“Just so incredibly sad” – Thijs Zonneveld reflects on Giro d’Italia finale, Gesink tribute, and cycling’s uncomfortable sponsors

The 2025 Giro d’Italia concluded on Sunday in Rome, with Simon Yates sealing a career defining victory and finally conquering the demons of the Colle delle Finestre that had haunted him since 2018. But in the In de Waaier podcast, Dutch journalist Thijs Zonneveld delivered a reflective and at times scathing analysis of the final stage, the race as a whole, and deeper issues within the sport.

The day began with a solemn moment: a minute’s silence in memory of Daisy Gesink, the wife of veteran Dutch rider Robert Gesink, who tragically passed away far too young.

"Everyone who experienced it was so shocked," Zonneveld said. "It is just so incredibly sad that someone so young dies. I thought it was wonderful that Visma and the Giro dwelt on it so much, because Gesink is of course one of the founders of the team. Without Gesink, the entire team might not exist anymore. But it is just so incredibly sad."

Turning to the stage itself, Zonneveld admitted he found the procession-style sprint finale underwhelming.

"I don't like a stage like that at all. Until the final kilometres, where Visma did another fantastic lead-out and Kooij finished it off really well. But what Affini did was the most impressive," he said, praising the Italian for pulling nearly an entire kilometre in the closing moments to launch Wout van Aert and Olav Kooij to the line.

However, the podcast took a more serious turn as Zonneveld expressed strong views about team sponsorship in professional cycling, particularly the presence of state backed teams from controversial nations.

"He finds it unacceptable that Israel is still the name sponsor of a team," referring to Israel – Premier Tech. "It's actually crazy that there is a team that is sponsored by a country that commits genocide. I don't understand why this isn't being talked about. It's as if it were a normal brand name, and that's not normal."

He continued his criticism of the sport’s broader silence on the issue:

"It's just so normal that riders ride around with all kinds of names on their kit, that it's not even talked about," Zonneveld added. "The same goes for the UAE, a country where human rights have been violated for years, while they simply sponsor the best team in the world. Cycling doesn't exactly excel in nice sponsors."

Zonneveld also offered a broader reflection on what makes cycling unique, and unpredictable.

"Cycling is not a sport where the best always wins, and that has been the case very often in recent years," he said. "But the intrinsically interesting thing about cycling is that you don't have to be the best to win. There are all kinds of ways to win races: it can be tactical and it can be luck."

And while Simon Yates’ win was widely celebrated as a redemptive moment, Zonneveld didn’t shy away from acknowledging the element of fortune involved, "Let's be real, Yates was also just lucky. He was the best GC man once. Once! And that was on the Finestre, the decisive stage. That was to a very large extent thanks to the cooperation of Mr. Del Toro and Mr. Carapaz."