Giro d’Italia 2025

Stage 3 – Valona (Vlorë) > Valona (Vlorë) (160km)

Sun 11th May | KM0 1325 CET

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Where: A looping course to and from the coastal city of Vlorë in Albania’s south.

Stage Type: Hilly.

Weather: Low 20˚Cs again and dry with a gentle westerly breeze.

Climbs: Two that are classified but it’s the second that will be decisive for the stage – the Llogara Pass (Qafa e Llogarasë) which measures 10.5km at 7.4% and is pretty uniform all the way up. It peaks with around 39km to go so there’s time to get back on if dropped.

Start: Rising ground with rolling terrain which might make it difficult to control early attacks, if indeed enough teams want to.

Finish: Along a coastal road so largely flat. A right bend just outside the flamme rouge and then straight and wide to the line.

Stage suits: Climbers with a sprint, general classification riders … and Mads Pedersen.

Breakaway chances: Not without a chance – Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe may be minded to hand over the pink jersey in which case it’ll be down to other teams to decide if they wish to chase for the stage.

What will happen?: This one is tricky to call. The final climb is too hard for sprinters but not hard enough for GC contenders. A lot depends on Lidl-Trek and if they think Mads Pedersen can get over it in the front group. That depends largely on how it’s ridden and if a GC team wants to push on then the basic numbers of that climb should be too much for the Dane. If a big break goes with lots of teams represented and no genuine GC threat, then that also could be allowed to take the day. So, some kind of reduced bunch sprint or breakaway win looks likely.

Stage 3 Contenders

Mads Pedersen (7/4; 2.75) is climbing exceptionally well – if Lidl-Trek ride a tempo on the final climb which ships the fast men it would lead to a penalty kick for Pedersen. But what are the chances that the stage will play out like that? GC teams could get involved which would put him in trouble or the race might’ve disappeared up the road already. Enough to stay well clear of the stingy 7/4 anyway.

Wout van Aert (10/1; 11.0) was well below his best in the stage 2 time trial, finishing 38secs behind in 34th, and was on his limit on the Surrel climb on stage 1. So it’s unlikely Visma Lease a Bike will ride to try to set up Van Aert for the win, but if he’s in a select group at the end then has a puncher’s chance.

Tom Pidcock (16/1; 17.0) is unlikely to be allowed in a breakaway, so would have to win from a reduced group sprint. He’s quick, but would he be the quickest of the men left?

Christian Scaroni (28/1; 29.0) is, like the rest of the XDS Astana squad, having an excellent season but isn’t a really GC threat so is the kind of rider that could take temporary possession of the pink jersey.

Pello Bilbao (33/1; 34.0) is already over 7mins down and so has freedom to stage hunt. Excellent descending skills and a fast finish are handy in a stage like this.

Selected Others

Primož Roglič (40/1; 41.0) is almost peerless if it comes down to a sprint between GC contenders, though that seems unlikely given the distance off the top of the final climb to the line.

Giulio Ciccone (80/1; 81.0) has already done excellent work setting up Mads Pedersen’s win on stage 1 – could the favour be returned here? He’s fast on the line from a small group though would prefer an uphill rise.

Marco Frigo (150/1; 151.0) is a breakaway weapon as he first showed at the Giro two years ago and comes off the back of a win at the Tour of the Alps a couple of weeks back.

George Steinhauser (150/1; 151.0) ditto for the German who won a stage from a breakaway in last year’s Giro. There’ll be better opportunities deeper in the race but he’s a man to keep onside and the price is big.