Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia 2025 Route: Speculation, Rumours and Announcements

[Gigs_98]

I have a lot of the same opinions I had last year though overall I think this route is better. There is once again quite a few things to like, like the low number of easy sprint stages, the sterrato stage, and I actually think doing some easy mountain stages in the alps helps massively to decrease the backloading. Like, the only reason we hate the bormio stage is because we know the incredible climbs in the area, but in isolation I don't think there is anything wrong with having this kind of stage in the third week.

But where the Giro once again completely drops the ball is individual stage design. All the medium mountain stages are okay but not a single one makes me truly excited. The Grappa stage is unbeliebably bad, I think the Aosta stage will suffer massively from having the most bang average final two climbs in existence and while I did just defended the Bormio stage....come on. Do you realize, the last time we've seen the mortirolo from its proper side Pogacar, Roglic, Vingegaard and Evenepoel combined for 0 GT podiums? Yet this will be the third consecutive time they are using one of the most legendary climbs in Italy from a side that turns it into the most generic HC climb you could imagine. No Recta Contador, not even the 2012 side, it has to be the 7% side that will make every cycling journalist pretend this stage is actually relevant due to name recognition.

That's what annoys me so much. They have a good overall plan here, but then the organization puts 0 effort into actually creating exciting stages. As some have said, you don't even have to look at complicated solutions to improve this route. You would just have to take the obvious option right in front of you instead of finding creative ways to make a good route bad.

 

[Gigs_98]

The final week pure unipuerto is actually quite underrated. Alpe di Mera was also good in 2021, Tentudía was shockingly decent for a climb of its difficulty in 2022, Bejes delivered in 2023, Moncalvillo was pretty good in 2024, and that's basically all the stages that fit the bill from 2019 onwards. I'm definitely at a point where I see it as a very good option to start your final mountain block with, especially if it's the only major MTF of said block.

So I guess we should increase our expectations of Morredero for the upcoming Vuelta.

Hard mtf --> very hard mountain stage --> easy mountain stage
@Libertine Seguros has been preaching this for a decade.

 

[Red Rick]

That's what annoys me so much. They have a good overall plan here, but then the organization puts 0 effort into actually creating exciting stages. As some have said, you don't even have to look at complicated solutions to improve this route. You would just have to take the obvious option right in front of you instead of finding creative ways to make a good route bad.

I think with the extra loop to Bormio, and taking the longest way possible from Grappa to Asiago we can pretty confidently say it's closer to active self sabotage than regular 0 effort design.

And if the problem with Bormio isn't that we know what's in the area- it's that it's bad and there's only 3 real mountain stages better than that.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Hard mtf --> very hard mountain stage --> easy mountain stage
@Libertine Seguros has been preaching this for a decade.

Hard MTF that isn’t a unipuerto in the third week actually has a worse track record than the unipuerto on a (usually) cat. 1 MTF. Tre Cime in 2023 doesn’t count because of the uniquely horrible field, but Gamoniteiru in 2021 being the only mountain stage of the week that didn’t deliver is a great example. Pyrenees in the 2021 Tour and Covadonga in the 2024 Vuelta are also good examples of big third-week that didn’t do all that much. So I would quite possibly take Bejes 2023 over Covadonga 2024 to open an Asturian mountain block, also because Bejes is always going to be in addition to harder mountain stages whereas Covadonga will be treated as a hard mountain stage in and of itself in the design process. IMO that’s an evolution of the Libertine doctrine, not a rehash (nor a revolution, for that matter).

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Woohoo, the women can do Muro di Ca‘del Poggio

But who the frog decided to put the Cima Strada 105 km before the finish without any climbs afterwards?

I know that with the rest of the route in mind, the alternative would have been to exclude Tonale completely, cause it wouldn't make much sense to have a tough stage that day, but it's just such a waste of the highest mountain in the race. They could have done something similar to the 2023 Passo Lupo stage, which turned out to be more exciting than expected (we could have done without Longo Borghini crashing out ofc), but that wouldn't really fit well with the previous and following stages here. Still, I'm missing a mountain stage where the last climb isn't the hardest one/an MTF.

