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

[Rou]

If the route of this Giro hadn't been such rubbish, at this stage we would know who are the three strongest riders and the entire top 10 wouldn't be leading the peloton along with the sprinters.


Coincidentally, they crashed on a circuit today, and that's what I mentioned.

One of the problems with trying to deceptively tie 15 riders is that these stages will be more dangerous because everyone thinks they can win or make the podium on stage 16, when in reality, most won't even be able to finish fifth.

There is a reason why the Giro is the worst Grand Tour nowadays.
RCS turned this from the epic race it was in the 90s to a money making scheme. Year after year they pay the top riders to show up, they make horrible designs, they do meme Grande Partenzas just for the money.
I have no respect for this race.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Then again if the mountains would come sooner, the narrative of this race would be completely different. So the biggest complain some of you seem to have is you don't know yet, on who the top 3 GC riders are, and then go on to say that is a bad thing. Go figure.

 

[Cycling111]

This isn't a narrative, it's a reality.
While less selective is the route, greater risk of accidents on a flat stage in the second week.

Most of massive accidents at GT are in the first week. This is no coincidence.
Keeping 15 riders within 2 minutes differente on stage 15 to create a false sense of equality is a mistake.

Besides, the essence of a GT is a race of attrition.
Doing two weeks without hard work eliminates that factor.

There are doubts about whether Del Toro will arrive fatigued for the final week. In this Giro, it's more likely that he'll be fresh in the third week than on any other route.
But it's not even about that.
There's a thread in this forum about how to avoid accidents.

Well, having 15 riders within 2 minutes of each other increases the risk of a mass accident.

It's an objective fact that most GT accidents happen in the first week. Many cyclists believe they'll be in the top 10, when in the first mountain stage, most of those riders would´ve lost all chance, and they're all at the front in a stage 15 where half of them shouldn´t be taking risk in positionin with sprinters.

We can't have one thread about avoiding accidents, and in this other thread, defend this type of route that increases the risk.

If the Giro is decided today or Tuesday, they shouldn't put a selective stage until the 21st in 2026.
More false equality, and a greater risk of accidents on stage 20.

A GT must be won by the best. To avoid this, they can't design routes that are easier than the Tour de Romandie or Itzulia for the first two weeks.
To prevent Duplantis from being superior, they change the rules as much as possible.
Is that what we want in sports?
In sports, there have always been athletes who are superior. We can't be falsifying a route to avoid that.

 

[tobydawq]

This isn't a narrative, it's a reality.
While less selective is the route, greater risk of accidents on a flat stage in the second week.

Most of massive accidents at GT are in the first week. This is no coincidence.
Keeping 15 riders within 2 minutes differente on stage 15 to create a false sense of equality is a mistake.

Besides, the essence of a GT is a race of attrition.
Doing two weeks without hard work eliminates that factor.

There are doubts about whether Del Toro will arrive fatigued for the final week. In this Giro, it's more likely that he'll be fresh in the third week than on any other route.
But it's not even about that.
There's a thread in this forum about how to avoid accidents.

Well, having 15 riders within 2 minutes of each other increases the risk of a mass accident.

It's an objective fact that most GT accidents happen in the first week. Many cyclists believe they'll be in the top 10, when in the first mountain stage, most of those riders would´ve lost all chance, and they're all at the front in a stage 15 where half of them shouldn´t be taking risk in positionin with sprinters.

We can't have one thread about avoiding accidents, and in this other thread, defend this type of route that increases the risk.

If the Giro is decided today or Tuesday, they shouldn't put a selective stage until the 21st in 2026.
More false equality, and a greater risk of accidents on stage 20.

A GT must be won by the best. To avoid this, they can't design routes that are easier than the Tour de Romandie or Itzulia for the first two weeks.
To prevent Duplantis from being superior, they change the rules as much as possible.
Is that what we want in sports?
In sports, there have always been athletes who are superior. We can't be falsifying a route to avoid that.

I understand the sentiment but it's not applicable to what happened yesterday. That crash was not a result of the fight for position, it was just slippery.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

To be fair, this Giro is also the first GT in about four years that hasn‘t been affected by a number of Covid- and Flu-caused abandons. This way, and with 8 additional riders this year, there are just more riders fighting for space on the road when the fight for position has actually gotten worse and worse each year. Being hectic does make you more likely to crash, even if it‘s just due to slippery roads.

 

[Red Rick]

To be fair, this Giro is also the first GT in about four years that hasn‘t been affected by a number of Covid- and Flu-caused abandons. This way, and with 8 additional riders this year, there are just more riders fighting for space on the road when the fight for position has actually gotten worse and worse each year. Being hectic does make you more likely to crash, even if it‘s just due to slippery roads.

