The battles over the cobbles and climbs in the classics have come and gone, the bunch has duked it out in the early-season stage races and now one of the toughest tests in cycling awaits the peloton – the Giro d’Italia.
With a race that is steeped in history, the 2025 edition of La Corsa Rosa provides some challenging terrain throughout the three weeks, in which everyone in the peloton will find something that suits their abilities.
Spread over the 21 stages there are two-time trials, some pure sprint opportunities, reduced bunch finishes, hilly and mountainous terrain that will tempt the breakaway artists, and the Giro’s typically tough mountains where the GC riders and climbing specialists will battle it out.
First through, a Grande Partenza in Albania awaits with the start of the race sure to be met with excitement and intrigue by local and global fans alike. One thing is for definite, Team Picnic PostNL will be line-up with a motivated squad that is ready to compete over different terrain as they hunt for stage results in the sprints and go for it in the mountains; in what will be Romain Bardet’s swansong Grand Tour.
Team Picnic PostNL coach Matt Winston explained more: “We can expect another challenging three-week route, starting from the first few stages in Albania before we head back across to Italy. We have a squad that has shown in recent races that they are building nicely, with morale and confidence within the group high. We’ll look to go for the sprint stages with Casper as our finisher, with the guys gelling together more and making final preparations throughout the recent week in Türkiye. Like last year, we will aim to ride the best GC possible as a team with Romain as our finisher there, and it will be a special moment for him on his last Grand Tour, while Max will also head into the race to test himself over three-weeks. We will also look for our opportunities to fight for stage wins and top results on the hilly and mountainous terrain too. Throughout the whole race we need to work together well as a team, commit to each other and our goals every day, and by doing so I am confident we can come across the line in Rome and reflect on a good Giro campaign.”