It seems they're feeling a bit nostalgic and want to see Van der Breggen win in Imola after 5 years, PFP winning in Aprica after 10 years, and for Luperini to win on Monte Cesen after 30 years. I'm not too sure any of them will be on the start list though.

 

[zlev11]

front page of CN says this Giro has "colossal climbing". lol. see what i mean? everyone just gobbles up the *** sandwich.

 

[Red Rick]

front page of CN says this Giro has "colossal climbing". lol. see what i mean? everyone just gobbles up the *** sandwich.

The gods were cruel when they decided to take my coveted "delete forum" button from me

 

[E_F_]

Will anything happen before the penultimate stage? I don't think so... On the gravel stage, I guess... That's something. The penultimate stage could be great as well. So that's also something. Whatever...

 

[zlev11]

No Recta Contador, not even the 2012 side, it has to be the 7% side that will make every cycling journalist pretend this stage is actually relevant due to name recognition.

i can hear him right now; Rob Hatch, "the MIGHTY Mortirolo!" as a group of 40 goes over the top together 14 minutes behind the breakaway.

 

[Red Rick]

Is it me or is the Siena stage a lot less hilly than Strade Bianche and much like the 2024 Strade stage which was NOTHING HAPPENING the day before a TT

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Wanna know something crazy? I've had a Giro route prepared for the Race Design Thread for literally about two years that I've never got round to writing up.

It starts in Albania, and stage 1 has a route very similar to the closing circuit of this stage 1. It also includes the bigger climb from stage 1, although that was in stage 3 with an uphill (cat.3) finish in Krujë, because I had a flat stage on day 2. It then had a stage into Matera upon arriving back on the mainland (although this was later excised and replaced), then went up the west towards Napoli, across to Marche, then over to Tuscany. It included San Pellegrino in Alpe, in my case on stage 12, although I had the finish at Stazione Le Polle, a short 5km @ 9% MTF so that it would put the big climb close to the finish. It included Monte Grappa from Semonzo - albeit early in a brutal queen stage that also had Malga Budui, Cima di Campo and Passo Manghen before a finish in the Val di Fiemme. It also visited the Valle d'Aosta at the end, although the similarities in the actual stages here are very few.

There are huge, huge differences in the routes, don't get me wrong, but the number of things in common are somewhat surprising.

 

[YavorD]

Is it me or is the Siena stage a lot less hilly than Strade Bianche and much like the 2024 Strade stage which was NOTHING HAPPENING the day before a TT

It seems so to me as well and I'm not supe why it's so well liked. The biggest postie for me is that it's before the rest day.

Oh, and Van Aert. If S. Yates is actually decent on this stage we may see a carnage.

 

[Rockestar_33]

I honestly think it's a decent route. Not as good as the Tour route (which I rate much higher than you guys obviously) but good enough. Nice balance, I'm happy to see 42 ITT km, it means it won't be the sole decider but doing well in them will obviously help.

Good route for WVA to get a few stage wins, Rogla still the obvious favourite but Simon Yates a decent chance to upset him too.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Is it me or is the Siena stage a lot less hilly than Strade Bianche and much like the 2024 Strade stage which was NOTHING HAPPENING the day before a TT

If you really think a stage with 29.5k of sterrato is just like a stage with 11.6k of sterrato, then it's definitely you...

 

[tobydawq]

I hope it's a mistake that they have the last rest day on a Sunday.

It was. It's corrected now.

 

[RedheadDane]

There you have it:

 

[Samu Cuenca]

There you have it:

Netserk probably likes this, but I'd rather want to see the Romain Empire.

