The Giro d’Italia 2025 continued with stage 8 on Saturday. Stage 8 had been designed by race organizer RCS Sport as a 197-kilometer ride through mountainous territory on a route from Giulianova, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, to Castelraimondo in the Marche region of Italy.

The riders in the Giro peloton would have to test their legs on a Category 1 climb mid-stage, but the stage terrain was otherwise just hilly with minor bumps and Category 3 climbs. It was a stage profile that appealed to many breakaway hopefuls, climbers and downhill experts, who hoped to battle for the stage victory, while the general classification favorites were expected to preserve their energy for the stages to follow. 

Primoz Roglic was leading the Giro general classification in 24:32:30 before stage 8. The Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe rider was four seconds ahead of Juan Ayuso of UAE Team Emirates. Isaac del Toro was third - nine seconds back, Antonio Tiberi fourth (Bahrain-Victorious), Max Poole (Team Picnic-PostNL) fifth, Michael Storer sixth for Tudor Pro Cycling Team, and Brandon McNulty seventh for UAE Team Emirates.

Stage 8 got off to a fast start in flat terrain and many riders were eager to join the long breakaway of the day. Several breakaway attempts were launched and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) – now wearing the points jersey – broke away together with Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep) and Davide de Pretto (Jayco-Alula).

A Golden Retriever dog was spotted along the route – but fortunately this time it was on a line, so the riders were not at risk of crashing because of the dog in today’s stage as they were in yesterday’s challenge.

Other riders were still attacking from the main peloton with 180 kilometers left while hoping to make the leap to the front trio. Wout van Aert (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Marco Frigo, Mikkel Honore (EF Education-EasyPost) were some of the attacking protagonists during this phase of the race.

Pedersen, Cattaneo and de Pretto were still the only three riders in the front group on a descent with 166 kilometers remaining. The trio, however, had an advantage of only seventeen seconds over the chasing peloton where attacks were still being launched by breakaway optimists.

The front trio, still spearheaded by always hard-working Pedersen – had an advantage of twenty seconds with 147 kilometers left. Pedersen had made a bet with a team colleague, which would see them both dye their hair purple, if Pedersen was able to keep the purple jersey as leader of the points competition all the way to Rome. Pedersen, however, jokingly promised he would use temporary coloring himself, while making sure the hair coloring used for his colleague would be of a more permanent nature.

Pedersen won the intermediate sprint in Roccafluvione and banked 12 additional points for the best sprinter classification. The front trio then decided to wait for the main peloton.

The riders reached the Croce di Casale climb. The front part of the peloton was still dominated by breakaway hopefuls on the Category 3 climb. Some riders were obviously still optimistic and hoped to be able to prove their worth in a long breakaway.

A new and more viable breakaway had yet to escape from the peloton when 125 kilometers remained of stage 8. Wilco Keldermaan (Visma-Lease a Bike), Jefferson Cepeda (Movistar Team), and Alessandro Tonelli (Team Polti-VisitMalta) tried their luck as did Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) and Stefano Oldani of Team Cofidis.

The riders were closing in on the only Category 1 climb of the day. Perhaps a viable breakaway would be established on the climb. However, ten men attacked on the run-in to the climb and managed a small lead. The group included Dylan van Baarle, Wilco Kelderman, Davide Formolo, Remy Rochas, Nicolas Prodhomme, and Mikkel Honore.

The riders reached the Sassotetto climb, and the Category 1 climb immediately had its effect on the peloton. A split occurred in the front group, while riders in the rear part of the main peloton were no longer able to maintain contact. One hundred kilometers remained. The Sassotetto climb had previously been climbed in the Giro – Roberto Conti won the stage in 1987, while Phil Anderson took the victory in 1990.

More riders joined the front group from the peloton on the climb. Others suffered the opposite destiny when they were reeled in by the chasing peloton, which was spearheaded by riders from Team Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe.

Eleven riders were part of the front group when four kilometers of the climb remained. A seven-man chase group was 27 seconds behind, while the main peloton had a time deficit of 04:24 minutes. The front group featured riders such as Prodhomme, Georg Steinhauser, Frigo, Romain Bardet, Igor Arrieta, Diego Ulissi, Kelderman, and van Baarle.

Romain Bardet and Lorenzo Fortunato launched a duel for the climber classification points near the top of the climb. Fortunato proved the strongest rider and was the first man to reach the summit. The breakaway optimists regrouped after the sprint and the riders pressed on while maintaining absolute focus on the scenic, but dangerous descent that followed.

The front group was reshuffled on the descent and a new quartet formed that featured Vendrame, Steinhauser, Bardet, and Fortunato. Other riders later caught up with the front quartet and joined the quest for success in the stage. 

40 kilometers remained and UAE Team Emirates was pulling the main peloton up the climb spearheaded by Jay Vine, who was doing most of the hard chase work. Meanwhile, Australian Luke Plapp was solo in front, while chased by a trio featuring Kelderman, Arrieta, and Ulissi. Steinhauser was further back. Plapp had turned professional cyclist after previously chasing a pro cricket career. 

Luke Plapp was the first rider to enter the Castel Santa Maria climb. Igor Arrieta initiated a solo attack from the first chase group on the climb and he was 51 seconds behind Plapp at the summit of the Category 3 climb. Keldermann and Ulissi followed twenty-five seconds later. With the main peloton more than six minutes behind at this point, it appeared certain a stage winner would be found from within the breakaway. Seventeen kilometers remained.

Luke Plapp was still solo in front when ten kilometers remained. At this point first chaser Arrieta was running out of energy and had to wait for the next chase group. He joined forces with Kelderman and Ulissi. The next chase group was 01:30 minutes further back and featured Prodhomme, Vendrame, Steinhauser, Bardet, and Fortunato.

Luke Plapp’s great courage in today’s stage paid off for the Australian rider. The rider from Team Jayco-Alula soloed across the finish line in Castelraimondo. What a beautiful Giro stage win for the 22-year-old rider and his team.

Diego Ulissi and Wilco Kelderman battled it out in the final meters and Kelderman proved the strongest of the two. Kelderman finished second in today’s stage closely followed by Ulissi. Igor Arrieta was the fourth rider to cross the finish line shortly later.

Diego Ulissi took over the general classification lead from Primoz Roglic after today’s stage 8 as Primoz Roglic and other GC favorites were taking a relaxed day in the office to recover before the next challenges of this year’s Giro. The Italian rider will be wearing the pink jersey in tomorrow’s stage.

Sunday’s stage 9 of Giro d’Italia 2025 will be the final stage before the second rest day of this year’s Giro. Stage 9 will take the riders on a 181-kilometer ride through Tuscany on a challenging and technical racecourse from Gubbio to Siena, which will feature gravel sections as known from the famous Strade Bianche race. Stage 9 can prove to have a decisive influence on the general classification of this year’s Giro.

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