Giro d’Italia 2025 to start in Albania

The start of the 2025 Giro d’Italia will take place in Albania, the race’s organiser confirmed on Monday. RCS Sport is still set to release the full race route for next year, in a ceremony in Rome on 13 January.

Two road stages and an individual time trial will take place in the Balkan country when the race gets underway on 9 May before a transfer across the Adriatic sea and a rest day in Puglia three days later.

Stage one will see the riders take on 164 kilometres of racing - between Dürres and Tiranë - with 1800 metres of elevation gain featuring on the parcours. The second stage will be a 13 kilometre individual time trial through the streets of Tiranë with a small category four ascent featuring at the halfway point.

Finally the peloton will wrap up proceedings in Albania with a 160 kilometre medium mountain stage with more than 2,700 metres of climbing on the menu before the race then heads back to Italian soil.

It will be the fifteenth occasion that the Giro has started abroad with the last foreign start coming in Hungary in 2022.

Two climbs feature on the final stage which could see an early GC skirmish materialise before the race moves back to Italy. The second of the two, Qafa e Llogarasë, comes around 40 kilometres to the finish and is the perfect springboard for the likes of Tadej Pogačar, this year’s Giro winner, to launch an attack in a bid to grab an early stage win and the leader’s pink jersey.

Pogačar’s UAE Emirates team are yet to confirm which Grand Tour he will target in 2025 along with the Tour de France. The Slovenian won the Giro on debut in May but may opt to target the Vuelta a España instead, a race which he is yet to win. Former winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) plans to be on the start line.

Race director Mauro Vegni said that the organiser hopes the route of the first three stages could lead to early action in the fight for the overall victory, similarly to the opening stages of the race this year.

He said: "The route of the Grande Partenza of the Giro d'Italia 2025 was designed to offer a great show right from the first pedal strokes, combining the beauty of the territory with a technical design that will enhance the qualities of the riders, along the lines of what we experimented with last year."