The 2025 Giro d’Italia continued Friday with stage 19 – a short 166-kilometer stage from Biella to Champoluc. The stage would be contested in mountainous terrain north of Milano and Torino and feature no less than three Category 1 climbs, as well as one Category 2 and one Category 3 climb in a condensed format without long valley stretches, which could have been used for recovering and regrouping. 

Giro d’Italia organizer RCS Sport presented a smorgasbord of mountain challenges to the remaining cyclists in this year’s Giro and expected the general classification favorites to engage in epic and memorable battles in the mountains of northern Italy. 

To general classification favorites, including Simon Yates (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers), and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates), stage 19 would be a golden opportunity. Some would be looking to defend their GC positions, others would be eager to advance in the rankings before the Giro includes on Sunday in Rome, where the riders will enter the Vatican and meet the new Pope.

The neutralized start of stage 19 took place in the charming historic center of the city of Biella, situated in the northern Italian region of Piedmont. The traditional beautiful umbrella girls were sadly missing at the start line, due to an unfortunate decision from RCS Sport, so the riders left the city, which is known for its textile production, under sunny skies and with temperatures near 26 degrees Celsius. The riders were clearly very focused at the start of the stage, which could prove decisive for the final general classification of this year’s Giro.

Early breakaway attempts were launched shortly after the start as expected. The general classification teams were eager to send lieutenants up the road, who could function as tactical outposts later in the stage. Other teams were still eagerly searching for a much-needed stage victory – in an increasingly panicked manner as the Giro was approaching its conclusion and the teams were running out of opportunities.

The riders entered the Croce Serra shortly after the stage start and riders such as Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Jan Tratnik (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe), and Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon-AG2R) launched breakaway attempts on the Category 3 climb.

Riders including Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek), Daniel Martinez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Thomas Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL), Thymen Arensman (Ineos-Grenadiers), and Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) also attempted to break away from the peloton, but EF Education-EasyPost sent riders to the front of the main peloton, as the team wasn’t satisfied with the situation up the road.

Most of the attackers got reeled in by the chasing peloton and when one kilometer of the first climb of the day remained, the front group featured Nicolas Prodhomme, Georg Steinhauser, Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep), and Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike). The peloton was thirty-five seconds behind and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) was attempting to make the leap to the front quartet together with Remy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ) and Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek.

Cattaneo reached the summit of Croce Serra ahead of Steinhauser and Lemmen and the front quartet entered the fast descent with a lead of thirty-five seconds over the main peloton, which was spearheaded by riders from UAE Team Emirates.

The riders passed the Ponte Romano – a famous bridge constructed during the reign of Emperor Augustus, which functioned as an important part of the Roman Via delle Gallie trade route through the Alps. The consular road also played an important part in connecting and unifying the vast Roman territories.

Some riders in the Giro were also eager to connect with the front breakaway quartet, so Mads Pedersen, Orluis Aular (Movistar Team), Chris Harper (Jayco-Alula), and Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) broke away from the main peloton. More riders joined in and were hoping to gain a viable lead before they reached Col Tzecore, which was a category One climb. 

The riders reached Verres, which is known for the famous Castle of Verres that used to guard the Val d’Ayas. The front quartet merged with a large chase group and the riders then entered the Col Tzecore climb. The breakaway group now featured more than thirty kilometers and included notable riders such as Antonio Tiberi, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), Nicolas Prodhomme, Georg Steinhauser, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Thymen Arensman, Simon Clarke (Team PremierTech), Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek), Mads Pedersen, Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek), Mattia Cattaneo, Chris Harper, Romain Bardet, Wout van Aert, and Christian Scaroni. 

The front group increased its advantage over the main peloton on the Col Tzecore climb. With five kilometers of the Category 1 climb remaining, the time difference between the groups was 02:40 minutes. The riders in the breakaway were cooperating well, while UAE Team Emirates riders were maintaining a comfortable climbing speed for race leader Isaac del Toro at the front of the main peloton.

Col Tzecore proved to be a strenuous climb for some of the riders in the front group and they got dropped while the other breakaway optimists pressed on with 2.5 kilometers of the climb remaining. Georg Steinhauser was leading the front group up the climb. Scaroni attacked solo from the front group shortly before the summit to bank the most points for the best climber classification. The riders in the front breakaway regrouped on the fast and winding descent and were now approaching the Col Saint-Pantaleon with an advantage of 03:30 minutes over the main peloton, which was still being controlled by riders from UAE Team Emirates in support of race leader Isaac del Toro.

The breakaway optimists reached Col Saint-Pantaleon and restarted their climbing efforts. Col Saint-Pantaleon is a Category One climb and is 16.5-kilometers long with an average gradient of 7.2 percent. Riders from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe moved to the front of the main peloton on the climb but were later replaced by EF Education-EasyPost riders in support of team captain Richard Carapaz, who wanted a faster pace, thereby aiming to wear down competitors such as Simon Yates and Isaac del Toro.

The race situation got noteworthily affected by the Col Saint-Pantaleon. With six kilometers of the climb remaining, the main peloton had been reduced to no more than fifty riders. All other riders had been dropped and were already forming gruppetto groups, despite more than sixty kilometers of the stage remaining.

Meanwhile, Antonio Tiberi had attacked from the front breakaway group in a joint effort with Romain Bardet. Tiberi was looking to advance in the general classification, while Bardet was aiming for a stage win in the final Grand Tour of his career. This had caused several riders in the breakaway to lose contact with the front group.

Tiberi and Bardet proved unable to keep the chasing fellow breakaway optimists at bay and got caught on the climb. Tiberi, Prodhomme, Verona, Arrieta, Bilbao, Meintjes, and Lemmen were joining forces and had formed a smaller breakaway group as five hundred meters of Col Saint-Pantaleon remained. 

