Domestique's Greatest Hits: the 2025 Giro d'Italia

Part of the beauty of a Grand Tour is in its diversity. With arenas ranging from soaring peaks to rolling hills, and race days varying in intensity from relentless attacking to long, soporific journeys towards inevitable bunch sprints, they are a tapestry of what cycling has to offer, both to its participants on the road, and to the fans watching at home.

Just as we all have favoured riders or teams, we also view the racing through lenses tinted by our own personal preferences. Some people love the chaos and unpredictability of gravel or cobbled stages, while others revel in the purity of man against mountain, captivated by the strung out peloton on the switchbacks of one of the sport’s lauded summits. Some people even enjoy a time trial (more on that as we have it).

We asked our pool of creators to reflect on three memorable weeks at the Giro d’Italia, and to argue their case for which stage was the best. Here is what they had to say.

Stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia was an example of the kind of stage that often happens in Grand Tours. A big GC favourite, Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in this case, takes the race lead earlier than they had planned and so they allow a break to go up the road and take the jersey away.

All the teams knew that this was likely. That meant that every man and his dog wanted to force a breakaway. Repeated attacks off the front of the peloton with brief stalls to try to let a break go, then a new plethora of moves came. It was utter carnage. 

A move got away with the best placed riders being an XDS-Astana duo, Lorenzo Fortunato and Diego Ulissi. The size of the break meant that calm didn’t last and carnage ensued again. After a flurry of accelerations, Ulissi escaped with Kelderman, later joined by Igor Arrieta and Lucas Plapp, putting the Tuscan in the virtual lead of the race. Meanwhile, back in the peloton, UAE Team Emirates-XRG were riding hard to keep Roglič in pink. 

The break continued to push on and managed to keep a solid gap despite the pressure from the peloton. However, attacks started up front with Plapp going clear with just over 40km to go. Arrieta tried before being caught and eventually dropped by Ulissi and Kelderman who continued to chase Plapp. There was a tension over whether Ulissi would get to wear pink in his home region of Tuscany the next day or not.

In the end, Plapp took the stage with Kelderman pipping Ulissi to the six-second bonus on the line. It was enough, though. Ulissi took the Giro lead for the first time in his career. The 35-year-old led the race by twelve seconds over Fortunato with Roglič at 0:17. 

While not being integral in the overall fight in the end, stage 8 was a beautiful stage that illustrated the poetic carnage of this wonderful sport. These stages really make a Grand Tour what it is. It is a grinding down of the very best. Plapp finished last the following day and eventually abandoned the race after giving his all. Ulissi kept pink for just a day, but it is a memory he will hold forever. 

Stage 9, from Gubbio to Siena, delivered a dramatic and chaotic spectacle, featuring 29 kilometres of Tuscan gravel that upended the race - a ‘mini Strade Bianche.’ The day began at a furious pace, with a six-man breakaway kept under tight control by teams with GC ambitions. The real action ignited on the first gravel sector at Pieve a Salti, 70km from the finish, as dust and relentless attacks shattered the peloton. Defending leader Diego Ulissi, along with top contenders Primož Roglič and Tom Pidcock, were among those caught out by crashes and mechanicals, losing important time in the GC competition. 

Amid the chaos, a select group emerged: Wout van Aert, Isaac Del Toro, Egan Bernal, and Mathias Vacek. On the steep Colle Pinzuto climb, Del Toro’s acceleration left only Van Aert able to follow. The duo worked together to distance their rivals before duelling for the win in Siena’s iconic Piazza del Campo. 

The stage was decided on the steep Via Santa Caterina, where Isaac Del Toro attacked in the final kilometre, but Wout van Aert held his wheel and launched a powerful sprint in the last 500 metres to win in Siena - this moment, I believe, glued all cycling fans to the television; the climax of cycling at its best was back. 

Wout van Aert’s victory on stage 9 of the 2025 Giro d’Italia was a powerful statement of resilience and class. After months of setbacks and criticism, Van Aert conquered the iconic gravel roads of Tuscany and outsprinted Isaac del Toro in Siena’s Piazza del Campo to claim his first win since recovering from injury; it was more than just a victory. Del Toro’s aggressive riding earned him the maglia rosa, making him the first Mexican to lead the Giro. 

Wout van Aert’s victory on stage 9 of the 2025 Giro d’Italia was a powerful statement of resilience and class. After months of setbacks and criticism, Van Aert conquered the iconic gravel roads of Tuscany and outsprinted Isaac del Toro in Siena’s Piazza del Campo to claim his first win since recovering from injury; it was more than just a victory. Del Toro’s aggressive riding earned him the maglia rosa, making him the first Mexican to lead the Giro. 

The gravel stage reignited debate about the place of such risky terrain in a Grand Tour, as luck and mechanicals can dramatically alter the race. Yet, as this stage proved, while ‘absence of bad luck’ plays a role, the strongest legs still shape the outcome. The inherent danger and unpredictability are part of cycling’s enduring drama, delivering a day that reshaped the Giro’s narrative. 

Tactically, the majority of cycling’s modern era is characterised by caution and calculation. It’s a mathematical puzzle of judging where to save energy and where to use it. However, this sport is at its most thrilling when caution is thrown to the wind.

As the riders climbed the Pietra di Bismantova in the finale of stage 11, the favourites were stuck in that calculation, judging their effort in a least-risk move not to lose time in the overall. Apart from Richard Carapaz.