 

[OlavEH]

I honestly think it's a decent route. Not as good as the Tour route (which I rate much higher than you guys obviously) but good enough. Nice balance, I'm happy to see 42 ITT km, it means it won't be the sole decider but doing well in them will obviously help.

The Giro route is pretty average when one knows the potential for good stage design in Italy. That is almost unlimited. But there are at least a couple of really good stages. The Finestre stage is always superior to anything you can find in the Tour. Same for the sterrato stage. And the stage to Castelnovo ne'Monti is better than most of what I can remember of medium mountain stages in the Tour. But the rest is average or bad. Especially the three much debated stages to Chapoluc, Bormio and Asiago.

 

[OlavEH]

It still hard to understand why they do the sequence of climbs they to on the Champoluc stage. Instead of doing Tzecore - Saint Panthaleon - Joux, it would be much better to change to Saint Panthaleon first and then add Arlaz before Zuccore and Joux.

It would have meant two ramps of 6-7 kms and 8,5-9 % before the last part of Joux. And no flat section between the last three climbs.

 

[Peyroteo94]

The way they are using San Pellegrino should give life sentence.

 

[CyclistAbi]

For the most part GC riders will have to stretch their legs a bit on TTs and making through sterrato and other hidden obstacles safely, making sure they don't let some "semi" favourite to gain too much time. A stomp or two in the books in the first two weeks of the race. Then it's all about week three, on where the overall winner is to be decided. As for the rest this race should attract a plethora of sprinters and classics specialists, looking forward to some proper van Aert vs van der Poel rivalry, Pidcock has a point to prove too. So lets see on who else will participate. Remco out, Pogi or Jonas might still decide to do it, though.

 

[Red Rick]

If you really think a stage with 29.5k of sterrato is just like a stage with 11.6k of sterrato, then it's definitely you...

I missed that. But I honestly think flat sterrato isn't all that.

 

[stekelegel]

I have a feeling that this rather bland and average route serves different purposes:
- provide a close and exciting race for as long as possible
- convince the top 5 GT riders to ride the Giro by presenting a rather easy route that makes it possible to do 2 GT / year. They want Pog, Vinge, Roglic and Remco. Bad luck for them the last one has allready crashed out, because compared to Vuelta, this is a Remco designed route.
- put in some extra's for Roglic, Pogacar, van Aert, to just them to start...

 

[Gigs_98]

It still hard to understand why they do the sequence of climbs they to on the Champoluc stage. Instead of doing Tzecore - Saint Panthaleon - Joux, it would be much better to change to Saint Panthaleon first and then add Arlaz before Zuccore and Joux.

It would have meant two ramps of 6-7 kms and 8,5-9 % before the last part of Joux. And no flat section between the last three climbs.

I remember last year I did something like going through the "main climb" on all of the mountain stages just looking at the average gradient and it was ridiculous. Basically Grappa at like 8% and every other one was below 7%.
Now if we say this years "mountain stages" are stages 7, 11, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20 and the Main climbs are Tagliacozzo, Bismantova, Dori, San Valentino, Mortirolo, Joux and Finestre we note two things:
1.) Damn those are some weak ass mountain stages
2.) The average gradients of these climbs are:
5.4%, 5.2%, 5.5%, 6.4%, 7.6%, 6.9% and 9.2%

Now obviously this is way too simplistic to get a full picture and especially for San Valentino that number does not do the climb justice but still. It's 2025 man. How do you make a gt where the most important climb of the first two weeks is a 5% slog. Hell, I don't even know which of these climbs is the most important one. In reality some ramp on the hilly stages will probably cause bigger differences than any of those "mountain stages". Maybe I'm underrating stage 7 a bit but honestly that could be the most incredible stage design in existence and I'd still be annoyed by the rest.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

I missed that. But I honestly think flat sterrato isn't all that.

'Flat sterrato'

Have you, you know, actually watched Strade Bianche before? Because then you would know that the final three sectors are a) anything but flat and b) have proven themselves to be really selective.