Giro d’Italia 2025 stage guide: Schedule and key stages as Primoz Roglic takes on team-mates Juan Ayuso and Adam Yates, with Tom Pidcock leading Q36.5

Starting with three days in Albania and ending in Rome three weeks and many mountains later, the 108th edition of the Giro d’Italia promises a thrilling battle between some of the sport's biggest stars for the famous pink jersey. Felix Lowe runs through the seven key stages, banana skins and potential launching pads that could decide the outcome of La Corsa Rosa.

Italy and Albania are separated by just 72km at the Otrando Strait in the Adriatic Sea, so it should come as no surprise that the Giro d’Italia is finally taking the plunge with a grande partenza in Durres, the second-most-populous Albanian city.

Only one Albanian rider has featured in the Giro in the last 20 years, but that has not stopped the small Balkan nation from shelling out a reported €7m to host three stages. With no Albanian stars likely to be present, Eugert Zhupa’s four consecutive Giri appearances for Wilier-Triestina between 2015 and 2018 will not be added to this May.

But what the opening three days should provide are three varied stages of differing difficulty and terrain – and not a bunch sprint in sight. An intriguing opener features a dual ascent of the Surrel climb on the run into Tirana - an unpredictable 160km ride that should open the possibility of a pink jersey for outsiders, breakaway specialists or wily opportunists.

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Stage 1 is followed by a short and largely flat 13.7km time trial that should not dent the hopes of the GC favourites, before a lumpy third stage to and from Vlore gets spicy with the Qafa e Llogarase climb (10.5km at 7.4%) preceding a flat run to the finish.

After an early rest day as the race heads to Italian soil, likely bunch sprints in Lecce and Napoli sandwich a puncheur-friendly finish in Matera. But it is not until the second Friday of the race that the first potential GC rendez-vous will play out – the first of our seven key stages…

Stage 7: Castel di Sangro - Tagliocozzo, 168km

Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 7 profile

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The race’s first summit finish features four climbs and as many descents – with a total of 3,800m of vertical gain and practically no flat roads in between each uphill test. Right from the outset, the riders head up the Cat. 3 ascent to Roccaraso where, if the pace is high and the battle on, the peloton could split into smithereens.

Second category climbs of Monte Urano (with its maximum gradient of 14%) and Vado della Forcella are followed by a long three-tier descent to the foot of the final climb. The Cat. 1 slog above Tagliacozzo on Monte Bove is only 5.5% over 12km but the steepest 14% section could do some damage to anyone with tired legs.

It is hardly a tappone, but as the adage goes, this is a stage where the Giro will not be won, but where some GC hopefuls may see their hopes of a high finish extinguished.

A long and lumpy stage over the Apennines follows, the 197km test pivoting on the Cat. 1 climb of Sassotetto before a tough ride to Castelraimondo via several peaks, including the Cat. 3 test of Montelago. It is one of those days where a rider who is injured or ill could be put into the pain cave early on and spend the rest of the day playing damage limitation.

And there is no let-up, because the next rest day will not come until after the race’s second key stage…

Stage 9: Gubbio - Siena, 181km

Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 9 profile

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Otherwise known as 'the Strade Bianche stage', with five sectors of Tuscan sterrato coming in the last third of the stage. All in all, there are 29.5km of white roads – including what could be a potential launchpad on the climb to San Martino in Grania.

While the prospect of strade bianche may not seem as daunting as a series of massive climbs, it is worth remembering that not every rider is equipped to tackle the terrain. Just ask Remco Evenepoel, who struggled on the sterrato during his maiden Giro in 2021. Again, the Giro will not be won in Siena. But we may have a better idea of who is not in the picture.

After the second rest day, the Giro resumes with a largely flat individual time trial between Lucca and Pisa, where specialists Primoz Roglic and Juan Ayuso will look to pile on the pressure in the 28.6km race against the clock. In the absence of any uphill tests on the percurso, the gaps should not be huge between the GC favourites.

Stage 11: Viareggio - Castelnovo ne' Monti, 185km

What may have been a rasping battleground in the fight for pink – the long-awaited return of the Alpe San Pellegrino in Stage 11 – has been somewhat dulled by the positioning of the brutal climb right in the middle of the 186km stage through the Apuan Alps.

An average gradient of 8.8% over 13.7km comes to a cruel crescendo in a series of switchbacks near the summit where the ramps reach 19%. But a long 40km descent afterwards will offer the opportunity for dropped riders to rejoin the party ahead of the next two shorter and easier climbs.

A trio of tame stages follow, with expected sprints to Viadana and Novo Gorica in Slovenia coming either side of an uphill kick to Vicenza. The end of the second week then comes to a close with an ominous rendez-vous on the interminable Monte Grappa (25.1km at 5.7%).

But as with previous slogs to Sassotetto and San Pellegrino, the climb's position right in the middle of Stage 15 could nullify its impact – especially given the day’s remaining climb to Dori is both gentle and followed by a rolling 28km plateau towards the finish in Asiago.

