Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia 2025: Stage-by-stage analysis

[Mayomaniac]

Best I can do about the penultimate weekend, somewhat taking the (self-imposed) constraints of RCS into account:

Stage 14: Treviso > Asiago
Stage 15: Fiume Veneto > Nova Gorica

The highest-impact minimalist changes I'd make though are double Sestriere and a longer second ITT (10-15 km extra would help a lot).

Bocca di Forca-Grappa before Asiago on stage 15 and on stage 14 you could do something that already worked well in the Tour of Slovenia in 2021 (at least the final part of the stage):

 

[Netserk]

I think a finish in Nova Gorica and a circuit with Goriza are mandatory. So I think just adding Ravnica to the current circuit is the best you can do if you keep the stage order.

 

[ashhutch1997]

Huge thank you to @Devil's Elbow for your hard work to keep this great thread going. It's just ashame the route doesn't match how great this preview is...

 

[EddyMazzoleni]

I think a finish in Nova Gorica and a circuit with Goriza are mandatory. So I think just adding Ravnica to the current circuit is the best you can do if you keep the stage order.

Something along the line of the 2022 Torino stage would have been great on stage 15. I think RCS wants to take the Giro closer to the public and thus favours city circuit, which is reasonable but should not come at the cost of good racing

 

[Netserk]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1920780130974044446

View: https://x.com/friebos/status/1920780130974044446

 

[Red Rick]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1920780130974044446

View: https://x.com/friebos/status/1920780130974044446

Petulant Whiners of Cyclingnews Forum, I summon thee.

 

[E_F_]

This Giro has so many of them gimmes already.....

Well you either have many or you have none, you don't have just one, and if you do you don't have it as literally the last stage where GC-action is possible.

 

[Extinction]

Something along the line of the 2022 Torino stage would have been great on stage 15. I think RCS wants to take the Giro closer to the public and thus favours city circuit, which is reasonable but should not come at the cost of good racing

But RCS could have chosen better nation for the Grande Partenza, as in one that actually likes cycling. Witness the team presentation.

 

[Gigs_98]

It really does the "don't do too many MTF in the 3rd week" without doing the thing you're supposed to do instead of the MTFs.

I think Tagliacozzo is also just disappointing for what it needs to do, the 400m flat at the very end piss me off disproportionately, etc.

But with the first 2 weeks you cannot change that much to make it better or put MTFs in if you wanna finish in the samep laces. Realistically you can do a 10 minute murito finish in Nova Gorica and put a Cat 1 at 15km to go on stage 8, but that requires approaching from the north.

The Giro just needs to put in more decent MTFs in the south and then leave them out in the Alps, but they never do it outside of Blockhaus.

Yeah it feels like they got genuinely self aware that having a bunch of monster stages in the third week but nothing beforehand is bad, but they didn't understand how to fix it.

Another thing I was thinking is that maybe they wanted to Pogacar-proof the route. If someone wants to win the race by ten minutes on this route at least they will have to create a show to do so. Of course when no Pogacar or Vingegaard are actually entering the race you just end up with a bad route.

 

[Red Rick]

Yeah it feels like they got genuinely self aware that having a bunch of monster stages in the third week but nothing beforehand is bad, but they didn't understand how to fix it.

Another thing I was thinking is that maybe they wanted to Pogacar-proof the route. If someone wants to win the race by ten minutes on this route at least they will have to create a show to do so. Of course when no Pogacar or Vingegaard are actually entering the race you just end up with a bad route.

The Giro has been very backloaded for a long time. I don't believe Pogacar or Vingegaard had anything to do with it.

If you want me to go full tinfoil hat it's more likely to me they wanted Roglic vs Evenepoel while making the route extremely favorable for the latter.

 

[Gigs_98]

The Giro has been very backloaded for a long time. I don't believe Pogacar or Vingegaard had anything to do with it.

