Giro d'Italia - Everything you need to know
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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia, the season's first Grand Tour!
Stage 1 is set to kick off at 13:10 local time, so 12:10 in the UK or 7:10 EST.
Here's a look at the profile of the opening stage – three major ascents to tackle before the finish in Tirana today.
Today's stage is set to bring a battle between the puncheurs and the hardy sprinters, with two ascents of the Surrel climb (7km at 4.5%) coming inside the final 40km.
Will attackers prevail with moves over the top of the last climb of the day? Or can the sprinters hang on and regroup for a bunch finish in Tirana?
May 9, 2025: Durazzo-Tirane, 160km: Mads Pedersen enters opening day as favourite to take pink after Wout van Aert revealed pre-race illness at team presentation
Meanwhile, last-minute roadworks and traffic around the capital this week have disrupted rider's preparations for the Giro
Teams prepare for Giro d'Italia opener with traffic-disrupted recons amid last-minute road repairs
Just over an hour to go before stage 1 gets underway...
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Under an hour to go to the start of stage 1 and teams are signing on in Durrës.
23 teams and 184 riders will be taking the start today. Read through our comprehensive Giro d'Italia team-by-team guide for the lowdown on all the competitors at the race.
Tom Pidcock, a contender for the stage win today, passes the Trofeo Senza Fine on the way to signing on ahead of the start.
Unique prize for Italian Grand Tour champion only held by winners since 2000
Pidcock recently said, "Now I've started enjoying cycling", following his move to Q36.5.
Can he start the Giro off with a win and the first pink jersey of the race?
Wout van Aert is another stage 1 favourite, even if he suffered from an illness just before heading to Albania.
"I'm really confident in the team, but as has been mentioned, unfortunately, my preparation was not ideal. But luckily, tomorrow the race starts, and we can see day by day. We have big expectations, but let's see," he said in the pre-race press conference.
Bernal to wear newly designed national champion's jersey in homage to historic Café de Colombia team's 1987 Vuelta a España victory
We're not long away from the 2025 Giro d'Italia Grande Partenza, but already there's talk of future foreign starts...
Belgium? AlUla? Abu Dhabi? Where will the Giro d'Italia head next after Albanian start?
10 minutes to go!
Riders will tackle a 9.2km neutral roll-out before the start proper.
The peloton is now moving to start the 2025 Giro d'Italia. The neutral roll-out is under way.
The riders are nearing the halfway mark of the roll-out. 5km to go before the flag drops.
Riders roll through Durrës to start the Giro.
2km to go before the flag drops.
Riders are now bunched up behind the lead car and preparing to attack once the start is given.
Riders from Movistar, Lidl-Trek, Bardiani, Polti, Arkéa, Intermarché-Wanty are all up front as the flag drops!
160km to go
The first attack comes from VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè.
One rider gives up and there's an immediate counter from a teammate.
Four men slightly off the front now as more riders follow in ones and twos.
Bardiani, Intermarché, Arkéa, Alpecin, Movistar, Polti all on the move.
Speeds of 60kph+ as they leave Durrës on a well-surfaced two-lane highway.
All back together for now, though a selection of riders from the same teams are leading at the front.
156km to go
Alessandro Verre of Arkéa leading a move with Alessandro Tonelli (Polti-VisitMalta) and Sylvain Moniquet (Cofidis).
Two more riders coming across while the peloton already looks calm.
Riders from Intermarché and Bardiani bridging across.
Verre, Tonelli, and Moniquet have been joined in the break by Taco van der Hoorn and Manuele Tarozzi.
The gap back to the peloton is up to 50 seconds already. It looks like this quintet is our break of the day.
151km to go
1:40 for the peloton now.
Visma-Lease A Bike, Lidl-Trek, and Ineos Grenadiers up front in the peloton.
The first hill of three on the stages comes after 70km of racing, so we've got a lengthy wait for more major action during today's stage.
The break's advantage is holding at around the 1:40 mark for now.
The race heads south of Durrës on a long, straight highway.
143km to go
Alpecin-Deceuninck also working at the front of the peloton now. They join Visma-Lease A Bike and Lidl-Trek in the pacemaking.
Jimmy Janssens, Jacopo Mosca, and Steven Kruijswijk are the trio heading up the peloton at the moment. Four more riders apiece from Alpecin and Visma are lined out behind them.
133km to go
1:55 now for the breakaway.
The sprint squads at the head of the peloton.
126km to go
Around 35km to go until the riders tackle the first climb of the Giro.
The breakaway races towards Italian flags, though a return to the Giro's home country is a couple of days away yet.
It's a short leash for the break today. They've never had more than two minutes and now their advantage is down to 1:35.
Egan Bernal rides alongside Primož Roglič and the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe squad.
Two intermediate sprint points coming up at Papër and Elbasan before the first hill of the race.
