PREVIEW | Giro d'Italia 2025 stage 6 - Can Kooij, Groves or Magnier end Mads Pedersen's streak of victories?

The Corsa Rosa is the first Grand Tour of the season and this year it will include a start in a nation that will for the first time in it's history host a Grand Tour, Albania; and also several mountain stages in it's second half whilst the first half will feature some tricky stages including one that goes through a lot of the Strade Bianche course. We preview stage 6.

Stage 6 will finish in Napoli, following the success of recent years. However, after a few hilly stages, there is a more flat approach this time around. The stage will be long, 227 kilometers in total, but the fast men have no difficulties in the final kilometers to stop them.

But this doesn't mean a sprint will happen. There are 2500 meters of climbing, all inside the first two thirds of the stage - and the distance itself will make it hard on some riders. There are four different climbs on the day that are mention worthy, including the opening 5 kilometers at 4%; a 20-kilometer long ascent and two more that finally end with 82 kilometers to go. Fatigue will matter towards the end of the day, even though a bunch sprint will likely happen.

It will be a traditional finale in a known location, so not a surprise for those who are often present in the race. There are a few nervous sections in the final kilometers but the final 1.2 are in a straight line right by the sea and so there is time to recover position and launch a textbook sprint.

Southeastern wind early in the day that transforms into a southern breeze as the riders head into Napoli. This means we will have a tailwind early in the day and late in the day it will mostly be a crosswind. This does slightly favour a breakaway, specially as the start will be hard to control if the pace is very high, but honestly very few teams have thus far attempted to take risks in this race and the most realistic scenario continues to be that of a small breakaway.

Mads Pedersen - This is the Pedersen race, after all. Logic - and how he struggled on today's final climb - would say that the fatigue is starting to get to him. However he will be in the sprint unless something unexpected happens. He has always resisted the climbs thus far, and here he will have a chance to recover plenty before the bunch sprint. Again no big leadout, and he is not as fast of a pure sprinter as others here, but the long distance and amount of climbing will surely benefit him on such a day.

Main rivals - The main rivals will be the men who were in contention for stage 4, where Casper van Uden ended up taking a surprise win. The Team Picnic PostNL rider can certainly be a dangerous card once again, however the finale isn't as chaotic and I expect the leadouts to work better. None are world-class leadouts hoenstly, I think Olav Kooij may not have Wout van Aert who's struggling with positioning; I believe that Kaden Groves may go into the sprint in the best position having an explosive Jensen Plowright to lead him out. The likes of Milan Fretin and Matteo Moschetti do not have as much of a name as their rivals, but I believe they do have the speed to win this stage.

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale did look good with their leadout in the only bunch sprint so far this race, and so although Sam Bennett has not shown evidence that he has the legs to fight for a win here, if he starts his sprint in the right place he can surprise. Max Kanter and Paul Magnier also have an opportunity, whilst Maikel Zijlaard is the positioning specialist who then should have the speed for a good result. Giovanni Lonardi, Gerben Thijsen, Matevz Govekar, Orluis Aular, Andrea Vendrame, Luca Mozzato and Filippo Fiorelli will be riders to take into consideration.

What if a breakaway is to succeed? There's a very small chance of it happening, it very much feels like 90% of the peloton is waiting for the second week to start trying to attack and surprise, but on paper in an ordinary race this would be a day well suited for a small group victory. The start is hard to control, there is a tailwind, the stage is quite long which will make a late chase hard and overall the amount of climbing means the peloton will always have to ride cautiously in the first half. Taco van der Hoorn, Marco Frigo, Quentin Pacher, Mikkel Honoré, Davide Formolo, Koen Bouwman and Martin Marcellusi would be riders who can certainly perform and have solid chances of giving it a try.

*** Kaden Groves, Mads Pedersen, Olav Kooij
** Casper van Uden, Milan Fretin, Matteo Moschetti
* Sam Bennett, Gerben Thijssen, Paul Magnier, Maikel Zijlaard, Giovani Lonardi, Max Kanter, Corbin Strong, Orluis Aular

Pick: Kaden Groves

How: Regular bunch sprint