That plays a tiny part in it.

The much bigger part is some of the race design, a technical parcours in the rain, and riders acting like idiots because everyone is close in GC, because the only selection has been a gravel demolition derby

 

[Peyroteo94]

This is what happens when you don't have a selective route. Riders have more energy, are more nervous/paranoid, always want to be in front and then more craches happen. This is "vintage modern cycling". I just ask for Zomegnan to do a last hurrah and show to Vegni what is a good route.

 

[Netserk]

I understand the sentiment but it's not applicable to what happened yesterday. That crash was not a result of the fight for position, it was just slippery.

I think it had something to do with the fight for position. The peloton was not exactly in a single file, and several teams without a chance of winning the stage tried to come to the front shortly before the crash.

 

[Netserk]

I wonder if any of the GC teams asked the commissaires beforehand if they would neutralise the GC if it rained on the circuit, just like when the cobbles in Paris are wet.

 

[Gigs_98]

I'm very curious how we will look back to this giro in a few years. I cannot pretend not to be extremely intrigued by how this race is going and I think with the gc situation as it is the final week will probably be great. But you can't really give any credit for this to organizers when essentially all of that is due to crashes on stages which were feared to be demolition derbys every since they were presented. Yet I feel like we will forget about all the crashes and in a few years only talk about the really interesting gc battle those crashes led to.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm very curious how we will look back to this giro in a few years. I cannot pretend not to be extremely intrigued by how this race is going and I think with the gc situation as it is the final week will probably be great. But you can't really give any credit for this to organizers when essentially all of that is due to crashes on stages which were feared to be demolition derbys every since they were presented. Yet I feel like we will forget about all the crashes and in a few years only talk about the really interesting gc battle those crashes led to.

Giro 2025?

The Earth King invites you to Lake Laogai

 

[Netserk]

I'm very curious how we will look back to this giro in a few years. I cannot pretend not to be extremely intrigued by how this race is going and I think with the gc situation as it is the final week will probably be great. But you can't really give any credit for this to organizers when essentially all of that is due to crashes on stages which were feared to be demolition derbys every since they were presented. Yet I feel like we will forget about all the crashes and in a few years only talk about the really interesting gc battle those crashes led to.

Somewhat similar to how 2020 is remembered, minus the quality of the route.

 

[Red Rick]

Somewhat similar to how 2020 is remembered, minus the quality of the route.

I'm not even sure how 2020 is remembered. Feels like it's kinda famous for the Stelvio stage, Adam Hansen's greatest life accomplishment, and that's about it.

This Giro so far has just about every ingredient of *** it can have, but I also think the way people will remember it is very heavily dependent on the outcome and if they like the outcome.

Maybe so far it's most similar to the 2011 Tour.

 

[Gigs_98]

Somewhat similar to how 2020 is remembered, minus the quality of the route.

Nah I don't think so. The Giro 2020 is not very fondly remembered because nobody could take a gc battle between TGH, Kelderman, Hindley and Almeida (the latter two in their first ever GT where they made any noise) seriously. In this case I cannot see this ending any other way than a huge battle between some really big names and while crashes might put an asterisk in the results sheet, those races tend to be the ones people talk about for a long time. And if Roglic wins this after a raid on Finestre people will just straight away put this in the pantheon of great GTs.

 

[Gigs_98]

I'm not even sure how 2020 is remembered. Feels like it's kinda famous for the Stelvio stage, Adam Hansen's greatest life accomplishment, and that's about it.

This Giro so far has just about every ingredient of *** it can have, but I also think the way people will remember it is very heavily dependent on the outcome and if they like the outcome.

Maybe so far it's most similar to the 2011 Tour.

Yes this is the one I was thinking of as well. Great action in the final week almost entirely because of a huge crash earlier in the race. The big difference might be that people don't really feel like Contador would have won anyway and the outcome of the Schleck vs Evans battle was a fair representation of their strength. If Roglic ends up losing to Del Toro by 10 seconds we will never hear the end of how Roglic was the deserved winner.

 

[tobydawq]

This Giro so far has just about every ingredient of *** it can have,

Only if you only care about Roglic and have a reputation to maintain.

I also hope Roglic wins but have still found it quite good considering what the route has been like. Albania was bad but otherwise it has delivered.

 

[Red Rick]

Yes this is the one I was thinking of as well. Great action in the final week almost entirely because of a huge crash earlier in the race. The big difference might be that people don't really feel like Contador would have won anyway and the outcome of the Schleck vs Evans battle was a fair representation of their strength. If Roglic ends up losing to Del Toro by 10 seconds we will never hear the end of how Roglic was the deserved winner.