There's another sprint later in the stage, sponsored by Red Bull. It will give 6, 4 and 2 bonus seconds to the first across the line.
Read up on all the Giro d'Italia classifications, jerseys, rules, and defunct competitions here
103km to go
The breakaway riders approach the first sprint of the day.
Tonelli leads Van der Hoorn, Tarozzi, Moniquet, and Verre across the line at Papër without any quarrel.
1:30 from break to peloton and 4km to go before the next sprint in Elbasan.
Tarozzi leading the quintet as they approach the second traguardo volante of the day.
Tarozzi leads Moniquet, Verre, Tonelli, and Van der Hoorn across the line.
92km to go
1:15 for the break now.
They head uphill and start the second-category climb to Gracen.
It's 13.6km long at an average gradient of 5.1%. They'll climb to 777m of altitude.
Juan Ayuso has been forced to stop for a new bike at the base of the climb. It looked like he got tangled up with some crashing Picnic-PostNL riders.
Visma-Lease A Bike lead the peloton up the climb.
18, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1 points on offer at the top here at Gracen.
9, 4, 2, 1 points on offer at each of the remaining two climbs on the stage.
It's likely that the first man over the top here will wear the blue jersey overnight.
The break is still together on the way up, though the peloton has closed to within a minute.
89km to go
Ayuso and the Picnic-PostNL riders return to the peloton.
The gap to the peloton is holding at a minute on the way up.
Tarozzi (17 points) leads Tonelli (11) and Moniquet (9) in the points classification after two intermediate sprints. He'll hold the overnight lead in the minor intermediate sprint classification, even if the stage winner will gain more points and so hold the points jersey.
82km to go
3.5km from the top and the gap between break and peloton is up to 1:20.
Some movement in the break now as Tonelli makes a move at the front at the end of the feed zone.
Van der Hoorn is dropped but the other four are back together out front.
80km to go
More attacks out front as Tarozzi has a go now.
In the end, it's Moniquet who leads the break over the top.
18 points for the Belgian at the top. Verre, Tonelli, and Tarozzi followed him for 8, 6, and 4 points.
The breakaway riders have fought over two intermediate sprints and the first classified climb of the race. They're also racking up breakaway kilometres for the Fuga Pinarello and demonstrating their combativity towards the Fighting Spirit prize.
Read up on the Giro d'Italia classifications, jerseys and rules explained here
The peloton on the way up the first climb of today's stage.
69km to go
Visma-Lease A Bike continue to lead the way in the peloton behind. The group is closing in on the break, with the gap coming down under 30 seconds.
Verre leads at the front at the bottom of the fast descent.
Tonelli is next on the road while Tarozzi and Moniquet follow.
59km to go
The gap is back up to a minute now.
Verre has a few seconds on the group behind. Tonelli, Tarozzi, and Moniquet are all together.
And now he's caught by the chasers so it's four out front once again.
Mads Pedersen and Sam Bennett are chasing back to the peloton following the climb.
53km to go
5km to go until the breakaway riders hit the Red Bull-sponsored time bonus sprint.
35 seconds from break to peloton. Visma still massed on the front.
A look at the break of the day before Van der Hoorn was dropped.
Tonelli launches the sprint in Sauk.
It looks like Tarozzi came past before the line, however.
46km to go
6km to go before the breakaway riders hit the first of two ascents of the third-category Surrel.
But first, the riders are heading through Tirana and past the finish line.
Just 15 seconds up to the break now.
Visma-Lease A Bike still up front in the peloton, as they have been all day.
40km to go
Up the climb we go as the breakaway is caught.
6.9km of climbing at an average of 4.6% coming up.
Riders dropping off the rear of the peloton now as Lidl-Trek join Visma up front.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Egan Bernal is his new Colombian champion's kit also visible up front.
Daan Hoole leading it for Lidl-Trek on the way up with Mads Pedersen on his wheel.
Sam Bennett and Olav Kooij among the riders dropped on the way up. It's not a stage for the pure sprinters.
Instead, we're looking out for the likes of Pedersen, Van Aert and the puncheurs here.
36km to go
Lidl-Trek continue to lead at the front with six riders.
Three riders apiece from Ineos, Visma, and Red Bull are up there.
Paul Magnier, Andrea Vendrame drop.
1km to the top now.
Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) launches at the top to claim the points and signal his intentions for the blue jersey.
30km to go
No information on who took the KOM points behind Fortunato yet.
The riders are getting a look at the descent back into Tirana now. They'll tackle this again later on the way to the finish.
Wout van Aert among the Lidl-Trek riders at the head of the peloton.
Fortunato took 9 points at the top of that last climb. Pello Bilbao, Carlo Verona, and Patrick Konrad were next on 4, 2 and 1 points.
Lidl-Trek continue on the front as the peloton races through Tirana.
