DISCUSSION | Who were the biggest surprises of the Giro?

The Giro d’Italia 2025 has come to an end, and it was one for the ages. From Mads Pedersen incontestable domination to Wout van Aert’s epic win in the sterrato stage, from Roglic and Ayuso’s crashes and abandons to Isaac del Toro’s reign and Simon Yates’ final win.

The race has delivered plenty of stunning moments, about whom we have previously talked about and would like to know your opinion regarding the most memorable one.

Some riders have performed much better than expected, delivering impressive results that few could have imagined before the race. On the other hand, others disappointed and failed to live up to the expectations that had been placed on them.

Today we are going to focus on the biggest surprises of this Giro. As usual in our discussion posts, we have asked some of our writers to know their opinion about it.

In my opinion the course was well designed. Apart from 1/2 transition stages which were boring, I think the course was interesting (if we didn't have more spectacle it was more because of the riders playing too defensively in some stages).

The Mini-Strade Bianche was a great addition to the race. One of the best stages the Giro had in ages.

The finale was epic aswell. And the whole GC fight was very well designed.

No decisive stages cut/neutralized due to bad weather this year, that's a win for me.

And I always love an outsider story. It was quite intriguing to get to a point where you would wonder if the favourites could actually do it, and when they didn't, who could possibly step up as new favourite.

And last but not least, Isaac del Toro's performance is the standout of this year's Giro. Despite not winning, he stole the show and was the center of everything relevant that happened. Also his racing style gave us clear vibes of a certain teammate of his, which I'm sure you all will understand who I am refering to.

Lidl-Trek and Mads Pedersen for the obvious reasons.

Egan Bernal. Although outside the top ten and without winning a stage, it was good to see him back.

Richard Carapaz, non-conformist but without a team.

Isaac del Toro, a great revelation in three weeks.

The king of Mortirolo is Portuguese: Afonso Eulálio.

More open general classification.

Simon Yates' redemption.

Isaac del Toro is definitely a big surprise, his talent and potential made it clear that this would happen one day, but I didn't expect it to happen already. A full and complete Grand Tour rider, exciting to watch, consistent throughout three weeks and very explosive. A rider who will have a lot to show for many years to come.

Giulio Pellizzari came in as a domestique for Primoz Roglic, it was more than obvious after what we saw in Catalunya. He did the perfect job for the Slovenian, often being the 1 rider able to help in in several different types of stages.

And after he got the green flag to chase his own results, he climbed incredibly and all the way into 6th place. An immense talent who will also be leading his own Grand Tour team within the space of 1.5 years without a doubt.

UAE's tactics. They raced to keep things together and with the Ayuso-Roglic fight all the way into stage 15. Whilst rather logical, and at the time it did not work out wrong, they failed to take advantage of some days where Del Toro could've won time on Yates (on stages 9 and 15, literally, they pulled the Yates group whilst Del Toro was in front).

What surprised me was the lack of trying to use Adam Yates or Brandon McNulty in any way to put pressure on rivals. They had depth throughout the entire race but used it all to defend instead of attacking very fragile rival teams (similar to what INEOS did in 2023 with Geraint Thomas).

Of course, speaking in hindsight is always very different and our point of view is never complete, but UAE wasted several opportunities that would then come in handy in the final week (this includes the mind-boggling 0 riders in a breakaway of 30 in Finestre, which could've saved Del Toro's pink).

Isaac del Toro was truly a revelation, I think everyone agrees with that. We already know how good he is and how much potential he has, but I don’t think anyone could have expected that he fought for the Giro until the last day. He came as a domestique for Juan Ayuso and Adam Yates and ended up outperforming both by a wide margin.

Sadly for him, his team didn’t fully commit to supporting him until the abandon of Ayuso, wasting several opportunities to increase his lead on the rest of the rivals. What he did in his first Grand Tour being 21 years old is almost unprecedented, his future is looking very bright right now.

UAE will have to deal with the problem of four potential GC winners in the same team. That’s too many egos coexisting, so don’t feel surprised if one of them (aka Ayuso) leaves the team at the end of the season…

Giulio Pellizzari was a pleasant surprise as well, the young Italian finished in sixth place despite losing quite a lot of time during the first stages due to his domestique role. Once Roglic was out, he proved he is more than ready to be a leader. Probably the biggest talent Bora has (alongside Lipowitz), he will be fighting for big things soon. I am expecting memorable battles against Del Toro in the near future.

Casper van Uden was a nice surprise, he is still a young sprinter and, even if his talent was evident, he had never performed in big stages yet. He had a very quiet start to the season with no major results, not even in smaller races, but he put impressive performances at the Giro, winning once and also finishing in second on stage 12. Picnic will need his best version to avoid relegation…