After delays, doubts and speculation about funding, the organisers of the Giro d'Italia have confirmed that the 2025 Corsa Rosa will start in Albania, across the Adriatic from the Italian mainland.
The 2025 Giro d'Italia will start on Friday March 9, with three testing stages in Albania before the race caravan travels to Puglia in southern Italy for an early rest day on May 12. The remaining 18 stages head north, with mountain stages in the northeast and then northwest. As in recent years the Giro will finish in the capital Rome, on June 1. Albania marks the 15th Giro d'Italia start outside of Italy, the last was in Budapest, in Hungary, in 2022.
The full 2025 Giro d'Italia route will be revealed in Rome on January 13.
"We beat bigger and richer nations to secure the Grand Partenza of the Giro and we can't wait to show our country to millions of people around the world. I've always said that Albania is a little Italy and now with the Giro we'll be Italy on the other side of the Adriatic," Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama said.
The 2025 Giro d'Italia will begin with a rolling 164km that will test the hopes and ambitions of the sprinters.
The stage starts in Durrës, one of Albania’s major cities and then heads inland to climb to Gracen (13.5 km at 5.2%). The race will then continue to the capital Tirana, where a 22.2 km circuit will be completed twice, featuring the third category Surrel climb. The last time over the climb is less than 12 km from the finish line, perhaps sparking attacks and hurting the sprinters and their lead outs.
Stage 2 is a 13.7km individual time trial around Tirana and so will be an early test for the overall contenders. The course includes the Sauk climb at the halfway point, which rises 1.5km.
The third and final stage in Albania is a hilly 160 km race around Vlorë, that hosts both the start and finish. The Qafa E Llogarasë (10.7 km at 7.4%) will be tackled 39 km from the finish, with the last 25 km flat and so a chase for the chasers to close any gaps.
"We've avoided the cliché of a start for sprinters," the Giro d'Italia race director Mauro Vegni said.
"The first stage has a testing finishing circuit, the time trial has a climb mid-stage and the third stage has a major climb late on, the Qafa E Llogarasë."
"We believe these opening stages will challenge the general classification contenders and that we might see the first time gaps among the big names. We will offer a thrilling start to the Giro, both for the local audience and for those following the race from home."