Nicolas Prodhomme was the first rider to reach the summit of Col Saint-Pantaleon and earned the maximum points for the best climber classification. Carlos Verona was the next rider to cross the summit line, followed by Antonio Tiberi. 

The remaining breakaway riders entered a fast and dangerous downhill stretch with a lead of more than two minutes over the main peloton, which had been spearheaded by riders from Visma-Lease a Bike on the Category One climb. Carlos Verona was leading a front breakaway quartet down the descent. Tiberi, Prodhomme, and Arrieta were the other riders in the front group, which was being chased by a trio featuring Bilbao, Meintjes, and Lemmen.

The front quartet had joined forces with the chase trio on the descent and were now entering the Col de Joux with a lead of approximately 03:30 minutes over the main peloton. Tiberi, Prodhomme, and Verona left the other breakaway hopefuls behind early in the climb. Visma-Lease a Bike riders were at the front of the main peloton together with Steinhauser of Team EF Education. 

Ten kilometers remained of the Col de Joux climb and the main peloton was closing in on the remaining breakaway optimists, having reduced their advantage to 01:30 minutes. Prodhomme and Verona had formed a front duo and were doing their best to keep the GC favorites peloton group at bay. Tiberi was still hoping to turn the front duo into a trio.

Tiberi later joined Verona and Prodhomme on the climb and proud Frenchman Prodhomme launched a solo attack, hoping to extend the breakaway instead of getting caught by the GC favorites group. Seven kilometers of the climb remained, but more than 27 kilometers of the stage.

The main peloton group had been minimized to about ten men on the climb when five kilometers remained. Giulio Pellizzari attempted to launch an attack, but UAE Team Emirates rider Rafal Majka shut it down in the same controlling way as known from the US Postal Service Team days. The group also featured Damiano Caruso, Richard Carapaz, Egan Bernal, Derek Gee, Simon Yates, Michael Storer, Isaac del Toro, Brandon McNulty, Einer Rubio, and Louis Meintjes. 

While Prodhomme was solo up the road, Richard Carapaz launched an attack from the GC favorites group with one kilometer remaining of Col de Joux. Simon Yates and Isaac del Toro immediately responded, and Derek Gee also fought his way back. Carapaz stopped his attack as the GC competitors had been able to follow.

Pellizzari tried an attack from the GC favorites group as it approached the top of the climb, but Majka closed him down.

Prodhomme accelerated furiously on the descent and took chances while hoping to preserve his chances of the stage victory. But fifteen kilometers of stage 19 remained, and they included the Category Two Antagnod climb.

Decathlon-AG2R’s Nicolas Prodhomme entered the final climb of the stage in solo mode and had preserved a lead of 01:37 minutes over the GC favorites group with five kilometers of the Antagnod climb. Would an antagonist spoil his chances of success in the stage, or would the Frenchman prevail? Polish rider Rafal Majka was leading the GC favorites group on the climb and appeared very eager to spoil Prodhomme’s chances of a stage victory.

Richard Carapaz attacked from the GC favorites group with seven kilometers of the stage remaining. Isaac del Toro immediately stuck to his rear wheel and the duo pressed on. Simon Yates and other GC favorites further back appeared unable to respond. One kilometer later, the Carapaz-del Toro duo had a lead of twenty seconds over the other GC favorites.

Prodhomme reached the summit of Antagnod with a one-minute lead over the chasing GC riders. It would now be downhill to the finish line and the chances of success for the Frenchman appeared to be increasing.

Nicolas Prodhomme reached the finish line solo as winner of stage 19 of Giro d’Italia 2025 after 04:50:35 in the saddle. What a magnificent victory for the Frenchman and his Decathlon-AG2R team.

Richard Carapaz approached the finish line with Isaac del Toro on his wheel. After taking advantage of Carapaz’ lead, Isaac del Toro attacked for UAE Team Emirates in the final meters and finished ahead of Ecuador’s Carapaz of Team EF Education-EasyPost. Simon Yates, Egan Bernal, Derek Gee and other GC favorites finished 01:22 minutes after the stage winner.

“I won my first race three weeks ago and now I win a stage in the Giro, so I am very, very happy,” stage winner Nicolas Prodhomme told Roadcycling.com shortly after the stage finish. 

“We did not have a lot of gap in the breakaway and I was not feeling good on the climb, but I had to take a risk and go for the stage victory instead of chasing a top five finish again,” Prodhomme explained.

Isaac del Toro remains general classification leader in the 2025 Giro d’Italia following stage 19. Del Toro is now 43 seconds ahead of Richard Carapaz. Simon Yates is third, 01:21 minutes behind the Mexican race leader. Derek Gee is fourth, Damiano Caruso fifth, Egan Bernal is sixth, and Einer Rubio eighth. Michael Storer advanced to ninth position in the GC, while Brandon McNulty now completes the top ten.

The 2025 Giro d’Italia will continue Saturday with stage 20 – the penultimate stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia will take the cyclists on a 205-kilometer ride through legendary terrain from Verres to Sestriere Vialattea. The stage will feature the much-feared Colle delle Finestre climb, which is Beyond Category and 18.4-kilometers long. The climb has an average gradient of 9.2 percent and features potentially decisive gravel sections. 

Stage 20 will also feature one Category 2 climb, one Category 4 climb, and conclude on the Category 3 Sestriere climb. The stage is expected to deliver the final climbing strides between the general classification favorites, before the Giro concludes on Sunday in Rome, where the Giro cyclists will greet the Pope and ride three kilometers in the streets of the Vatican.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete news and coverage from Giro d’Italia 2025.