As others looked around, the Ecuadorian smashed it on the climb’s steepest section. He was the one willing to take a risk – and it paid off. Carapaz unleashed a frightening acceleration with 9km to go that was a call-back to a previous era, when riders raced on instinct and risked all for the chance of glory. No-one followed, too scared or too weak to go with the 2019 Giro champion. Carapaz held on to the finish, taking back ten seconds plus bonuses on the pink jersey. It was an attack typical of Carapaz’s career; swashbuckling, fearless and explosive.

It’s my favourite stage of the race because of Carapaz’s aggression, but also because it was a sign of things to come as the EF Education-EasyPost leader attacked again and again and again in his quest for pink. Stage 11 foreshadowed the threat that Carapaz would pose to UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s grip on the race, although ultimately it would come to nought for him on the decisive penultimate stage.

Stage 16 of this Giro had everything to be a contender for one of the best stages of the year. From the start the race was crazy, with a hectic battle for the breakaway under heavy rain. The tension in the peloton after a rest day caused many crashes, including the one of Primož Roglič and Richard Carapaz, that forced the Slovenian to leave the race. A few kilometres later, another big favourite had to say goodbye to his hopes for the maglia rosa, as Juan Ayuso was dropped on the slopes of the Santa Barbara. 

If no one was able to make a decision on this climb among the favourites, the last ascent of the day – the Passo di San Valentino – really made this day incredible. Indeed, with seven kilometres to go Simon Yates was the first podium contender to attack. The Briton was countered by Carapaz who managed to drop everyone, coming back on Roglič’s teammate Giulio Pellizzari who anticipated the battle.

Meanwhile at the front, XDS-Astana’s duo Cristian Scaroni and Lorenzo Fortunato celebrated the first Italian win of this Giro, the maglia rosa Isaac del Toro showed his first signs of weakness as he lost more than 1:30 on his Ecuadorian rival Carapaz. By showing the limits of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, this stage totally reshuffled the cards and promised an incredible battle for the end of the Giro, with the top three all within 31 seconds of one another.

I've always been drawn to other disciplines like cyclo-cross, but road cycling offers something that track, MTB and not even gravel can match: the fundamental weight of team tactics. Yes, there are times when tactics become irrelevant — and others when we overrate them. But during my favourite stage of this Giro, finishing at the legendary Sestriere after climbing the brutal Colle delle Finestre, the race hinged on strategy and decision-making. And, of course, on legs. 

Simon Yates delivered one of the best climbs of his career, closing the wound of 2018 in a display of cunning and redemption. Yet I can’t stop thinking about what happened behind. UAE and EF chose not to place a rider in the large breakaway, while Visma had one of the world’s best rouleurs up the road — perfect for the false flats and the steady gradients of Sestriere.

Race leader Isaac del Toro faced a historic opportunity, carved out not only against his rivals but against dissent within his own team bus. And he remained calm — a composure we hadn't seen from him throughout the Giro. By the time the group reached the midway point of Finestre, the gap to Yates was edging into dangerous territory, with the spectre of Wout van Aert looming... And the response was to take no decision at all. Del Toro sat on wheels, Carapaz attacked sporadically, and Derek Gee survived as best he could. 

With every pause, Yates moved closer to the Trofeo Senza Fine. When the moment came to react, Carapaz shook his head — almost theatrically — as if accepting that second or third no longer made a difference. But there’s a world between winning and coming second. Keeping a cool head is one thing; being passive is another. 

No one did more to win the Giro than Carapaz, no one did more to lose it than UAE, and no one was more astute than Visma and Simon Yates. The Finestre distils everything that makes cycling a sport both aesthetically and symbolically superior to others: it’s long, brutal, stunning — both on the tarmac and gravel — and it rises to altitude. It’s a mountain pass that opens up the race, just as it has on the rare occasions it’s been included previously. And now it has added a new chapter to the sport’s collective memory. 

The Finestre, and this stage, are now part of cycling’s heritage.

You’ve heard the arguments, now it’s time to decide: who made the best case? Has anyone managed to sway your opinion? Or perhaps you were influenced only by the events as they unfolded on the road. It’s unquestionable that this Giro d’Italia produced a select few stages that will live long in the memory, and in the case of at the very least the penultimate stage, in the sport’s history too. 

Ordinarily at Grand Tours, there are a handful of stages that could be classed as ‘boring’ – you know the ones I mean. Riders chat to their friends. Wave to the camera. Pull silly faces. Come on guys, at least pretend that it’s hard? For me, part of this Giro's charm was the absence of such stages. There were a few that were quieter than others but thanks to riders like Mads Pedersen, Lorenzo Fortunato, Richard Carapaz, Egan Bernal and Isaac del Toro, to name but a few, the race was animated and exhilarating, even at points where it wasn’t meant to be. I’d be surprised if come August, we could say the same about the Tour de France. 

Moreover, who doesn't love a breakaway winner? This year's corsa rosa boasted no fewer than seven of these fantastic, unexpected stories, with riders not part of the overall narrative able to grasp their moment to step out of the shadows and into glory, for one brilliant day. Perhaps one of these captured your heart and imagination, above these pivotal moments in the battle for pink.

What was your favourite stage of this year’s Giro? Join the conversation on our social media channels, or in the comments below.