After the dominance of Tadej Pogačar at the 2024 Giro d'Italia, this year's race should be a much closer affair without the Slovenian, but with a number of riders who will fight for stage victories and overall victory all the way to Rome.
There were few riders in Rome for the 2025 Giro d'Italia route presentation on Monday night but Giro race director Mauro Vegni revealed that he is still in negotiations with several big-name riders teams.
Cyclingnews understands that Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) could be a surprise addition to the Giro start list and fight for stages in May.
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He recently admitted he could skip the Tour de France and focus on mountain biking in 2025, perhaps after riding the Giro to appease his Alpecin-Deceuninck team. Van der Poel rode the Giro in 2022 and won a stage in Budapest.
"We've still got some negotiations open with some big riders," Giro d'Italia race director Mauro Vegni told Cyclingnews in Rome, refusing to reveal names.
"Some have confirmed they'll ride the Giro and some have said they won't but I hope by the end of the month, we'll know exactly who will be at the start of the Giro in Albania.
"Last year Pogačar was the stand-out name. He didn't 'kill' the race because he's a huge draw and so people came to see him race and to win. He did that but for 2025 the important thing is that the riders fight for victory on every stage, right to the end in Rome."
Pogačar is expected to soon announce he will focus on the Tour and Vuelta in 2025 rather than a repeat of the Giro-Tour double. Juan Ayuso, Adam Yates and Isaac del Toro will lead UAE Team Emirates in his absence.
Jonas Vingegaard also expected to confirm he will focus on the Tour de France when Visma-Lease a Bike reveal their 2025 Grand Tour plans on Tuesday. Wout van Aert and Olav Kooij will fly the flag for Visma-Lease a Bike at the Giro, with the Belgian targeting the first maglia rosa in Albania, while Kooij takes aim at the expected six sprint finishes. Van Aert and van der Poel could clash in a Grand Tour extension of their Classics rivalry.
2023 winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is likely to be the initial favourite for overall victory at the 2025 Giro but Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-Easypost), while Romain Bardet and Max Poole (Picnic PostNL) are all threats, with Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) also a rider to watch with interest.
Vegni has still to reveal the final three wild card invitations for the Corsa Rosa and appears to be negotiating hard with Tudor Pro Cycling, Q36.5, Team Polti VisitMalta and VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè. He appears against the idea of having 23 teams at the Giro, Tour and Vuelta to ease the wild card conundrum.