There's basically 4 points in that 2011 Tour that made it remembered more fondly than the quality of the racing for most of it.

- Cadel Evans redemption arc. Arguably Evans is the closest thing we had then to Roglic now, at least in terms of "chance to win TdF are gone".
- Contador going from a dominant champion to an underdog lighting the race on fire. I think especially the Telegraphe attack cemented him in legend a little bit
- Andy Schleck being so passive for most of that Tour that many people soured on him.
- Titi Voeckler doing Titi Voeckler things

And yes, 2 back to back days of 150km of action total isn't too bad.

Finally, in my mind Contador was a lot closer to winning it than it appears on the final GC simply because all he needed was to have a good day on the Galibier MTF stage and ride away with Andy into the sunset. Then just attack AdH from the bottom next day and it's probably just Contador vs Schleck in the TT.

Nah I don't think so. The Giro 2020 is not very fondly remembered because nobody could take a gc battle between TGH, Kelderman, Hindley and Almeida (the latter two in their first ever GT where they made any noise) seriously. In this case I cannot see this ending any other way than a huge battle between some really big names and while crashes might put an asterisk in the results sheet, those races tend to be the ones people talk about for a long time. And if Roglic wins this after a raid on Finestre people will just straight away put this in the pantheon of great GTs.

Would it though? It would have a lot of similarity to 2023, and that's almost universally regarded as one of the worst Giri

 

[Gigs_98]

Would it though? It would have a lot of similarity to 2023, and that's almost universally regarded as one of the worst Giri

I think people are already enjoying this much more than 2023. Tbf, if nothing happens until stage 20 (somewhat similar to how the 2023 giro went) people might sour on this race as well, I just think that's very unlikely to happen.

 

[Froome]

The Giro with another ridiculous route, so boring.

 

[Red Rick]

I think people are already enjoying this much more than 2023. Tbf, if nothing happens until stage 20 (somewhat similar to how the 2023 giro went) people might sour on this race as well, I just think that's very unlikely to happen.

Somehow Monte Bondone and Val di Zoldo delivering basically as advertized will always get ignored. After the Giro started with really high expectations it seems to me that by the time that Lago Laceno, Campo Imperatore had done nothing, Evenepoel had abandoned and Crans Montana got neutered and delivered nothing everyone just decided to look at it through the most ****-colored glasses possible.

Now obviously, I'm prone to do a little of that myself, but up until now the racing hasn't been better than 2023, and the remaining mountain stage designs are worse apart from Finestre, so I can't help but feel there's some weird rose-tinted glasses going on that didn't happen for other races.

 

[Gigs_98]

Somehow Monte Bondone and Val di Zoldo delivering basically as advertized will always get ignored. After the Giro started with really high expectations it seems to me that by the time that Lago Laceno, Campo Imperatore had done nothing, Evenepoel had abandoned and Crans Montana got neutered and delivered nothing everyone just decided to look at it through the most ****-colored glasses possible.

Now obviously, I'm prone to do a little of that myself, but up until now the racing hasn't been better than 2023, and the remaining mountain stage designs are worse apart from Finestre, so I can't help but feel there's some weird rose-tinted glasses going on that didn't happen for other races.

They did, but you are conveniently leaving out the queen stage being raced about as passively as humanly possible. The problem was not the Bondone stage itself, it's that I cannot remember another GT where a stage blowing up with like 6 kms to go was the best racing among gc contenders we got. That's the thing. Even if we get another final week like 2023 we can easily point to the gravel stage as a true highlight (even though it was heavily influenced by a crash).

 

[Põhja Konn]

They did, but you are conveniently leaving out the queen stage being raced about as passively as humanly possible. The problem was not the Bondone stage itself, it's that I cannot remember another GT where a stage blowing up with like 6 kms to go was the best racing among gc contenders we got. That's the thing. Even if we get another final week like 2023 we can easily point to the gravel stage as a true highlight (even though it was heavily influenced by a crash).

Most of the difference in perseption between current and 2023 version comes from the differing expectations we had going in. 2023 route was quite good, startlist solid and expectations from fans high as a consequence. In reality, one disappointment followed another and mood soured rapidly. Current Giro having such an atrocious route coupled with initially quite uninspiring looking selection of contenders meant the expectations were at rock bottom. As a result, anything remotely interesting that happens is already treated as exceeding expectations giving the race a more positive outlook than it maybe objectively deserves.