Giuseppe Martinelli reflects on Giro d’Italia 2025: “The one who hid himself the most won”

Nearly a week on from Simon Yates’ stunning late takeover of the 2025 Giro d’Italia, former XDS Astana Team directeur sportif Giuseppe Martinelli has weighed in on the race’s surprising conclusion, and on what UAE Team Emirates – XRG could have done differently to protect Isaac del Toro’s lead.

“Let's say that the exact opposite of everything that had been said happened,” Martinelli told bici.Pro. “We started with Roglic having to be the winner and having to compete with Ayuso, while Tiberi had to go on the podium, but in the end the one who hid himself the most won. Maybe even the smartest or the best.”

For Martinelli, the race may not have followed the expected script, but it still delivered. “It wasn't a bad Giro. We Italians were quite the protagonists. However, many of our riders are domestiques. Up until the crash, Ciccone worked for Pedersen. Another rider like Affini, who I like to death, did exceptional things helping Yates and Van Aert.”

He pointed to the stage to Siena, where Primoz Roglic crashed, as a key moment. Del Toro attacked alone and gained valuable time, but Martinelli saw it as a missed opportunity for UAE to act more strategically.

“On the day in Siena, when I saw Roglic fall, I would have stopped Del Toro and put him to help the captain. Because that way I would have gained much more on the Slovenian who at the start was the number one opponent. In hindsight it went well that way, for sure. But that day I immediately said: ‘But why don't they stop that guy who's flying?’ Behind them they would have certainly gained an extra minute.”

He believed UAE could have leveraged Del Toro differently. “UAE Emirates could have pulled to get back on Del Toro and he would have been able to make the difference. If he had stayed on the wheel and had ridden in three instead of alone, the stage victory would still have been possible.”

Tactically, Martinelli also questioned how UAE managed the breakaway on the decisive stage. “I hadn't seen the start and when I started to follow, there was a breakaway of 20 riders and I immediately noticed that Carapaz and Del Toro's men were missing. Remembering the two or three times I had used that tactic, I told myself that I would have put a UAE Emirates man in front. Then the breakaway gained a margin and when I saw that it had taken a 7-minute lead, I thought that UAE Emirates should put someone to pull. I would have brought them back to three minutes and thus I would have caught Van Aert on the climb. He is not a climber, going up would not have helped much.”

Even Wout van Aert, in Martinelli’s view, had little motivation to support Del Toro in chasing down Yates. “Van Aert was a phenomenon and it wouldn't have changed anything even if he had pulled Carapaz. He's not stupid and at a certain point he must have said to himself: ‘I'm second and maybe I'll move into third place, but it's the pink jersey that has to follow whoever attacks him, not me who's second!’ I told my friends straight away: Carapaz had nothing to gain by helping Del Toro. And I don't want to say that UAE got it all wrong, just that in my opinion they didn't take into account that Yates could be the wild card of the Giro. They never considered him, they concentrated on just one.”

Martinelli was full of praise for Del Toro, however, calling him a major talent and not at fault for how events unfolded.

“My criticism is certainly not towards Del Toro, because with him I think we have discovered another champion. At twenty-one, he is the youngest of all the young riders we have been talking about lately. In my opinion, he did what they told him to do. I don't think he made decisions, maybe only in Bormio he did something on his own and went on to win the stage. I think Del Toro gave a lot during the Giro, he rode as a protagonist and could have done so in the last stage too.”

He also reflected on the misfortunes of Antonio Tiberi, who came into the race with high expectations but left it injured and off the podium. “I was sure that this year Tiberi would have been on the podium, but in my opinion he arrived at the Giro not feeling well, so much so that he didn't do the Tour of the Alps.

“Probably the changes in the program affected him and then the fall came along. Nowadays when they fall they really hurt themselves, because they are skinny. I feel sorry for Antonio, I don't know what his program will be, but this year he had a good opportunity. However, I still save him, he is one of the best we have, even if he still doesn't know what he really has in the tank.”

Martinelli urged Tiberi to ride more assertively in future: “He is afraid to attack because he wonders what happens if they drop him. Instead he should be more enterprising, postponing the calculations until after the race. In Bahrain they were good at not stopping Caruso when Tiberi got into difficulty. Whether it was luck or skill, they saved fifth place in the standings. It is often easy to criticize, but you should be there and have the courage to make a choice, which can be right, but also completely wrong.”