have the team support to win. Riders like Pedersen or Kooij could add another win, but it’s a day most GC teams will spend calculating, fuelling, and praying for no crashes. Because what comes next is the hardest double-header of the Giro.

Stage 19 from Biella to Champoluc features 5,200m of climbing, including three cat 1 ascents: Col Tzecore, Col Saint-Pantaléon, and Col de Joux. Each is around 15km long and hovers around 7% average – the kind of gradients that expose fatigue more than talent. The descent off Col de Joux is narrow and technical, and the final climb to Antagnod, though only 5km long, will be hell if legs are empty. Riders dropped here can lose minutes. For GC hopefuls who’ve held back, this is a must-perform day. For riders already on the back foot, it’s a survival exercise.

Stage 20 is the queen stage – 4,600m of climbing, 203km of racing, and a finish in Sestriere after a summit ascent of the Colle delle Finestre. This is the Cima Coppi of the 2025 Giro: 18.6km at 9.1%, the final 8km on gravel, topping out at 2,178m. The descent off the Finestre is long and fast, but the sting is the final climb to Sestriere, 11km at 6%, with a false flat just before the line. In 2018, Chris Froome lit up the race with a 78km solo raid from the Finestre to win the Giro. If someone like Carapaz or Yates wants to overturn the GC on the final mountain day, this is the blueprint. UAE and Bora will know it – and try to control it. But week three of the Giro has a way of defying plans. Expect high-altitude drama and podium reshuffles.

Photo Credit: LaPresse

Final stage in Rome

The final stage of the Giro d’Italia has become a Roman tradition again in recent years – a nod to history and grandeur, but also to the reality that no one wants the GC decided on the final day. For the general classification riders, it’s the softest of parade days: 143km from Rome to Rome, a ceremonial procession and sprint showdown rolled into one.

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. The finale is a seven-lap circuit around the Eternal City’s cobbled, sun-bleached streets, with iconic backdrops at every corner: the Colosseum, the Altare della Patria, the Circus Maximus. It’s a breathtaking setting, but also technically demanding – with hairpins, roundabouts and changes in surface that could catch out any rider whose mind has already drifted to champagne and photos on the podium. In the 2023 edition, Mark Cavendish’s lead-out was picture-perfect. In 2024, rain threatened to neutralise it all. This time around, we’ll see who’s left standing from the sprint field.

If the points classification is still in play, stage 21 becomes more than just a parade. Mads Pedersen, Olav Kooij and Kaden Groves all have reason to keep fighting, particularly if the points tally is close and one final intermediate sprint offers a chance to tilt the balance. Pedersen has already made it clear that he wants stages first and the maglia ciclamino second. But if the jersey’s within reach, expect Trek to do double duty: one train to collect points early, another to deliver him to the finale.

There’s precedent for drama even when the GC seems locked in. In 2020, Tao Geoghegan Hart overturned a tie on time with Jai Hindley in the final-day time trial. This year, that’s not likely – the mountains end in Sestriere, and the only threat to the maglia rosa is bad luck. But the tension never fully disappears. Any crash, puncture or mechanical failure inside the final 3km that delays the overall leader could reshape the podium if the time gaps are small. For Ayuso, Roglič or Carapaz, there will be no relaxing until they’re on the finishing straight.

The GC battle will be over, or at least, it should be – but the stage still matters. For the sprinters who’ve endured the Mortirolo, the Finestre, and the altitude of San Valentino, this is the ultimate reward. If Groves or Kooij hasn’t won yet, this is their final shot. If someone like Luke Lamperti or Milan Fretin has hung on through the Alps, they could be part of a much smaller field contesting the final dash.

Photo Credit: RCS

2025 Giro d’Italia Uomini Stages

Main photo credit: RCS