Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 2

May 10, 2025 Stage 2 starts and finishes in Tirana for the first of two ITT's in this Giro. The route starts out in Skanderbeg Square where the Teams Presentation was held on Wednesday. It continues through town like a three bladed turbine on a wind mill, radiating out and coming back to the center. In the 13.7KM, there are three 180 degree turns and 6 right angle turns to navigate as well as a 1.5KM dragging climb that averages 5% which takes the riders to the Intermediate Time Check halfway through the course. The route is entirely urban, staying in the heart of Tirana to take in the cultural and architectural attractions the city has to offer. Large crowds cheered on Niklas Märkl of Picnic Post-NL as the first rider to set off. The weather really showed out as well with beautiful blue skies and warmth pushing 24C (75F). European ITT Champion Edoardo Affini of Visma-Lease a Bike set a very fast early time of 16 minutes 12 seconds that looked like it would be challenging to beat. It wasn't until Jay Vine of UAE-XRG went through the time check 7 seconds up on Affini that a new time looked likely. Vine crossed the line with a smile on his face because he held on to finish 3 seconds up on Affini for the new best time. The name on everyone's lips as the favorite for the stage at the start was Josh Tarling of Ineos. He went through the check 3 seconds slower than Vine but the downhill suited the larger man and Tarling put 6 seconds into the Australian on the back half of the course and crossed the line 3 seconds faster to take the provisional lead. Most of the GC contenders were stacking up in the top 25 through the time check with the exception of Primož Roglič of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe who was tied for first at the Intermediate with Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek and 2 seconds ahead of Vine. Roglič kept his effort even and hit the line just fractions of a second slower than Tarling and locked in to provisional second place. The final few riders set off including the Pink Jersey of Mads Pedersen. Pedersen went through the time check 10 seconds behind Tarling and Roglič which is the exact margin Pedersen needed to keep the jersey. The time ticked away but by just 1 second. With the last rider in, the stage officially went to Josh Tarling. Roglič finished second with Jay Vine in third. Roglič now holds the Maglia Rosa by 1 second on Pedersen and 5 seconds to Vacek. Egan Bernal of Ineos, Chris Harper of Jayco AlUla, and Romain Bardet of Picnic PostNL had the worst day of the GC riders by finishing around 50 seconds down on Roglič.