2025 Giro d'Italia Stage 18
A breakaway win, and bee sting mayhem!
Stage 18 is a typical late Grand Tour sprinters stage, a reward for those brave and hardy enough to make it this far in the race. Actually in reality we have not had the hardest Giro so far in terms of mountains, so all the big sprinters are still in the race.
Here is the profile for today’s stage. The race starts in Morbegno in Lombardy, and first 30km’s are flat. We then start climbing up to the cat 2 Parlasco, and from that point on there is a series of climbs and descents for the next 50km. At the summit of the final little climb to Sirtori there is the Red Bull km, and from that point on it is pretty much downhill and then flat right up to the finish line. The finish of this stage is on a circuit around town of Cesano Maderno, there will be three laps of a 12.5km circuit.
So, we could be in for a 5th stage win for Mads Pedersen today, or perhaps a 2nd win for either Kaden Groves, Olaf Kooij, Casper Van Uden or Wout Van Aert. We don’t expect to see any movement on GC today. This stage should be a good chance for del Toro, Carapaz, Yates et al to recover their strength after yesterday’s efforts, and prepare for two more extremely hard days coming up tomorrow and Saturday.
The day started with another mass breakaway. There were 34 riders up the road to take the early KOM and sprint points. Our old mates from Astana Christian Scaroni and Lorenzo Fortunato were up there of course, and Scaroni was first over the Parlasco climb. The first intermediate sprint came up next and Mads Pedersen took first place extending his already dominant lead in that category.
Now at the very end of my report on yesterday’s stage I signed off by mentioning that Juan Ayuso, who of course was the original team leader for UAE, and one of the favorites for race, finished about 35 minutes down yesterday. There was speculation yesterday evening about whether Ayuso would remain in the race, and UAE director Mauro Gianetti was quoted last night saying: 'Juan Ayuso has no intention of leaving and we have no plan to let him go'. Anyway, this morning shortly after the stage started Ayuso was stung by a bee and had to go to the team car. (Bystanders reported that the bee appeared to be clad in a tiny Visma Lease a bike jersey). He carried on rider for a little bit but was clearly unhappy. At about 109km to go Ayuso finally threw in the towel, climbed off his bike and into a team van. Ayuso has officially abandoned the race and his Giro is over. Keep an eye of for transfer news for Ayuso in the coming months. Also, that must have been a huge bee!
We join the race now with 56km to go, as the breakaway are just about to summit the final categorised climb of the day, the Ravellino. The peloton at this point are nearly 9 minutes behind, the the GC boys are chillin’ in the back as predicted. The winner of today’s stage will come from this large breakaway. From the favorites I mentioned earlier, those present in the breakaway are Pedersen, Groves, and Van Aert. Casper Van Uden and Olaf Kooij are back with the peloton.
50km to go, and three riders have manged to escape off the front of the breakaway and are sitting 40 seconds in front. It is Remy Rochas from FDJ, and Martin Marcellusi & Manuele Tarozzi - two Italians from team Bardiani. The main peloton are even further back now, as the gap has grown to over 10 minutes!
47km to go, the three breakaway riders who have broken away from the breakaway seem to be working quite well together, their little gap has grown to 30 seconds. I can’t see it sticking though with the number of rider chasing them capable of winning a sprint.
45km to go, the peloton are getting so far behind now (10:30) there is a worry that they might be lapped by the breakaway riders on one of the laps of the final circuit! The breakaway riders are going to be arriving at the start of the circuit in about 15km’s. It would be very interesting an confusing if that does end up happening!
40km to go, the three escapees have almost been reeled in by the breakaway, the only one remaining is the defiant Manuele Tarozzi ,who is squeezing a bit of extra TV time for his sponsors VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè. Wout Van Aert has been very active in setting the pace at the front of this group, bear that in mind later when he gets beaten in the sprint.
37km to go, Manuele Tarozzi won’t come back into the breakaway group despite them riding very close to him and asking nicely.
Back in the main peloton something odd is going on. Q36.5, (a team name that answers the question: what is Q30 plus Q6.5) has come to the front and started working to increase the pace. God only knows why they are doing this, unless the race organisers are getting so worried about the prospect of the peloton getting lapped that they have asked them to speed up, and Q36.5 have drawn the short straw. Their time gap is currently 10:20.
34km to go, Manuele Tarozzi has finally agreed to re-join the breakaway group, but now another group is trying to get away. Daan Hoole and Dylan Van Baarle, two Dutch riders are off the front now, and as the general pace increases Mads Pedersen is right at the back of the bunch by his team car, so he has to rush back to avoid getting left behind.
