Giro d'Italia 2025 Stage 20

May 31, 2025 The final opportunity to make moves on GC has come. Stage 20 is another very hard day with 4,400M of climbing on the 205KM route between Verrès and Sestriere. The route starts out easy enough with the first 65KM on gently rolling terrain. The first Intermediate Sprint comes in Rocca Canavese at the base of the category 4 climb of Corio, the first categorized climb of the day. After a short downhill, the road drags up for the next 25KM until the Commune of Viù where the category 2 climb of the Colle del Lys begins. It is long at over 13KM but only averages just over 4%. A 10KM descent takes the riders into the next 30KM valley, through the second Intermediate Sprint in Chiusa di San Michele. The Cima Coppi awaits atop the mighty Colle Delle Finestre. The half paved, half gravel climb is 18KM long at over 9% and tops out at 28KM to go and just under 2,200M above sea level. Realistically, this is the last mountain to make any time on because, after the Finestre, Sestriere starts. Even though it is a summit finish, Sestriere is a big ring climb averaging just under 4% for 13KM. Yesterday's heat carried through to today and when the flag dropped, attacks went, pushing through the heat haze. A group of seven got away surprisingly early after just 3KM that included Timo Kielich of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Sylvain Moniquet of Cofidis, Dries De Bondt of Decathlon AG2R, Enzo Paleni of Groupama-FDJ, Kim Heiduk of Ineos, Jacopo Mosca of Lidl-Trek, and Gianmarco Garofoli of Soudal Quickstep. Another group broke clear with 189KM to go as teams wanted to put riders up the road for later in the day. That group included Francesco Busatto of Intermarché-Wanty, Mads Pedersen and Carlos Verona of Lidl-Trek, Jon Barrenetxea of Movistar, Ethan Hayter of Soudal Quickstep, and Manuele Tarozzi of VF-Group Bardiani CSF-Faizanè. The two groups came together with 169KM to go but another group of nearly 20 riders got away and, with 163KM to go, 30 riders were together at the front with a lead of 4 minutes and growing. The break went over the top of Corio with 136KM to go and a gap of 8 minutes 30 seconds. EF-Education EasyPost put Kasper Asgreen on the front of the peloton and held the gap below 9 minutes. Asgreen continued riding up the Colle del Lys and by the top, the gap was still around 8 minutes. Once on the flat road through the Intermediate Sprint in Chiusa di San Michele, the gap had grown out to 9 minutes 30 seconds with the Colle Delle Finestre just ahead. With 46KM to go, the break hit the Finestre with a 10 minute advantage on the peloton. The group exploded and it wasn't long until half of the group was dropped. The first attack came from Rémy Rochas of Groupama-FDJ and Chris Harper of Jayco AlUla. Rochas fell away but Harper was quickly joined by Alessandro Verre of Arkéa-B&B Hotels. The pair were riding well but Harper was off alone with 32.5KM to go and 4.5KM to climb. Inside the final kilometer, the toffosi had packed every meter of available space, creating the most stunning natural amphitheater. Harper went over the top with 27.5KM to go to take the Cima Coppi and enough time on hand to start dreaming of a stage win. The peloton fought for position into the left corner to swing on to the Colle Delle Finestre. EF-Education EasyPost set the hardest pace they could manage right from the start and only after about 1KM of climbing, Richard Carapaz was on the attack. Isaac del Toro of UAE-XRG was the only one left when Carapaz looked around. Simon Yates of Visma-Lease a Bike attacked from the chase group and quickly got across to Carapaz and del Toro with just under 16KM to climb. A few probing attacks came from both Carapaz and Yates but the first gap was created by Yates with 15KM to go when he put in a dig though one of the many tight hairpins. Derek Gee of Israel-Premier Tech bridged up to Carapaz and del Toro just as Yates went up the road to make three chasers. Carapaz put in another attack which dropped Gee but it wasn't enough to crack del Toro or catch Yates. Del Toro would not take a pull and with 8.5KM to go, Yates had 45 seconds on Carapaz and del Toro. Carapaz nearly came to a stand still before putting in another full effort, but del Toro had him matched. Yates started the gravel with 8KM to go, 1 minute ahead of del Toro, Carapaz, and Gee, who had just made contact again. Yates moved into the virtual Maglia Rosa with about 5.5KM to climb and for the first time, del Toro went to the front to set the pace. The gap continued to expand however. With just under 3KM to climb, Yates had 1 minute 45 seconds. The gap stayed the same as Yates went over the top but crucially, Wout van Aert was still ahead from being in the breakaway all day. Yates and van Aert joined up with around 23KM to go and were descending together while del Toro and Carapaz were isolated and forced to work together. They did not work however and the gap started to balloon. Del Toro bluffed for so long that with 10KM to go on the Sestriere, the gap had grown out to 4 minutes. Van Aert did his last turn on the front with 7KM to go and set Simon Yates off to fly to the finish and a win in the overall of the Giro. Yates completed a fairy tale redemption story. In 2018, Yates lost the Maglia Rosa to Chris Froome on the Colle Delle Finestre in one of the greatest raids in recent history. Yates has come back and flipped the podium on the Finestre and taken the Maglia Rosa for himself. Harper held his advantage to take a most memorable Grand Tour stage win, the first of his career. Verre hung on for second but it was Yates in third that caught the attention of the cameras and press as they captured the images and reactions of the newest Giro winner. 5 minutes and 13 seconds later, del Toro crossed the line with Carapaz and Gee and ceded the Maglia Rosa to Yates.