In this way, the fourth of our key stages only comes at the start of the third week of the race…

Stage 16: Piazzola sul Brenta - San Valentino, 203km

Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 16 profile

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On paper, it may not seem the hardest stage – but a long list of factors could make this 203km test a critical moment in the battle for pink. Long, mountainous tests are always tricky after a rest day, with some riders not recovering or dealing with the change in the same way as others.

A succession of four increasingly hard climbs in the northeast of Italy will see this one come to the boil nicely, with many GC riders looking to make a point at the start of a tough and decisive week.

None of the climbs are particularly high – indeed, the final climb overlooking Lake Garda peaks at 1,315m – but with double-digit ramps in all four climbs, and hardly any flat roads in between, someone is bound to slip up on what is only the second summit finish of the race. It is the tappone, or queen stage, according to many – no huge surprise given it packs in 4,900m of climbing.

Stage 17: San Michele All’Adige – Bormio, 155km

Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 17 profile

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Still the race does not venture over 2,000m but two brutal climbs either side of the mid-section of this short but tough 155km test could detonate fireworks in the middle of the pack.

The steady Cat. 2 Passo Tonale (15.2km at 6%) peaks at 9% but comes after an opening 54km of the stage that is pretty much uphill all the way from San Michele all’Adige. A fast descent is followed by the harder of the two, the Cat. 1 Passo del Mortirolo (12.6km at 7.6%). Sure, the Mortirolo is tackled from its 'easy' Monno side, but the gradient still ramps up to 16% and damage will indubitably be done.

Things are far from over after the technical descent to Grosio, with 30km still separating the riders from the finish. The road climbs up to the foot of the punchy Cat. 3 ascent of Le Motte, where the road rises towards an old fort at an average tilt of 7.6%.

A short but fast two-tier descent into Bormio will offer fans something a little different and could be exploited by anyone who uses the final climb as a launchpad for glory. All in all, it promises to be an unpredictable stage which could play out in several ways.

Stage 19: Biella – Champoluc, 166km

Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 19 profile

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After a potential sprint stage to Cesano Maderno, where a breakaway could equally take advantage of weary legs, the race for pink resumes with what is arguably the most mouth-watering stage of the Giro. Just shy of 5,000m of vertical gain – the most in this year’s edition – spirits the riders over five categorised peaks.

The attacks should come thick and fast on the first climb, the Cat. 3 Croce Serra, before some kind of road hierarchy forms on the false-flat to the foot of the tough Cat. 1 Colle Tzecore (16km at 7.7%) with its seemingly relentless pitch and a maximum gradient of 15%.

Two more first-category climbs follow with the Col Saint-Pantaleon (16.5km at 7.2) and the Col de Joux (15.1km at 6.9%) before the final Cat. 2 rise to Antagnod (9.5km at a gentle 4.5%). A short 4km descent is followed by a flat final kilometre into Champoluc – a slightly anti-climatic end to what could nevertheless be the race’s most decisive day.

Still no climbs to high-altitude, but the volume of climbing and length of climbs make this as hard as any Grand Tour stage on the menu in 2025.

Stage 20: Verres – Sestriere, 203km

Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 20 profile

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Of course, the race organisers will hope that everything comes down to the Giro’s 25th visit to Sestriere – and given the relative ease of the route this year, they may well get their wish. The penultimate stage is a whopping 203km and features the Colle de Lys ahead of the eagerly anticipated Colle delle Finestre.

It was here that Chris Froome came back from the dead to wrest the maglia rosa from Simon Yates’s shoulders in 2018 after one of the most audacious and impressive solo attacks in modern cycling.

If Froome’s achievement to come back from a 3’22" deficit was not enough, then the fact that Yates plummeted out of pink and into 18th place a whopping 35 minutes down goes to show just how unforgiving the Finestre can be if combined with an off-day for even the best.

Packed with hairpins – including no fewer than 30 in a 3km stretch – the 18.5km ascent not only rises to 2,178m, but it also concludes with 8km of gravel. This year, the descent of the Finestre is followed by a 16.2km grind up the main highway to the ski resort of Sestriere. The average gradient is only 3.8%, but serious damage can be inflicted here on the wounded.

Of course, there remains one huge meteorological caveat: snow at the summit. The latest is that the snow has been cleared from the Colle delle Finestre – but there still remains another few weeks for a late-season dump…

The race ends the next day with Stage 21, eight loops of a city circuit in Rome and a final chance for the sprinters to get among the wins on a day that one of the big GC favourites will ride into the capital of Italy with the pink jersey on his back.

So, who is your money on – Roglic? UAE duo Ayuso and Adam Yates? The latter's brother, Simon? Britain's Tom Pidcock? Or perhaps an old hand like Richard Carapaz or Mikel Landa? You will have to stay tuned for our pink jersey guide later this week.

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