Giro d'Italia 2025 | Primoz Roglic cracks badly as Carlos Verona gives Lidl-Trek a sensational 6th win of the race on stage 15!
CyclingSunday, 25 May 2025 at 16:54
Carlos Verona has secured a sensational 6th stage win at the 2025 Giro d'Italia for Lidl-Trek on stage 15, soloing to the victory from the breakaway. Behind meanwhile, there was GC drama as Primoz Roglic cracked badly, losing a heavy chunk of time to all his Maglia Rosa rivals.
A massive, 35-rider strong breakaway forced themselves clear in the early portion of the stage. Among the notable names included were the likes of Mathias Vacek, Daniel Martinez, Pello Bilbao, Nicolas Prodhomme, Georg Steinhauser, David Gaudu, Joshua Tarling, Marco Frigo, Luke Plapp, Filippo Zana, Bart Lemmen, Diego Ulissi, Lorenzo Fortunato and Christian Scaroni, but it was Einer Rubio who was best placed GC wise, starting the day just 4:26 down on the Maglia Rosa.
As the break reached the first big climb of the day, the Monte Grappa, their advantage over the peloton was around the three and a half minute mark. On the lower slopes though, the break immediately started to fall apart with the likes of Vacek, Gaudu and other immediately dropping out the back, whilst Nicola Conci was on the attack at the front.
Whilst none of the attacks from the break were really able to separate things up ahead on the Monte Grappa, the INEOS Grenadiers were attempting to put the rest of their GC rivals in difficulty in the peloton, with Tarling dropping back from the break to do a monster turn on the front. With 92km of the day to go, Bernal then launched a savage attack and soon found himself clear of all rivals except Isaac del Toro and Richard Carapaz, although Thymen Arensman and Derek Gee did manage to bridge the gap also by the top of the climb.
In the process of this big move from INEOS, the time gap to the breakaway had been cut massively, with just a minute separating the Bernal group and the front of the race at the top of the climb. On the descent, Frigo attacked clear of the lead group, with the Italian solo by 30 seconds at the time Bernal, Del Toro and co bridged the gap to the remainder of the break.
Importantly in terms of the GC, the second group of main favourites, including the likes of Juan Ayuso, Primoz Roglic and Simon Yates, was also closing the gap on the descent and with 70km to go, things all came back together behind lone leader Frigo.
As things then settled back down again among the GC contenders on the flat, another breakaway formed, with 10 riders attacking across to join Frigo, including Pello Bilbao, Nicolas Prodhomme, Romain Bardet and Bart Lemmen among others. By the time the final climb of the day began, the lead group had built up an advantage of just over three minutes.
As soon as the climb began, Carlos Verona attacked the break, with only Gianmarco Garofoli even attempting to react to Verona's move. Down the mountain meanwhile, once again, the INEOS Grenadiers came powering to the front of the GC group, ramping up the pace and thinning things out.
With INEOS starting to slightly run out of steam in their second attack though, EF Education-EasyPost took control and with 29km to go, Richard Carapaz launched an attack. Although most of the GC contenders were equal to Carapaz's move, Primoz Roglic was notably placed in difficulty. After a second Carapaz attack properly distanced Roglic, the next move came from Derek Gee. Notably though, the Maglia Rosa Del Toro was looking supreme, matching every move with ease.
At 25km to go, with the final climb of the day summited, they had closed the gap to Verona to just two minutes, whilst simultaneously gapping Roglic by more than a minute. On the flat though, the speed notably diminished in the GC group and by 20km to go, group Roglic had begun to close the gap. Perhaps because of this though, the penny finally dropped in the Maglia Rosa group and suddenly the cohesion was back, with everyone rolling through strongly, pushing the gap to Roglic right back out once again.
At the front meanwhile, Verona was looking incredibly strong himself, entering the final 10km with more than 50 seconds lead on his nearest chaser, enough to secure a stunning 6th stage win of the Grand Tour for Lidl-Trek. Behind the Spaniard though, the GC group was catching the rest of the break, meaning 6 and 4 bonus seconds could be on offer for those GC hopefuls at the finish line.
At 2km to go, just 7 seconds separated the remainder of the break and the GC group, and that just about proved enough to sweep up the bonus seconds.
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- One of the amazing things about cycling is how many races are happening at the same time. Stage, GC, and (as is clear here) job. It’s what makes the sport so interesting. On screen maybe not much is happening, but and yet so much is happening.RidesHills06-06-2025
- In contract year, i would say that if team duties permit, you are allowed to market yourself.abstractengineer06-06-2025
- Now its not a good team for talent development and opportunities. With Tadej hogging the GTs and the Monuments and the rest left fighting for scraps, there is very little chance for leadership roles which are critical in development of future greatsabstractengineer06-06-2025
- That is why talents shouldn't sign long term contracts of 5+ years. It leaves them vulnerable to team's decisionsabstractengineer06-06-2025
- OMG you've never been in a sprint if you get touched a little and stop sprinting ! Stay back on the peleton then if you can't take a lil' touch !frieders306-06-2025
- I guess that I'll need to find another sport to follow then.
santiagobenites05-06-2025 - Agreed, this sprint s is not woethy of a religation penalty! This should be re examied ou tof fairness.sam05-06-2025
- no brilliance from Yates or Visma?? you don't win Grand Tour without being strong rider. He stayed podium thru mtns without teammates Toro had full team of super climbers.Brilliant WVA and Yates, both monumental, inspiration comebacks, crushing the ride (all-time record time and he's not strong?). We all know Toro and Carapaz failed, but they didn't trust their legs; you might win by a few seconds if the others look at each other but not 5min.ccpivo05-06-2025
- If this story ftom Del Toro's father is accurate. It is quite shameful to hear and very sad to read. The U.C.I. need to sort these shoddy goings on in Mexican cycling now!Cyclingsbestfan05-06-2025
- He was evidently not considered a threat by Carapaz and del Toro, either, until it was too late.velodan05-06-2025
If Del Toro doesn't fall off the bike or get sick he is going to win the Giro. He looked like he was freewheeling when everyone else was on the limit. His riding style reminds me if Tadej.
Jan Christen and del Toro are Pogi's boys. They love Tadej and imitate his style. I'd say it's a blessing, with them the races are more interesting.
Exactly.
He relentlessly respond to those who attack him. Which also makes me recall of a certain day in Col du Galibier TDF 2022 edition when Tadej attacked the whole Jumbo Visma team just for fun, only to be later cracked on the Granon.
Del Toro is a still very young, semi tamed stallion. It's his only 2nd Grand Tour. He faces a cunning opposition: Carapaz, Bernal and maybe few others who will constantly lure him, test him during the final week.
Like few other young riders before, I believe he will crack in the final week. Don't imagine Ayuso doing his best to assist him. On the contrary.
Having said that, I may still need to eat my own hat next Sunday
He's a good climber, but you're right, he's 21 and could crack. Carapaz and Simon Yates will be right there. Carapaz is the dark horse. I beleive Del Toro will rise to the occasion. UAE will get on board after Tuesday if he is strong. We'll see.
Primoz! very bad luck... I hope the rest-day will be enough for him to recover from the many crashes (3 in race and 1 doing the TT reco).