If you want me to go full tinfoil hat it's more likely to me they wanted Roglic vs Evenepoel while making the route extremely favorable for the latter.

It's been backloaded for a long time but with a much higher quantity of clear gc stages. I mean last year had more cat.1 mtf's in the first ten stages than this year in all 21 stages.

 

[Potomac]

I'm surprised this isn't sticky

 

[Red Rick]

So, for the praise of "not too many sprint stages", it sure as hell looks like we get 5 in the first 6 stages.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

So, for the praise of "not too many sprint stages", it sure as hell looks like we get 5 in the first 6 stages.

Can't blame RCS for 21 teams being happy to roll over for Lidl.

Having said that, you can definitely blame RCS for not climbing Kaninë today.

 

[Red Rick]

Can't blame RCS for 21 teams being happy to roll over for Lidl.

Yes and no.

I also blame people for not realizing the threshold for a likely sprint stage changes when the most likely top sprinter at a race is a decent climber himself. And for using "not a lot of flat stages" as a hugely important metric for overall route assessment.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Yes and no.

I also blame people for not realizing the threshold for a likely sprint stage changes when the most likely top sprinter at a race is a decent climber himself. And for using "not a lot of flat stages" as a hugely important metric for overall route assessment.

We only knew part of the sprint field at the time of the route announcement.

Also, a lack of boring sprint stages (grande partenza aside) was one of the things that made the much-beloved 2018 Giro so good, partially because it meant most stages were at least decent and partially because it meant everyone was on their knees in the final week.

Finally, I don't think it's fair to penalise RCS in the route assessment for getting an unfavourable sprint field.

 

[Cycling111]

Tuesday should be a sprint with the few sprinters who have gone to the Giro.

Kooij is the favorite.

 

[Netserk]

Can't blame RCS for 21 teams being happy to roll over for Lidl.

Having said that, you can definitely blame RCS for not climbing Kaninë today.

Like so?

Giro d'Italia 2025: stage 3, modified

173.5 km, +3276 m. Bike ride in Vlorë, Qarku i Vlorës

ridewithgps.com

 

[Krzysztof_O]

After very anticlimatic first road stages of this Giro maybe it's time to take some break from watching. Monster Roglstomp on Finestre looks like a good moment to turn TV on again.

 

[AmRacer]

After very anticlimatic first road stages of this Giro maybe it's time to take some break from watching. Monster Roglstomp on Finestre looks like a good moment to turn TV on again.

80 km attack?

 

[Krzysztof_O]

80 km attack?

35 km will do.

 

[Red Rick]

We only knew part of the sprint field at the time of the route announcement.

Also, a lack of boring sprint stages (grande partenza aside) was one of the things that made the much-beloved 2018 Giro so good, partially because it meant most stages were at least decent and partially because it meant everyone was on their knees in the final week.

Finally, I don't think it's fair to penalise RCS in the route assessment for getting an unfavourable sprint field.

The Giro that had 3 MTFs, 2 puncheur finishes and a TT in the first 9 stages? That one?

That race had like 1 big breakaway stage in the first 10 stages, and it was stage 10 with an uphill start and rolling climbs all day for 240km. And much of the difficulty that Giro was made by the consistently bad weather.


If anything should be clear by now it's that the first 3 days of racing tend to be lean much more to sprints than the middle of the second week.

 

[ashhutch1997]

Like so?

Giro d'Italia 2025: stage 3, modified

173.5 km, +3276 m. Bike ride in Vlorë, Qarku i Vlorës

ridewithgps.com

I'm pretty sure @Devil's Elbow mentioned that there was a murito in Vlore as well, could've made a cracking stage.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Like so?

Giro d'Italia 2025: stage 3, modified

173.5 km, +3276 m. Bike ride in Vlorë, Qarku i Vlorës

ridewithgps.com

No, I wanted this climb. 2.4k at 9.7%.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

The little bit of it on streetview (from 2016) looks horrible.

On the satellite view it looks newly paved.