The opening stage of the 2025 Giro d'Italia has set the tone for the GC standings with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) claiming the chaotic sprint victory and securing the first maglia rosa in Tirana, Albania, as several overall Giro favourites lost time due to separations in the field and a late-race crash.
No one should be too surprised to see the Dane pull on the event's first overall leader's jersey because he started the day as the favourite to win the 160km race that started in Durrës. However, due to the number of climbs along the course, it pitted sprinters against Classics stars, and meant his victory was never certain.
Pedersen keyed off of his Lidl-Trek teammates, who had already shattered the field over the two ascents of the Surrel climb in the last 35km, and led him perfectly into the final bend of the race, where he took the victory ahead of Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Orluis Aular (Movistar Team).
As a result, Pederseon will lead the overall standings into the stage 2 time trial in Tirana with four seconds over runner-up Van Aert and six seconds over third-placed Aular.
Further down in the general classification, at 10 seconds back from Pedersen are Francesco Busatto (Intermarché-Wanty) in 4th place, Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) in 5th place, Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana) in 6th, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) in 7th, Max Poole (Picnic PostNL) in 8th, Nicola Conci (XDS Astana) in 9th and Davide Piganzoli (Polti VisitMalta) rounding out the standings in 10th.
Of the GC favourites Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) all managed to finish safely among the first group.
However, there were a few contenders who were not so fortunate including GC hopefuls like Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), who lost 1:07, and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), who lost 1:45, both distanced on the final ascents due to the blisting pace set by Lidl-Trek in pursuit of the stage win for Pedersen, while Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) lost 5:45.
The most unfortunate of the day was Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), who was involved in a heavy crash just outside 5km to go, and was forced to abandon the Giro d'Italia.
The Giro d'Italia will continue with stage 2, a 13.7km time trial in Tirana on Saturday that is sure to cause another shake-up in the GC standings.
Giro d'Italia GC standings
Results powered by FirstCycling
Giro d'Italia Classifications
These are the jersey classifications at the 2025 Giro d'Italia:
Click here for a more comprehensive rundown of all the classifications and prize money, including the intermediate sprints prize and the fighting spirit prize.
Maglia rosa – The pink jersey is worn by the overall race leader on the general classification, who has completed the stages in the lowest accumulated time.
Maglia ciclamino – The cyclamen jersey indicates the points classification leader. Riders accrue points each stage at the two intermediate sprints and at stage finishes. The rider with the most points leads the ranking and wears the cyclamen jersey.
Maglia azzurra – The blue jersey is for the mountain classification. Points are handed out to the first riders over specific categorised hills and mountain climbs during the Giro. The highest and steepest mountains award the most points. The rider with the most points leads the ranking and wears the blue jersey.
Maglia bianca – The white jersey is for the leader of the best young rider classification. It is calculated b[based on the time races, like the maglia rosa, but only riders aged 25 or under are eligible to win it and wear it.