30km to go, the two Dutchmen have been joined by three more riders at the front, these 5 now have 34 seconds on the breakaway group. We are in the final circuit now and the main peloton are currently 10:08 behind.
27km to go, the two Dutchmen and three other rider have been joined by 6 more riders, and this group who we will henceforth refer to as ‘the breakaway’ have a commanding lead over the others, who we will refer to as ‘the chasers’. In this breakaway group are:
It is highly likely now that the winner of the stage will come from this group, and none of the favourites I mentioned earlier are here! Edward Planckaert is a good sprinter, as is Bondt, Dries De Bondt 007.
23km to go, the breakaway group are surging ahead, and have now got 1:45 on the chasers. Due to the lack of sprinters in this group there are riders who know that their best chance of a win is to make another breakaway escape and try for a solo win. The group keep splitting and coming back together as no one trusts each other, and no one wants to rider at the front for too long. If a rider manages to get away from their group they could very well solo all the way to the finish.
20km to go, it is hot out there today, and some riders are getting ice packs from their team cars to shove down the back of their jerseys. Back in the main peloton, Q36.5 are still working at the front. The gap is still 10:30 and we are not sure what the odds of them being lapped yet, they are on the finishing circuit now but it looks like the breakaway are almost halfway around!
18km to go, the breakaway have 2 minutes on the chasers and at this point are 11 riders still all together.
16km to go, and Nico Denz from Red Bull Bora has made an escape from the breakaway groups and is powering away on his won. He’s got a 10 seconds lead and it will probably grow as there isn’t much organisation behind for a hue and cry to bring him back.
15km to go, Denz has 23 seconds now, and still there is no organisation in the breakaway group. The thinking of course is obvious, ‘shy should I do all the work to bring this man back just to have you all beat me in the sprint at the end?’
13km to go, Denz is low on the drops, giving it full gas with a look of absolute determination on his face. He is coming up to the second and penultimate crossing of the finish line.
12km to go, Denz has crossed the finish line and has one complete lap to go, the main peloton are nearly 11 minutes behind now but are 1/4 around the circuit so it is unlikely that they will be lapped now. Nico Denz is a 31 year old rider from Germany, and currently has 6 career wins, two of those coming in the 2023 edition of the Giro.
10km to go and Denz’s lead is holding, and even going up a bit. He has 30 seconds now. At the last feeding zone he missed two bidons in a row from a roadside soigneur, so he is probably getting very thirsty at this point.
7km to go, it looks like Denz may have this one in the bag now, he is 33 seconds ahead of the breakaway. The chasers are 3 minutes behind, and the sleepy peloton are a staggering 11:20 behind. As Denz gets half way around the circuit the peloton are yet to enter for their final lap.
5km to go, the peloton are just going through the finish line for their final lap, so they are well out of the way and sadly will not get lapped.
4k to go, there is a lot of action in the breakaway group as riders try to make an escape, Larry Warbasee has has a few tries as has Dries De Bondt. That groups is still all together at the moment though, and Nico Denz is safely 36 seconds ahead still and getting ready to zip his jersey up for the finish line photos.
2km to go, Nico Denz is about to give Red Bull Bora their fist stage win of this Giro, so the sponsors will be happy. Red Bull are probably a bit miffed at spending so much money on their pointless intermediate sprints so hopefully this is some kind of consolation for them.
As Denz goes under the flamme rouge he has over a minute on the breakaway, which gives him plenty of time to soak in the adulation of the crowds. He slows down towards the end and spends the last 50m leading back on his saddle and pumping the air with both fists. A well earned win!
No comes the sprint for 2nd and 3rd, and it’s Mirco Maestri who gets second, and he gives a little fist pump too, congratulating himself for being the best of the rest.
As the other riders stat to come home we wonder if the main peloton will get here in time to catch the medal ceremony! I’m only joking of course, the GC guys need to rest up because we have two very difficult stages coming up which will decide the final winner, and it is very much open with the top three still within a minute of each other.
Here are the result for today:
Nico Denz
Mirco Maestri (1:01)
Edward Planckaert (1:01)
Filippo Magli (1:01)
Alex Edmondson (1:01)
Dries De Bondt (1:01)
Daan Hoole (1:01)
Davide De Pretto (1:01)
Nicol Conci (1:01)
Larry Warbasse (1:01)
And the GC standing are exactly the same as yesterday:
Isaac del Toro
Richard Carapaz (41 sec)
Simon Yates (51 sec)
Derek Gee (1:57)
Damiano Caruso (3:06)
Egan Bernal (4:43)
Guilio Pellizzari (5:02)
Einer Rubio (6:09)
Adam Yates (7:45)
Michael Storer (7:46)
See you again tomorrow for Stage 19, which is guaranteed to be a lot more exciting that it was today!
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