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Sunday June 1, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. - H. L. Mencken
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Current racing:
- May 9 - June 1: Giro d'Italia
- May 29 - June 1: Tour of Norway
Upcoming racing:
- June 8: Brussels Cycling Classic
- June 8 - 15: Critérium du Dauphiné
Latest completed racing:
- May 14 - 18: 4 Jours de Dunkerque
- May 18: Rund um Köln
- May 13: Classique Dunkerque
- May 11: Tro-Bro Léon
- May 10: GP du Morbihan
- May 9: Tour du Finistère
- April 27 - May 4: Tour of Turkey
- April 29 - May 4: Tour de Romandie
- May 1: Rund um den Finanzplaz Eschborn-Frankfurt
- April 27: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- April 24 - 27: Vuelta Asturias
We posted the report from stage winner Chris Harper's Team Jayco AlUla with the results.
Here's the Giro report from new GC leader Simon Yates' Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Simon Yates took charge of the Giro d’Italia on its penultimate day. In the grueling 20th stage, the 32-year-old Brit left his rivals behind on the legendary Colle delle Finestre. Thanks to the impressive support of Wout van Aert, Yates managed to erase his deficit in the general classification and turn it to his advantage. Tomorrow, he will ride into Rome in the pink jersey. “I can’t believe it.”
Simon Yates will ride the final stage in pink. Sirotti photo
“I felt amazing today,” Yates said afterward. “I hadn’t really shown what I was capable of in this Giro yet, but today everything clicked. When the route was announced last winter, I immediately had this stage marked. I had some unfinished business here. I wanted to show what I was worth, no matter the result.”
“This makes up for a lot,” he added. “There have been plenty of setbacks leading up to this. Every season I keep giving everything I have. Winning the Giro would be a great reward for all the hard work over the past few years. I also need to thank my teammates. In the tough moments of the past three weeks, they always stood by me. This one’s for them.”
Yates started the day with a deficit of nearly one and a half minutes to GC leader Isaac Del Toro. The iconic Colle delle Finestre proved to be the decisive climb of the day. It was on this very ascent that Yates saw his hopes of winning the Giro evaporate in 2018. Today, he was determined to set the record straight.
After the start in Verrès, a large breakaway - including Van Aert - established a solid lead. With just over 40 kilometers to go, the breakaway reached the foot of the Finestre. Van Aert wisely settled into his own rhythm. Meanwhile, the GC contenders began their battle on the steep slopes.
Del Toro and his closest challenger Richard Carapaz were glued to each other’s wheels. Then came Yates’s decisive move. With a well-timed attack, the Brit quickly opened up a gap of around 40 seconds. He steadily increased his lead as the climb wore on. Near the summit, he had nearly two minutes on his rivals, which was enough to take the pink jersey.
On the descent, Yates rejoined teammate Van Aert, who had dropped back from the break. The Belgian put in a tremendous effort to guide his leader toward the final climb to Sestrière. Yates’s virtual lead in the general classification continued to grow. He crossed the line in third place, while Del Toro’s group arrived more than five minutes later. With that, Yates jumped to the top of the GC. Tomorrow, he will start the final stage to Rome in the Maglia Rosa.
Sports director Marc Reef was full of praise for the team's performance: “Of course we were secretly hoping for this scenario, but we never expected it to play out this perfectly. Carapaz and Del Toro were watching each other, and Simon attacked at exactly the right moment. The plan we laid out was executed down to the finest detail. Wout’s work was also instrumental today. This is a fantastic result for the team. Simon has ridden a smart race, and today he showed just how strong he really is.”
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Here's the Giro report from fourth-place Gianmarco Garofoli's Team Soudal Quick-Step:
Gianmarco Garofoli rode to a remarkable top five on the penultimate day of the Giro d’Italia – his best result in a Grand Tour – at the end of a brutal day of racing, with four classified climbs and 4400 vertical meters. The stage had all the ingredients to be a thriller, and the 22-year-old Italian – who on Saturday announced his contract extension with Soudal Quick-Step – ended up being in the spotlight
Colle delle Finestre, which has achieved mythical status despite having been discovered by the Corsa Rosa just two decades ago, was this year’s Cima Coppi and the biggest hurdle of the day, an 18km beast with double-digit gradients and unsurfaced roads that seriously whittle down both the breakaway and the peloton. Soudal Quick-Step had both Gianmarco and Ethan Hayter in the leading group, which started the fearsome climb with a massive ten-minute advantage.
When the race splintered, Garo found himself in the first chasing group, pacing his effort smartly and not wasting energy by going over the limit, especially on the steepest part of the ascent. Soudal Quick-Step’s Italian crested the top in third place and recovered a bit on the downhill before being joined by a small GC group. On the climb to Sestriere, gaps were made again, and Gianmarco dug deep to finish the stage won by Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) ahead of the favourites’ group and take a well-deserved fourth place.
