Giro d’Italia 2025

Stage 21 – Roma > Roma (143km)

Sun 1st June | KM0 1525 CET

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Stage 21 Preview

Where: From Rome, a trip to the coast and back before eight laps around the Eternal City.  

Weather: Temperatures touching 30˚Cs again.

Stage Type: Flat.

Climbs: None.

Start: Flat or rolling terrain and plenty of time for photos and Prosecco. 

Finish: A good position would be useful but not necessarily vital for a left-hander with 2.5km to go as the road follows the banks of the Tiber. The final 350m is straight but does rise to around 5% towards the line as the riders end their Giro alongside the Circus Maximus.

Stage suits: Sprinters.

Breakaway chances: Low but not zero. A breakaway or late attack is never without a chance on the final stage of a grand tour as sprint teams are depleted and everyone is severely fatigued.

What will happen?: A small break will get clear as they enter the circuit and no doubt a few strong rouleurs will try some late attacks, but it should come back for a bunch sprint.  

Stage 21 Contenders

Olav Kooij (7/4; 2.75) has survived the mountains but how much sting has that taken out of his legs? Visma Lease a Bike will obviously be on a massive high and with Edoardo Affini and Wout van Aert as a premium leadout, have every chance to end it with another win.

Kaden Groves (3/1; 4.0) has made breaks in recent stages and generally looked stronger than Kooij but does that translate to now being faster? He had a lot of domestiques in the break on stage 20 and you wonder why with the Rome sprint the next day.

Mads Pedersen (15/2; 8.5) has had an unbelievable Giro – four stage wins and the maglia ciclamino. The little rise at the end as well as the tiredness amongst his rivals gives him a shot against the so-called faster finishers. He did plenty of work for Carlos Verona on stage 20, even dropping him at one point, showing his legs are still very good.  

Casper van Uden (12/1; 13.0) has a win and a second. Another well-timed leadout and early launch has every chance of going close again.

Sam Bennett (28/1; 29.0) has been off his best but is still here at least which gives him a puncher’s chance in the final stage.

 

For the breakaway or late attack

Kasper Asgreen (66/1; 67.0) has his stage win and did plenty of work on stage 20. Morale won’t be great in the EF Education EasyPost camp, but Asgreen has a chance to end it on a good note.

Taco van der Hoorn (80/1; 81.0) has been very active in breaks and looks somewhere close to his form of old. He seems sure to try something at some point.

Nico Denz (66/1; 67.0) doubled up the last time he won a Giro stage and may fancy a dig off the front. 

Dries De Bondt (66/1; 67.0) will probably work for Sam Bennett but has been very active in breaks showing he’s fresher than most and may try something again here.

Mathias Vaček (50/1; 51.0) or even Daan Hoole (400/1; 401.0) could be given a free card by Pedersen to try something late on.

Stage 21 Bets

There ought to be enough firepower left in the sprint teams to ensure that this comes back for a bunch sprint, but it’s the last stage, so let’s have a bit of a speculative interest in some late attackers too.

For the sprint, once Visma Lease a Bike have finished their Prosecco, they can launch Olav Kooij to a second win.

Olav Kooij 3pts win @7/4 - 1st

Mathias Vaček 0.5pts win and 3 places @50/1

Taco van der Hoorn 0.5pts win and 3 places @80/1


Many thanks for reading these previews - back on the 4th July for stage 1 of the Tour de France!

Posted 2238 BST Sat 31st May 2025

Prices quoted are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

Stage 21 Result

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