Analysing the Giro d'Italia Women 2025 contenders – Can Elisa Longo Borghini stop Anna van der Breggen from a record-tying fifth overall victory?

The Giro d'Italia Women will mark its 36th anniversary with the 2025 edition from July 6-13, its second year under the RCS Sport umbrella and its final year in this time slot before moving to a new late-May date in 2026.

The Italian Grand Tour will once again offer the peloton a demanding race routed through some of the toughest mountain passes the cycling-friendly country has to offer, this time showcasing three summit finishes – Aprica, Valdobbiadene and Monte Nerone – and 14,300m of elevation gain to help decide who will become the new overall champion.

There will be plenty of riders to watch and storylines to follow during the eight-day event, from Marianne Vos' attempt to add to her record 32 career stage wins at the Italian Grand Tour to the return of a four-time GC winner.

With the full team rosters only recently confirmed, Cyclingnews examines the riders who are in the hunt for the maglia rosa.

Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ)

Buoyed by winning a sixth road race title, Elisa Longo Borghini will be wearing one of the most recognisable jerseys - the tricolore of the Italian national champion - while racing on home soil at the Giro d'Italia Women. The only other jersey that could eclipse it is the maglia rosa, and Longo Borghini has every intention of putting her best foot forward in her plight to claim that too and make it a second consecutive win.

Racing for UAE Team ADQ, the squad has a real shot at winning the overall classification for the first time since garnering its naming sponsors in 2022.

In just a few months, Longo Borghini has brought much experience and success to the programme with an overall win at the UAE Tour, victories at Dwars door Vlaanderen and Brabantse Pijl as well as other top performances at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Milan-San Remo.

She has limited stage racing under her belt this year, but finished second overall at the Vuelta a Burgos, and with another victory at the national championships, Longo Borghini appears to be ready to defend her title at the Italian Grand Tour with a powerful support team that includes Silvia Persico, Brodie Chapman, Alena Amialiusik and Erica Magnaldi.

Anna van der Breggen and Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime)

Lotte Kopecky has been clear about her ambitions to target the Tour de France while Anna van der Breggen appears to be aiming for a record-tying fifth victory at the Giro d'Italia. They will both be on the start line at the Giro d'Italia, and arguably are both contenders for the overall title under the SD Worx-Protime colours.

Van der Breggen's history with the Italian Grand Tour is more straightforward, having won four previous overall titles, which makes her the obvious favourite. However, Kopecky was second overall in last year's edition of the Giro and second overall at the Tour de France Femmes in 2023, proving her strengths as a climber on the iconic slopes of the Col du Tourmalet and Blockhaus, respectively.

Van der Breggen has had a strong season, so far, especially as this is her first year returning to the peloton following a three-year retirement. She has had respectable performances with a third overall at Setmana Valenciana, second at Strade Bianche, and third overall at La Vuelta Femenina.

The Dutch rider has said that her form needs to improve, and that she is not, yet, where she was pre-retirement, but since then she has had nearly a month and a half to continue to build her strengths in the mountains coming into this Giro d'Italia.

Her familiarity with the race, and its unpredictable nature and mountainous backdrop, will only help her succeed in earning another top results in this Grand Tour.

Marlen Reusser (Movistar)

Marlen Reusser has emerged as one of the main contenders for the stage races this season, especially following her back-to-back overall victories at Vuelta a Burgos and Tour de Suisse.

A major team change, transferring from SD Worx-Protime to Movistar, has allowed her to reach new heights as a stage racer and she credits the support of her Movistar teammates for her success.

She has also achieved other notable results this year, including a win at the Mallorca Challenge and a second-place overall finish at Setmana Valenciana.

This success comes after a challenging year in 2024, impacted by illness and injuries, but she has clearly bounced back and is ready to continue building toward Grand Tour success.

Reusser is scheduled to compete at both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, and will be a likely contender in both events, keeping the door open for both the maglia rosa and the yellow jersey.

With an opening time trial set to kick off the Giro d'Italia, Reusser could even be in the overall leader's jersey in Bergamo.

Shirin van Anrooij and Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek)

Elisa Longo Borghini's move to UAE Team ADQ appeared to open the door for Gaia Realini to become a main overall contender in mountainous stage races like the Giro d'Italia, but she was notably absent from the team's roster for her home Grand Tour.

Realini could very well be focused on the Tour de France Femmes later in the month, and the squad does line up with several options to play for stage wins, with Lucinda Brand and Anna Henderson, and a high place on the overall standings with Shirin van Anrooij.

These riders haven't had particularly strong performances in the stage races this year, largely because they have primarily played support roles, but all three are powerful riders, and given the leadership role, could shine in Italy.

They are aggressive racers, often hunting breakaways, stage victories and special jerseys. In addition, Henderson and Van Anrooij were also part of the winning team time trial squad at La Vuelta Femenina.

Van Anrooij has made a strong comeback after surgery to correct iliac artery endofibrosis and the team have outlined that she will test herself on the overall classification.

The squad will also have the experienced Amanda Spratt combined with newer talent Isabella Holmgren, who recently won the mountainous Durango-Durango Emmakumeen Saria and was 14th overall at Tour de Suisse and Itzulia Women.

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto)

Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto have confirmed Antonia Niedermaier, who won the mountainous stage 5 into Ceres in 2023, and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, who has been a regular contender at the Giro d'Italia over the last decade, finishing fourth overall in 2020 and sixth place in 2018, 2022, 2023, before coming eighth last year.

Uttrup Ludwig's consistency in the top 10 at the Giro d'Italia makes her the go-to team leader, especially in Kasia Niewiadoma's absence as she prepares to defend her Tour de France title later in July.