Gianmarco Garofoli finishes fourth. Sirotti photo
“If you had asked me this morning about my chances of getting a good result, I wouldn’t have said I can take a top five. The crashes in which I have been involved these weeks and the pain I had in the back stopped me from pushing really hard, and at one point I thought about retiring, but I continued to believe in my dream of winning a stage and managed to overcome all these setbacks.”
“I didn’t feel good today, but I tried to get in the breakaway, and with each kilometer spent there, my confidence grew and the pain was slowly going away. This fourth place is the maximum I could get in these conditions. I know it’s now a victory, but I showed again that I’m a fighter and I never give up. I will return here and I’m sure that one day I will get my stage win at the Giro d’Italia”, said Gianmarco after his best ever result in a Grand Tour.
Here's the giro report from Egan Bernal's Team INEOS Grenadiers:
Egan Bernal will ride into Rome in seventh place overall at the Giro d'Italia following a gusty effort on the final day of general classification racing.
The Colombian battled hard to limit his losses on the infamous Finestre climb, setting his own tempo following a barrage of attacks amongst the GC contenders.
Digging deep to only lose one place on the way to the finish in Sestriere, Bernal will seal a brilliant top-10 finish if he crosses the line safely on Sunday. The result sees the INEOS Grenadiers rider return to the GC battle in Grand Tours following his life-threatening accident just over three years ago.
Egan Bernal finishing stage 19. Sirotti photo
The race's maglia rosa battle was turned on its head on the final GC day, with Simon Yates (Visma | Lease a Bike) mounting a daring long-range attack to move into the lead by 3:56. Reminiscent of the same attack from Chris Froome in 2018, Yates finished third on the stage, with breakaway member Chris Harper (Jayco AlUla) taking the win.
Kim Heiduk was also present in the move, getting up the road early before the group ultimately swelled to 32 riders.
Egan Bernal: “I was fine, but I was also aware than the rest of the riders were quite strong. Once in the Finestre climb, I set my own pace and I kept it all the way to the finish.
“It has been a beautiful, special Giro for me. It has been quite hard, yet I’ve enjoyed it a lot, both the race and the pleasure of riding my bike. Even when I was feeling empty today, I was thinking I wanted to remember every pedal stroke. Regardless of my final position in the standings, being able to play for the GC has felt like a dream.”
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Here's the Giro report from GC fourth-place Derek Gee's Team Israel-Premier Tech:
Derek Gee pulled off another impressive performance on stage 20 of the Giro d’Italia, staying with the main GC favorites to consolidate his fourth place in the general classification with only the final stage remaining.
“Obviously, when you’re in fourth place, you want the podium. But I had the fourth-best legs. Those guys were well above me today, so there was nothing I could do. I’m just happy to be here, in this position – especially when you consider the time lost at the start of the race,” Gee explained after the finish.
Derek Gee finishes stage 17. Sirotti photo
As the GC battle kicked off on the grueling gradients on Colle delle Finestre, Gee kept a cool head, maintaining his own pace and not trying to follow the explosive accelerations from race leader Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).
“I didn’t really have the energy to think about what Del Toro and Carapaz were doing. I just did my own ride. It would have been suicide for me to try and go with those guys. With the kind of kick they have and their ability to recover from it, I would have been gone really, really quick.”
In the end, only Simon Yates (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) managed to distance the other GC riders, eventually racing into the pink jersey. Meanwhile, Gee did well to keep Del Toro and Carapaz in check on the final climb, finishing 11th on the stage to maintain his fourth place overall.
IPT sports director Sam Bewley said: “We knew that today could produce a real shake-up in the GC, and we expected it to be hard from the bottom of Colle delle Finestre – but maybe not as hard as it ended up being. Derek did a fantastic climb, an intelligent climb, and once again, he produced a great performance to consolidate his fourth place on GC as we head to Rome tonight.”
On Sunday, the Giro d’Italia concludes with a flat stage for the sprinters in the Italian capital.
And here's the Giro stage twenty report from Team Groupama-FDJ:
On the twentieth stage of the Giro d’Italia, the last one in the mountains, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team wanted to shoot its final bullets this Saturday. So, heading towards the iconic Colle delle Finestre and the finish in Sestriere, half the squad actually took part in the day’s breakaway! Enzo Paleni, who hit the front from the start, was later joined by Kevin Geniets, Quentin Pacher, and Rémy Rochas. The latter managed to stay away from almost all the favorites to secure a fine fifth place at the end of a stunning day. Everything will end in Rome on Sunday.
Rémy Rochas finishes fifth in stage 20. Sirotti photo
At the end of the day’s 205 kilometres, the riders could almost see the “Eternal City”. Yet, before reaching the Italian capital to cap off this 2025 Giro, one last bit of courage was required on Saturday in a twentieth stage including 4,400 metres of elevation gain, but above all the legendary, partially unpaved Colle delle Finestre (18.4 km at 9.2%). Although the finish was located in Sestriere thirty kilometers further, it was on this climb that everything was supposed to settle down, but it all started with another intense fight for the breakaway.