The group passes over the finish line and they'll soon head back up the climb of Surrel.
It doesn't look particularly packed out with spectators to greet the race down at the finish line in Tirana.
19km to go
1km to the start of the climb.
Israel-Premier Tech to the front to start the climb.
EF and Lidl-Trek also represented at the front.
Now Lidl-Trek take it up with five riders.
Bahrain and Jayco also with a couple of riders apiece. Tom Pidcock is also moving up.
16km to go
5km of climbing left to go.
Riders dropped on the first ascent made it back on but now they're dropping again. Vendrame just let go at the back.
Kaden Groves just about hanging on right at the rear.
Groves lets go 4km from the top.
Lidl-Trek continue with four at the front.
Lidl-Trek at the front on the way up Surrel.
14km to go
No moves at the front yet with 2.5km left of the climb.
Pedersen is in second wheel. Van Aert not far behind. Red Bull with three men behind.
Giulio Ciccone now pulling at the front.
The pace is very high as the riders head towards the top. Will any attacks come before the descent?
Wout van Aert drops back in the peloton.
Thymen Arensman is off the back!
12km to go
A disaster for Ineos already if one of their main GC men is already in trouble on day one.
Only a few hundred metres to the top now.
No attacks at the top as Lidl-Trek lead it with Ciccone.
11km to go
The US team continue to lead on the way down. It's a very slimmed-down peloton.
Derek Gee also reportedly dropped.
It looks like there's only around 30 men in the lead group.
9km to go
Gee is 25 seconds down.
His group is around 15 riders.
7km to go
Not much information on who is in the lead group as of yet.
Pedersen, Roglič, Van Aert, Pidcock are all in there.
Ciccone and Vacek continue to pull on the way down for Lidl-Trek.
Crash for Jay Vine on the way down. An Israel rider goes down trying to avoid him.
Mikel Landa is also down.
Landa has stayed on the ground and doesn't look good.
Vine and the other riders got up and dodged oncoming riders before they got going again.
Geoffrey Bouchard also went down in one of those crashes on the same corner on the descent.
3km to go
Attacks at the front as Lidl-Trek lose control.
Red Bull on the front for Roglič now.
Lidl-Trek and Visma also up there. The big favourites all in place.
2km to go
Full speed to the line in this reduced lead group.
Red Bull are driving it with three riders.
Lidl with two behind and then it's Van Aert. Pidcock is also near the front.
1km to go
Jayco move up.
A mix of several teams battle for control.
Lidl-Trek back on the front around the final bend!
Pedersen in second wheel with Van Aert behind.
Movistar rider Orluis Aular is also there.
But it's a Pedersen vs Van Aert drag race to the line...
Pedersen is just in front and is holding on.
Finish
Van Aert tries to come alongside but he can't nudge ahead.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) wins stage 1!
It looked like Aular took third place.
Gee's group comes in almost a minute down. Arensman is another 30 seconds or so back.
Pedersen celebrates stage 1 victory in Tirana!
Behind the podium trio, Francesco Busatto (Intermarché-Wanty) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) rounded out the top 5.
Meanwhile, Rai just showed shots of Landa getting stretchered away from the scene of his crash. It's Giro over for the Spaniard.
Giro d'Italia: Mads Pedersen edges Wout van Aert to win stage 1 and claim first pink jersey
Movistar's Orluis Aular third in bunch sprint finish on opening Albanian stage
Mads Pedersen celebrates his stage victory.
"To win the stage and go into the pink jersey is absolutely amazing, especially after teamwork like this," Pedersen said after the stage.
"You always have to be afraid of Wout, he's a really good bike rider. It's not a given to win when he's in the group, and you have to handle that with respect and a bit of fear as well. But today I had the legs to finish it off for the team.
"It's the first leader's jersey I have in a Grand Tour, so that's something nice.
"There are only a few opportunities to take the pink jersey. So that's why I really want to try - on the last climb, I suffered so much to just hang on. So it's a pity to finish in second place, but it's better than I expected."
Pedersen in the first pink jersey of the 2025 race and, more importantly, with the first Wolfie of the race.
Pedersen is also in the first maglia ciclamino of the race as points leader.
He has 25 points to Van Aert's 18 while Tarozzi is third on 17.
The maglia azzurra is Cofidis rider Sylvain Moniquet, who led the race over the second-category climb of Gracen for 18 points.
Lorenzo Fortunato and Giulio Ciccone are in second and third on 10 and 9 points.
22-year-old Francesco Busatto is in the maglia bianca of best young rider after his fourth place on stage 1.
Mikel Landa first to drop out of Giro d'Italia after heavy stage 1 crash
Spanish rider went down on a fast descent with Jay Vine and Corbin Strong
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider Geoffrey Bouchard is also out of the race on stage 1.
The Frenchman went down in the same crash as Landa. There's no update yet on his condition.
