After several delays, the route for the 2025 Giro d’Italia has finally been revealed. This May’s race sees a foreign start, very few summit finishes and a Strade Bianche-style gravel stage in Tuscany.
The 2025 Giro will start with three stages in Albania, including a time-trial around the capital Tirana on Stage 2. The high mountains appear after seven stages once the race reaches the Apennines before a gravel stage through Tuscany to round out the first week of racing. We’ll have to wait for the final week for another summit finish, however, which comes once the race reaches the Alps in time for a visit to the Colle delle Finestre, Passo di Mortirolo and Monte Grappa during the final week.
Reigning champion Tadej Pogačar isn’t expected to defend his Giro crown. Instead, two former champions Primož Roglič and Richard Carapaz will target a second Trofeo Senza Fine alongside the young UAE Team Emirates leader Juan Ayuso, Visma recruit Simon Yates and the retiring Romain Bardet. Will they be licking their lips at the 2025 route, however?
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Giro d’Italia 2025: Key information
- Dates: Friday 9th May – Sunday 1st June
- Start: Durrës, Albania
- Finish: Rome, Italy
- Total distance: 3413.3km
- Total elevation gain: 52,500m
- UK television coverage: Eurosport, Discovery+
- Most wins: Fausto Coppi, Alfredo Binda, Eddy Merckx (five)
- 2024 winner: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
Giro d’Italia 2025 route
Making its Grand Tour debut, Albania will host the 2025 Grande Partenza with three stages spanning the southern half of the country. After crossing the Adriatic, the race resumes after a rest day in Puglia with a succession of sprint stages across the Italian mainland towards Naples on the Tyrrhenian coastline. The first mountaintop finish comes at the new Giro finish to Tagliacozzo on Stage 7 before a Strade Bianche homage on Stage 9.
The second week opens with a 28km time-trial before a string of sprint and breakaway stages through Emilia-Romagna and Veneto. Slovenia makes a brief cameo on the route of Stage 15 ahead of a typically brutal final week through the Alps. The racing will reach its climax in the Valle d’Aosta over the final weekend, however, with Stage 19’s jam-packed profile and Stage 20’s long-awaited return to the gravelled slopes of the Colle delle Finestre.
From the northwest corner of the Italian mainland, we travel back south to Rome for the final stage’s sprint procession around the Italian capital. As has been the case since 2023, the Corsa Rosa will conclude outside the iconic Colosseum.
In total, the 2025 Giro covers 3,413km with over 52,500m of vertical climbing metres – a big increase on last year’s route. In terms of the stage types, there are six flat stages, eight hilly days, five mountain stages and two individual time-trials at a combined total of 42.3km. Despite the increase in climbing metres, however, the race organisers have been very reserved when it comes to mountaintop finishes. There are only three ‘proper’ summit finales in the 2025 percorso: Stages 7, 16 and 20.
Giro d'Italia 2025 route: stage by stage
Stage 1: Friday 8th May, Durrës – Tirana, 164km
The seaside resort of Durrës will see off the 2025 Giro d'Italia on a bumpy profile. During its final phase, the stage loops around the eastern hills of Tirana, tackling the climb up to Surrel on two occasions. The sprinters will have been thinned out by this point and we could see a reduced sprint, breakaway or a brave attacker take the victory.
Wout van Aert is due to start the Giro. This has his name all over it.
Stage 2: Saturday 9th May, Tirana – Tirana, 13.7km
The GC will see some early gaps due to Stage 2's brief 13km time-trial around the capital Tirana. Starting from Skanderbeg Square right in the heart of the city, the course will snake around the city streets, passing by the recently-built national football stadium en route to the Sauk hill (1km at 6%) next to the city's park. The riders will then shoot down towards Mother Teresa Square where the finish line will be placed.
Stage 3: Sunday 10th May, Vlorë – Vlorë, 161km
We leave the capital behind for Stage 3, taking the riders towards Albania's mountainous south. We pass the 1,000m altitude marker for the first time at the 2025 race as the riders crest Qafa e Llogarasë with 40km to go.
Stage 4: Tuesday 13th May, Alberobello – Lecce, 187km
Back on the Italian mainland, the race restarts in Puglia for a much flatter ride than the three in Albania. The purebred sprinters will be glad to finally get a chance at victory in the baroque city of Lecce.
Stage 5: Wednesday 14th May, Ceglie Messapica – Matera, 145km
Stage 5 is a little tougher than the day prior, with a lumpy final 30km through Basilicata towards the hilltop city of Matera.
Stage 6: Thursday 15th May, Potenza - Napoli, 177km
I don't know what kind of deal has been struck up between the mayor of Naples and the Giro organisers, but the southern city is making its fourth appearance in four years this May.
