Giro d’Italia 2025: 5 former winners and many pretenders for the pink jersey at the start
The countdown is now winding down: in a week’s time, Friday, May 9, the Giro d’Italia 2025 will officially start with an unprecedented and symbolic stage from Durres to Tirana, Albania. There will be 184 riders at the start, representing 23 teams, each with eight men. The pink race promises spectacle, with an elite participation that includes five former winners: Nairo Quintana (2014), Richard Carapaz (2019), Egan Bernal (2021), Jai Hindley (2022) and Primoz Roglic, last year’s triumphant rider.
It will be Roglic, 35, who will start with the number 1 on his back, ready to defend the title but with a young and fierce opponent: Juan Ayuso, 22, is considered the rising star of Spanish cycling. The two have already put on a show at the Volta Catalunya, where Roglic got the better of them, but the duel could ignite the entire race all the way to Milan.
Along with them, many other names to keep an eye on for the general classification: Mikel Landa, Simon Yates, Pello Bilbao, David Gaudu, Antonio Tiberi (back from physical problems), not forgetting Italians Giulio Ciccone and Damiano Caruso. Also of note are the presence of quality climbers such as Romain Bardet, Thymen Arensman and Michael Storer.
On the stages and sprints front, the Giro will feature top names such as Wout Van Aert, Mads Pedersen, Thomas Pidcock, Diego Ulissi and Jakob Fuglsang. For the sprints, a big battle is expected with Olav Kooij as the man to beat, followed by Kaden Groves, Sam Bennett and Matteo Moschetti.
Finally, the two time trials – a short one in Albania and a longer one from Lucca to Pisa – will offer terrain for specialists such as Edoardo Affini, Joshua Tarling and Mattia Cattaneo. Everything is set for three weeks of excitement, twists and turns and pink jersey dreams.