The Dane joined Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto this season and bolstered the team's GC and climbing group, giving them another option to play with in the major stage race. This could be the year where she cracks the top three and lands on the overall podium in Italy.

Niedermaier is also a consistent stage racer since joining Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto in 2022. The 22-year-old's best year was in 2024, when she finished sixth overall at both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de Suisse.

She has continued that trajectory into this season, too, with a seventh overall finish at the UAE Tour and an eighth overall at Itzulia Women.

Taking on a leadership role at the Giro d'Italia would mark the next step in Niedermaier's career, helping deliver her experiences that could be crucial in future Grand Tours.

The team will also field a powerful sprinter in Chiara Consonni and so could potentially split their support in two directions: stage wins and general classification prospects.

Évita Muzic and Juliette Labous (FDJ-SUEZ)

Évita Muzic and Juliette Labous will lead the FDJ-SUEZ team into the Giro d'Italia, while Demi Vollering remains focussed solely on the Tour de France Femmes.

Muzic has proven her strengths as an overall contender, notably finishing 8th overall in 2022 and fourth overall in 2024 at her home Tour in France, showing her strength on major ascents; Le Grand Bornand and third atop Alpe d'Huez.

In addition to those performances, she was 6th overall at La Vuelta Femenina in 2023 and fifth in 2024, where she won the stage to La Laguna Negra. Vinuesa and finished second on the stage to Valdesquí. Comunidad de Madrid. She also finished second overall at Vuelta a Burgos and had a strong fourth place at La Flèche Wallonne, often in 2024 racing head-to-head against then-rival Vollering.

Her compatriot Labous has joined FDJ-SUEZ from Team dsm-firmenich PostNL and offers the French team a third all-rounder for the Grand Tours. She has finished fourth, fifth and ninth overall at the Tour de France Femmes.

Elsewhere, Labous has won the overall title at Vuelta a Burgos, and finished on the overall podium at Itzulia Women, The Women's Tour and the Giro d'Italia, where she won stage 6 atop Passo del Maniva in 2022.

Together, Muzic and Labous give FDJ-SUEZ two strong options, with a chance to play off of one another's strengths in the hunt for the maglia rosa.

Pauliena Rooijakkers and Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck)

Pauliena Rooijakkers turned heads at the 2024 Tour de France when she finished third overall, just ten seconds behind overall winner Kasia Niewiadoma and six behind runner-up Demi Vollering.

She made the move from Canyon-SRAM to Fenix-Deceuninck in 2024, which gave her a solid opportunity to compete as the sole general classification leader in many of the big races on the WorldTour.

Last year was her best season, finishing 6th overall at the UAE Tour, sixth at Flèche Wallonne, ninth overall at La Vuelta Femenina, fourth overall at the Giro d'Italia Women and 3rd overall at the Tour de France Femmes.

Although she hasn't had the same success at the start of this year, the Giro d'Italia offers her another chance and, with punchy to high-mountain terrain being her specialty, watch for her to make a mark on this race.

She also has a capable teammate in Yara Kastelijn, a former Tour stage winner, who has proven to work very well alongside Rooijakkers at last year's Tour de France. She has consistently placed inside the top 10 in the biggest stage races, but has never raced in the Italian Grand Tour, so this could be a revealing Giro.

Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health)

Returning to racing last year with Human Powered Health, Ruth Edwards is still finding her legs in the Grand Tours, but her experience and strength make her a suitable leader for the American team at this Giro d'Italia.

She is a former winner of a stage of the Giro in 2018, where she led the overall classification and wore the maglia rosa. Since then, she has won the overall title at the Tour Down Under in 2020 and the Thüringen Ladies Tour in 2024.

She started out this season with a strong ninth place overall at the Tour Down Under and sixth at Cadel Evans Road Race, and then recently won the time trial title at the Pan American Championships and finished third at the hilly Navarra Women's Elite.

A strong time trialist, Edwards could turn heads in the opening stage in Bergamo.

Ashleigh Moolman and Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal)

Sarah Gigante debuted at the Tour de France Femmes in 2024, where she finished seventh overall, despite facing several challenges along the way. Her efforts demonstrated her tenacity in the mountains and her ability to perform well in the overall classification at the Grand Tours.

She has not competed at the Giro d'Italia before, but with three mountaintop finishes and a time trial to start, this could be a race that suits her well. The race has been known for its chaos and unpredictability, but if Gigante can focus on staying safely in the field, not lose valuable time, and shine in the mountains at Aprica, Valdobbiadene and Monte Nerone, she could truly be among the podium contenders for this Giro d'Italia.

She has an experienced teammate in Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, who gives the team another card to play at the Giro, but she has already stated that her focus will be on the Tour de France Femmes later in July.

Marta Cavalli (Picnic PostNL)

A home favourite, Marta Cavalli stood on the podium in second overall at the Giro d'Italia in 2022, that same year she won Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race, but faced a long road to recovery after a crash later that summer at the Tour de France.

Cavalli has not quite made it back to her previous strength but, with a change in teams from FDJ-SUEZ to Picnic PostNL, she has a chance at a fresh start and new goals.

She lines up as the team's primary overall classification leader and her previous experience in racing for the maglia rosa plus knowledge of the climbs in Italy give her an edge on the competition.

She is a strong climber and will be a contender for the three mountaintop stages. She will likely have spent time training on these ascents in preparation for the Giro with her new team but only time will tell how she stacks up against riders like Anna van der Breggen and her compatriot Elisa Longo Borghini.

The team also lines up with potential stage winners in Pfeiffer Georgi, Becky Storrie, Josie Nelson and Eleonora Ciabocco.

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