Giro 2025 Favourites stage 2: Chrono specialists to the fore

foto: Cor VosA time trial course of roughly 14 kilometres with long straights and a short 1.2 kilometre climb at 5.7% halfway through. Perfect for specialists who love to power along in the big ring and aren’t put off by a few uphill metres. (Slideshow route/profile)

Relentless speeds are to be expected on this course, although three U-turns will take a bit of the sting out. The 1.2-kilometre climb at 5.7% comes with 5.7 kilometres to go.

Pogacar and Ganna both won time trials at last year’s Giro, but neither is on the start list this time.

Tarling and Gee are the only riders in this year’s Giro peloton with an ITT win under their belt. The young Brit was quickest on a pancake-flat course at the UAE Tour; as for the Canadian, he took the ITT at O Gran Camiño, though the level of competition there was so modest that it’s hard to draw any real conclusions.

The number of strong time trialists in this year’s Giro d’Italia is striking, suggesting an exciting battle to come.

Favourites 2nd stage 2025 Giro d’Italia

**** Wout van Aert, Joshua Tarling
*** Brandon McNulty, Juan Ayuso, Primoz Roglic
** Ethan Hayter, Derek Gee, Jay Vine, Edoardo Affini
* Mattia Cattaneo, Luke Plapp, Thymen Arensman, Antonio Tiberi

Another interesting read: route 2nd stage 2025 Giro.