Enzo Paleni managed to enter a solid group from the beginning, then after several unsuccessful counterattacks, a group of twenty managed to go clear in pursuit. Inside it were three other Groupama-FDJ riders: Rémy Rochas, Kevin Geniets, and Quentin Pacher. After forty kilometres, the day’s breakaway was definitively formed. “We wanted to keep the momentum of the last two weeks and put at least two or even three riders in front,” explained Jussi Veikkanen. “In a group of thirty-three, we ended up with four men in the lead! This morning, we said we shouldn’t be satisfied with just having one man in front. We always had to be there in the chasing groups, and the briefing was very much respected from that point of view.”
“It was an iconic stage and we wanted to be at the front to compete for the best possible result,” added Rémy. “We ended up with four of us, which was really good. It was our best day as a team regarding the breakaways.” As it didn’t include any riders high up in the GC, the leading group was also able to take a large lead. “The closest rider overall was over an hour off, and everyone was really keen to take as much of a lead as possible,” added Jussi. “The gap was ten minutes at the bottom of the Finestre. We knew there was an opportunity, and we had to do our best to seize it.” “It was a pretty clear day up front,” added Rémy. “The breakaway worked well together because we all had the same goal: to pass the Finestre and fight for the stage.”
At the bottom of the Italian pass, Rémy Rochas and Quentin Pacher followed when the breakaway immediately reduced to around ten men. “I felt pretty good, even if I wasn’t 100% yet due to my illness,” said Rémy. “I wanted to speed up slightly to reduce the group a bit and climb at my own pace. In the end, I almost did the entire climb alone.” “Harper was climbing too fast, Papach found himself chasing, then Rémy caught him, and that gave him a boost to continue at his own pace,” explained Jussi.
At the top of the climb, and after seven kilometers of “sterrato”, Rémy Rochas tackled the descent with Wout Van Aert, who then waited for Simon Yates, on the verge of turning the Giro around. “That allowed me to ride very fast until eight kilometres from the finish, then I took my own pace,” said Rémy. “I think he wasn’t entirely aware of the situation and the fact that we were potentially fighting for fourth place, so we motivated him with that goal,” added Jussi. On the final climb to Sestrière, Rémy Rochas therefore left it all on the road.
“I caught the three guys in front, I dropped two of them, but I couldn’t get rid of the third, and I didn’t have the legs anymore in the sprint,” he said. “It’s a fifth place in the end, and I’m happy to finish this Giro in a good way. I think I’m where I belong, I can’t do much better, even if I would have liked to compete for the win more, like I did today.” The French climber eventually secured his second top-5 finish in the Corsa Rosa, after his fourth place as a puncher in Vicenza. “He showed that he finishes in a strong way, and that’s good going forward,” added Jussi. “He had a few small regrets about the stage the day before yesterday, even though he wasn’t on his terrain. He wanted to take his revenge a bit, and he showed his qualities today.”
On the eve of the final stage in Rome, the Groupama-FDJ couldn’t have any regrets. “Since we lost our ambitions overall following David’s crash, we wanted to be aggressive and active at the front, and that’s what we did,” concluded Jussi. “When the guys are still in the game in the front during the penultimate stage, it’s still a good sign.”
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We psoted the report from stage winner Maxim Van Gils' Team Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe with the results.
Here's the report from Jan Christen's UAE Team Emirates-XRG:
Jan Christen rode strongly to finish fourth on the penultimate stage of the Tour of Norway, with the young Swiss rider moving up to third overall ahead of Sunday’s final stage. UAE Team Emirates-XRG went on the front foot in anticipation of the final uphill finish, but the climb proved a little too short to make any definitive splits.
As the peloton roared towards Heja, Sebastián Molano was the first to pounce, with the Colombian challenging race leader Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) for bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint. With Molano’s job done and teammates Rui Oliveira and Mikkel Bjerg having combined well to position the Emirati squad at the head of the bunch, attention turned to a home favourite for a big burst of acceleration.
Stepping up to the task, Vegard Stake Laengen dropped the hammer at the front of the peloton and ensured that the breakaway would not contest the stage honours. Rather, it was time for Alessandro Covi and Christen to see what they could produce on the 2.5km-long climb to the finish line.
With 2km to go, Covi launched a brutal acceleration and proceeded to reduce the front group to around 8-10 riders, before Christen looked to leave his mark.
Try as he might, the climb proved a little too explosive for the Swiss rider to drop the favourite in an eventual sprint, Brennan. As the pair approached the final 300m, however, it was Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s Maxim Van Gils who turned the race into a three-up sprint and eventually surged on to claim the stage 3 victory.
Maxim Van Gils wins stage three.
Eventually coming over the line in fourth, Christen ensured that he would vault up to third overall, with the 20-year-old sitting 27 seconds off the race lead heading into the fourth and final stage.
Christen: “The legs were good but these climbs are just slightly too short for my style. We came here with the goal of winning the GC and a stage so we’ll throw everything we can at tomorrow to do something.
“The shape is good and I’m just really happy to be back in the race rhythm in the build up to the Tour de Suisse.”
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