Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 4

May 13, 2025 The pure sprinters have paid their dues and it's time for the first bunch sprint on the first day of racing back on Italian soil with the flattest day of the entire Giro. The riders leave Alberobello in Puglia with the Trulli stone huts behind them and head South for 189KM for the finish in Lecce, named the Florence of the South due to its Baroque architecture. When they enter Lecce, they have two 12KM laps on a circuit through town. The circuit has a few 90 degree corners and roundabouts to negotiate. The final corner comes 400M from the line and, like many Grand Tour sprints, positioning in the final 3KM will be crucial. The weather showed up with beautiful temperatures but only Francisco Muñoz of Polti-VisitMalta was interested in going in the break. The peloton never even got up to speed before they shut down and stopped for a natural break. The gap to Muñoz got out to 4 minutes and as he went over the category 4 climb in Putignano where the cheering crowds were three and four people deep on both sides of the road. Sylvain Moniquet of Cofidis popped out of the bunch and took second place with Lorenzo Fortunato of XDS-Astana, the leader in that competition, following across in third place to take the last remaining point on offer. The gap went out to 5 minutes when Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek started controlling. With 150KM to go, Muñoz picked up points at the Intermediate Sprint. The bunch behind increased their speed to go for the remaining points and it was Jensen Plowright of Alpecin-Deceuninck that took the field sprint ahead of Olav Kooij of Visma-Lease a Bike and Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek just behind. Visma-Lease a Bike added a man to the chase as the peloton hit the coast and saw the glimmering crystal blue water in Polignano a Mare. About 25KM later, a touch of wheels brought down a number of riders including at least three Q36.5 riders. Nickolas Zukowsky was worst off with a suspected broken collar bone and was forced to abandon. The rest of the riders got back up and to the peloton. The next action came with 104KM to go at the Redbull Golden Kilometer. The line sat atop the picturesque town of Ostuni. Muñoz took the 6 seconds but 4 and 2 were still available. Movistar put on the pressure on as the road kicked up. The opportunity drew out a number of the GC contenders and it was Isaac del Toro of UAE-XRG that grabbed the 4 seconds with Primož Roglič of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe sweeping up 2 seconds. Bahrain Victorious were interested in pushing on but other teams shut it down and the peloton eased back off. All of the action brought the gap down to 2 minutes and that's were the bunch continued to peg Muñoz. Teams started to organize in color order with 68KM to go and Muñoz was caught as a result 12KM later on the approach to the final Intermediate Sprint in San Pancrazio Salentino. The lead out for the sprint was very quick and, on the line, Pedersen and Kooij were matched evenly but Kooij got there first to take the points and maybe a mental edge going into the finish. The speed ramped up once more as they entered the circuit just inside 24KM to go. Bahrain Victorious led into it with large crowds on either side. GC teams were controlling the front and staying out of trouble but Pedersen, the Maglia Rosa, was caught up behind a crash that took down his teammate Søren Kragh Andersen and a Polti-VisitMalta rider at 22KM from the finish. He got back in but the circuit was full of roundabouts and compressions that made it very hard to make it to the front. Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek was also held up but it took him much longer to get back to the bunch, only rejoining with about 14KM to go. The peloton took the bell and were in full positioning mode. Every corner and pinch point was fought for but no team was able to stay all together with the constant lefts and rights. At 3KM to go, Tudor Pro Cycling, Decathlon AG2R, and Picnic-PostNL were best positioned. Alpecin-Deceuninck strung it out under 2KM to go with a train of four riders. Someone took a bad line through a corner with 1200M to go which disrupted a number of trains, particularly Visma-Lease a Bike. Bram Welten of Picnic-PostNL led into the final left corner at 400M with Visma-Lease a Bike coming their inside. Casper Van Uden opened up first at around 275M with Pedersen on his wheel and Maikel Zijlaard of Tudor Pro Cycling to his left. Van Uden took advantage of the tailwind and powered to the line to take a huge win for Picnic-PostNL. Kooij got a late run to take second away from Zijlaard who finished in third for a full Dutch podium.