Stage 7: Friday 16th May, Castel di Sangro – Tagliacozzo, 168km
Italian football fans will be glad to see Castel di Sangro back on the map for 2025. The small Appenine town's football club reached Serie B (Italy's second division) after a miraculous promotion run that saw them move up five leagues.
Fooball might be forgotten about on Stage 7, however, as the mountains come thick and fast. The finale to Tagliacozzo is the first mountaintop finish of the 2025 race. Tagliacozzo is making its Giro debut, having not been used in a pro race since 1935. The ramps last 12km at a 5% average gradient, but the final 2km lifts to a 9% average.
Stage 8: 17th May, Giulianova – Castelraimondo, 153km
If this isn't a breakaway stage, I don't know what is.
Stage 9: Sunday 18th May, Gubbio – Siena, 181km
After an exciting gravel stage in 2024, the white roads are back for another year.
There's a total of 28.9km of strade bianche on offer over five sectors. Four of these off-road stretches were featured at the 2024 Strade Bianche, so they might be familiar to some riders. The final couple of kilometres will be the same as the aforementioned Classic, including the explosive steep climb up the Via Santa Catarina.
Stage 10: Tuesday 20th May, Lucca – Pisa, ITT, 28.6km
Week two begins with an immediate GC shake-up. This 28km-long solo test will be the second and final time-trial of the race. Its profile is relatively straightforward from Lucca to Pisa with the exception of a brief incline to the Foro di San Giuliano.
Stage 11: Wednesday 21st May, Viareggio – Castelnovo ne' Monti, 185km
Stage 11 has a meaty profile stretching over three main climbs. The toughest of them, the Alpe San Pellegrino reaches 15% during its final kilometres, however it comes with around 100km left on the agenda. The later climbs are less steep, but the relentless ups and downs could create some chaos.
Stage 12: Thursday 22nd May, Modena – Viadana, 172km
Another chance for the sprinters arrives on Stage 12. The final part of the stage will snake around an industrial estate in Viadana.
Stage 13: Friday 23rd May, Rovigo – Vicenza, 180km
Stage 13 wiggles through Veneto's winemaking hills in a jagged final 60km filled with short climbs. To top it off, the stage finishes on Vicenza's 1km-long Monte Berico. It's finally a chance for the thoroughbred puncheurs.
Stage 14: Saturday 24th May, Treviso – Nova Gorica, 186km
Starting in the historic city of Trieste, Stage 14 moves through Friuli towards the border with Slovenia. At 46km to go, we'll make the first international crossing of the day, before two more visits to Slovenia in the final part of the stage. It all ends in the border town of Nova Gorzia, the 2025 European city of culture.
Stage 15: Sunday 25th May, Fiume Veneto – Asiago, 214km
After its return in 2024, Monte Grappa makes another appearance on the Giro route – this time from a different side and with just under 100km to go. The 16km-long slope to Dori afterwards peaks at 30km to go, teetering the stage off into a long plateau to the arrival town of Asiago. It's there where Thibaut Pinot claimed his only Giro stage victory back in 2017.
It's a somewhat underwhelming end to the second week of racing.
Stage 16: Tuesday 27th May, Piazzola Sul Brenta – San Valentino, 199km
The final week opens up in style with a razor-tooth profile. There are five categorised climbs, including the 17km final challenge to San Valentino. The climb featured midway through a stage at the 2021 Giro, and on that day, Remco Evenepoel suffered a race-ending crash on the descent.
Stage 17: Wednesday 28th May, San Michele All-Adige – Bormio, 154km
Stage 17 features some heavy hitters. Starting with the Passo del Tonale, the race will brace itself for the stage's main attraction: the Mortirolo. This brute lasts for 12km at an average of 7.6%, but it shoots up to double digits at points. The run into Bormio isn't quite steep enough to be classified as an uphill, but it could break the chances of some tired riders.
Stage 18: Thursday 29th May, Morbegno – Cesano Maderno, 144km
A gentle rest of the legs while the sprinters to do the business comes on Stage 18.
Stage 19: Friday 30th May, Biella– Champoluc, 166km
There's just under 5,000m of elevation gain on this goliath through the Valle d'Aosta. There's almost no flat land at all throughout the 166km-long course.
Stage 20: Saturday 31st May, Verrès – Sestrière, 203km
After a seven-year hiatus, the Colle delle Finestre is back. The gravel mountain was last used in 2018 on the fateful day Chris Froome turned around the 2018 Giro d'Italia with a long solo move on its mythical slopes. After the Finestre is tackled, there's still one more climb left to lug over to get to Sestrière.
Stage 21: Sunday 1st June, Rome – Rome, 141km
Rome hosts the Giro's final stage once again. The peloton will brush past the Vatican en route to the Colosseum for one last hurrah.
