It has been reported for some time that the 2025 Giro d’Italia will start in Albania. However, over the past week, news has broken that there have been some financial difficulties in confirming this plan. As a result, the ‘Grand Paretenza,’ where the route for next year’s edition is announced, has been postponed until January 13th 2025.
With the Tour de France route already announced for 2025, which takes place after the Giro, this is bound to be causing some headaches for the Italian race’s organisers. Originally scheduled for Tuesday, 12 November, the Giro route cancelled, with Cicloweb reporting ongoing uncertainty surrounding the Grande Partenza in Albania due to political tensions.
The sooner the race organisers can come to the their decision the better. If the Giro wants to attract the likes of Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard to come to the race, then the sooner they have time to plan their race schedule the better.
For now, the riders will have to wait until at least January to see the route. It remains to be seen if any of the sports top riders will attempt the Giro-Tour double, and the organisers in Italy and Albania will be hoping to quickly resolve their issues.