Vincenzo Nibali warns: "The Giro it is never easy and the last week is really tough"

The two-time winner of Giro d'Italia Vincenzo Nibali no longer stuns fans with his vicious uphill (and downhill) attacks, but he still took his time to have a look at the race at hand, sharing few of his thoughts about the course, favourites and possible surprises.

As a man with vast experience racing Grand Tours, Nibali immediately sees many places where the race can go sideways for the best. "There are certain phases that can be pitfalls," says the Shark of Messina in conversation with Bici.pro. Known for its ruthless mountain passes, "the Giro it is never easy and the last week is really tough," he points out with an eye on the Colle delle Finestre.

Even in absence of Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, the race still has one outright favourite who is expected to fight it out with one main challenger. "Roglic has a lot of experience and that can help him a lot, but he is a rider who mainly rides defensively. Ayuso, on the other hand, is the opposite, so we could end up with an attacker and a defender and that could make the race interesting."

But there are several other riders who could surprise us, Nibali reckons. "I wouldn't underestimate Del Toro and Yates. Tiberi has prepared this Giro in detail and has already reconnoitered the stages at the beginning of the year. Ciccone arrives with excellent legs and we have to find out whether he will focus on the GC or on the stages."

One of the big innovations of the 2025 Giro is the introduction of Red Bull KM, where bonus seconds towards general classification will be awarded. Normally, these should go towards breakaway, however some of these sprints are placed so that even GC riders have a chance to remove few seconds from their accumulated times.

Nibali was asked whether he thinks these bonus sprints will play a role for the final GC: "I hope not! I also did an interview where I said that fast guys have often stopped the race and that I hope that doesn't happen again. However, I don't think these bonus seconds will disrupt the classification."

The 40-year-old Italian brings up an example from the past when too generous bonifications decided a Grand Tour. "It would have been even worse if there had been significant time bonuses for the top three. I can still remember that Joaquim Rodriguez lost the Giro in 2012, precisely because of a bonus game."