Giro d'Italia Stage 11 preview: Chance for escapees or GC contenders to stamp authority on hilly stage
The 2025 Giro d'Italia heads back into the hills with a tough outing in the Apennines, which could yet see a further shakeup of the general classification.
It's officially classed as a 'hilly' rather than mountainous stage, but the 186km run from Viareggio to Castelnovo ne' Monto features 3,850m of elevation and gain and a behemoth of a climb in the category one Alpe San Pellegrino, which last featured in the Giro 25 years ago.
Like many of the major climbs in this year's race it comes halfway through the stage, with its slopes averaging 8.8% for 13.7km but ramping up to a hideous 19% on its upper reaches. It's the first major climb of the day after a lumpy first 80km and we could see a replay of stage eight, with a frantic early battle to get into the breakway before an escape group eventually settles down on a climb.
From the Alpe there's a long, descent and a bumpy final 60km, with a couple of category two ascents at Toano and Pietra di Bismantova, the latter in the final 5km, which could tee up a dramatic finish. The Red Bull sprint comes at the top of another peaklet, at Villa Minozzo, 24km from the finish, so any attacker on the Toano climb could stay away to nab some crucial bonus seconds.
The last 5km features plenty of sharp corners, including one just before an 8% ramp shortly before 2km to go. After that the riders tackle a short, sharp descent before a gradually rising 4% final kilometre with a right-hander 250m before the finish.
An uphill sprint makes it prime Tom Pidcock territory, but expect a fierce battle to get up the road in this one and potential splits in the general classification too. If reigning champion Tadej Pogacar was here he'd be attacking on the biting upper slopes of the Alpe and doing a 90km solo to the finish - but we can probably rule out any of the GC hopefuls doing that.
Route map and profile
Start time
Stage 11 starts at 12.05pm local time (11.05am BST) and it set to finish at 5.30pm local time (4.30pm BST).
Prediction
Today looks like a good day for a breakaway, but who has the legs at this point in the race, and who is far enough down on GC to be let go?
Max Poole did well to shave a minute off his time deficit on Tuesday's time trial and now sits four minutes down, but is likely to still be targeting GC. Could Romain Bardet be let off the leash again today? Luke Plapp had a less stellar outing in the time trial but took a brilliant victory on stage eight and may fancy another on similar uphill terrain.
The likes of Nicolas Prodhomme, Andrea Vendrame, and Wout Poels may all fancy it, while UAE have so much strength in depth they could test Roglic by sending a satellite up the road in search of glory.
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