Giro della Toscana - Memorial Alfredo Martini 2025

September 10, 2025 The string of Italian one-days continues with the 97th running of the Giro della Toscana in the heart of Tuscany. The first half of the race is comprised of a loop to the South of Pontedera to Casciada Terme which includes four climbs of 1.5KM at around 6% around the town of Peccioli. After arriving back in Pontedera with 108KM to go, the course follows the Arno River Westward for a clockwise lap through the Monte Serra di Sotto natural area and the ascent of the Passo Prato Ceragiola, an 8.3KM climb at 7.2%. The Passo Prato Ceragiola is taken on twice with the second summit coming 17KM from the finish, 10KM of which are on mostly flat roads leading back into Pontedera with the exception of the 1KM Quattro Strada climb with 9KM to go. Unfortunately the umbrellas were up at the start as rain had moved in overnight but the roads were drying when the flag dropped. It took 20KM for the break to form and when it did, the group contained Tyler Stites of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Ådne Holter of Uno-X Mobility, Sam Brand of Novo Nordisk, Nil Gimeno of Equipo Kern Pharma, and Mattia Bais of Polti-VisitMalta. Live covereage did not start until part way up the Passo Prato Ceragiola for the second and final time with 31KM to go, at which point UAE-XRG were piling on the pressure with Rafal Majka. The break had been caught and UAE-XRG were setting up for their young talent, Isaac del Toro who has been in flying form in recent weeks. Majka did his final pedal strokes on the front and pulled off with 4KM to climb when his teammate, Jan Christen made the first attack. Michael Storer of Tudor Pro Cycling was on him straight away. Paul Double of Jayco AlUla and Richard Carapaz of EF-Education EasyPost came across but the group stalled when Christen refused to work. The short reprieve allowed del Toro to bridge up along with others to make a group of twelve. When del Toro latched on, Christen went to the front but it wasn't hard enough and Storer put in a big attack that no one immediately reacted to. Double tried to come across but got stuck in between Storer and the favorites group. 1,200M from the top, del Toro attacked and quickly caught and passed Double. The Mexican reached Storer and sat on for a moment which allowed Double and Carapaz to reach the front to make four in the lead at 800M from the top. Through the mist in the last 600M, del Toro put in another attacked that only Storer could match. Del Toro weaved from one side of the road to the other to get rid of the Australian and finally did so after a series of vicious accelerations. Del Toro crested the climb 15 seconds ahead of Double, Carapaz, and Storer who had joined forces for the wet descent. Carapaz distanced Storer and Double on the descent but was still at 10 seconds from del Toro by the bottom. The TotalEnergies duo of Jordan Jegat and Steff Cras caught up to Storer and Double with 16KM to go to make four riders in group three, 20 seconds behind del Toro and 10 seconds behind Carapaz. A few moments later, Urko Berrade of Equipo Kern Pharma, Alessandro Pinarello of VF-Group Bardiani CSF-Faizanè, and Yannis Voisard of Tudor Pro Cycling joined the Storer group that but only slowed the momentum. With 6KM to go, Carapaz fell back into the chase group which had drifted to 40 seconds and likely only battling for second place. Storer and Cras broke away from the chase group with 3KM to go just as another group of five made their way back into the group. Del Toro took the final corner at 300M and crossed the finish line to take another win. Storer won the sprint ahead of Cras for second with the rest of the chase group just behind being led in by Pinarello for fourth.