The routes of the 2025 Giro d'Italia and Giro d'Italia Women will be presented in Rome on November 12, with the men's race expected to start in Albania and finish in the Italian capital.
The men's Giro d'Italia will be held between Friday, May 9 and Sunday, June 1, with the Giro d'Italia Women held between July 6-13, just two weeks before the 2025 Tour de France Femmes and during the first week of the men's Tour de France.
Tadej Pogačar won the men's Giro, while Elisa Longo Borghini won the women's race. Little is known about the route of the 2025 women's race but local Italian media have already leaked some details of the men's race.
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Race director Mauro Vegni all but confirmed the Albania Grande Partenza in a video interview with Bicisport, with three stages expected in the Balkan country before a plane and boat transfer across the Adriatic to Puglia, in southern Italy during an early rest day on Monday, May 12.
Italy has strengthened its ties with Albania after the election of right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni and the two countries have agreed on a migration deal that sees some illegal immigrants taken to Albania while their asylum requests are heard.
Italy and Albania have historical links due to their proximity and Italy invaded Albania in 1939 as fascist leader Benito Mussolini joined forces with Nazi Germany. Following the collapse of Communism in the Balkans in 1990, thousands of Albanian immigrants travelled to Italy.
The 2025 Giro d'Italia route is expected to head north from Puglia, touching both the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts and visiting Abruzzo, Campania and Tuscany. Vegni revealed that the 2025 race will include two time trials, with one expected between Lucca and Pisa in Tuscany.
The north-eastern Friuli Venezia Giulia region had hoped to host the start of the Giro in Trieste before RCS Sport struck a deal with Albania. The area will now host the key third weekend of racing. The final week will cross northern Italy with a final mountain stage confirmed by local authorities to end in the ski resort Sestriere near the French border, possibly with the climb of the Colle delle Finestre gravel road, where Chris Froome attacked to win the 2018 Corsa Rosa.
The final stage will again be in Rome after RCS Sport struck a lucrative deal with the capital. The stage could include a section on the rough cobbles of the Roman roads near the city.
"It's the Jubilee and so it'd be wrong if we didn't accept an invitation. For sure we'll finish in Rome," Vegni told Bicisport, referring to the Catholic Church's special year of grace planned for 2025.
Vegni also confirmed the Grande Partenza in Albania. "All the world knows where we're going to start from…" he said, confirming there would be three stages in Albania.
Limitation on stage lengths and transfers means there are unlikely to be any long transfers from one part of Italy to another beyond the trip from Albanian to Puglia and from Sestriere to Rome for the final stage.
The 2024 Giro d'Italia included 20% less climbing than in previous races and Vegni indicated the 2015 race will be similar, perhaps to entice other riders to attempt the Giro-Tour double.
"For sure there won't be a last week as hard as two years ago. There'll be a hard finale but it'll be balanced like this year, like each of the three weeks," Vegni said.
"There'll be some interesting things, such as gravel roads and other things. When we reveal things on November 12 and reveal the route of the stage in Rome, people will be pleasantly surprised."
Pogačar dominated the 2024 Giro d'Italia, winning six stages and leading for 20 days. He is unlikely to return in 2025 but Vegni is hoping to attract several other Grand Tour contenders. 2023 winner Primož Roglič has indicated he could return in 2025, with Juan Ayuso likely to lead UAE Team Emirates.
