"There are always explosions" - Alberto Contador on the stage where the Giro d'Italia may turn on it's head
Cycling
Alberto Contador was one of the gala guests at the presentation of the Giro d'Italia and, after managing as best he could with Italian on stage, he responded in Spanish to his Eurosport colleagues after the event. He talked about the 2025 route, which features a few mountains that he knows very well first-hand.
The two-time winner of the Giro (in 2011 his triumph was stripped from him) believes that we are going to live a spectacular Corsa Rosa with a course that he considers very hard and attractive with a little bit of everything:
"I like above all that it's going to be an authentic Giro d'Italia, stages that allow you to be able to play, to break the race and then a very hard last week, with 'tappones', with Mortirolo, with the Colle delle Finestre on the penultimate day, which made me suffer a lot in 2015, then Froome got the victory there. I think it's a very, very attractive Giro d'Italia, also with the Sterrato in Siena, a little bit like the Strade [Bianche], 2 individual time trials, it's a very nice Giro d'Italia."
He was asked about the queen stage of the Giro 2025 and the Spaniard, although he made it clear that there are several stages that could be the queen stage, finally decided on the penultimate stage, the one that precedes the finish in Rome and that could cause an upset in the general classification if someone falters after all the efforts made during 3 weeks:
"It's difficult to say which is the queen stage because there are several stages with around 5,000 meters of elevation gain. I think that because of where it's placed and because of the hardness I think the Colle delle Finestre, which will be the Cima Coppi this year".
"Why? Because it's already a lot of effort and it's a mountain pass where there are always explosions for the people who try it. I think that for the importance that day could have in case someone has a bad day, it would be stage 20, the Colle delle Finestre".
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🗺️ This is the route of the 2025 Giro d'Italia!👇
— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) January 13, 2025
🗺️ Questo è il Giro d'Italia 2025!👇#GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/cVT1Msio3u
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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