Last year's Giro d'Italia Women gave us incredible emotions with a spectacular Elisa Longo Borghini who, in the pink jersey from the first to the last day, brought back a title that had been missing from the beautiful country for 16 years. In the 36th edition of the women's stage race, the second under Rcs Sport's management, there will be 8 days of fire involving central and northern Italy from Sunday 6 to Sunday 13 July. 22 teams will compete in the 936.9 km scheduled, with 15 World Tour, 2 Professional and 5 Continental teams for a total of 154 athletes.

After the spectacular start from Brescia last year, this edition will see Bergamo launch the pink race with an individual time trial of 14.2 km, which is slightly undulating and will certainly be a significant test for the general classification. In the first stage, things will get serious immediately, with the group pedaling from Clusone to Aprica, thus facing the first mountain finish of this edition, which certainly won't be decisive but could take out some important names. The third day of racing could smile on the fast wheels, starting from Vezza d'Oglio and arriving in Trento, with many downhill kilometers, but one must not forget that right at the beginning of the day, the Tonale Pass must be tackled. The sprinters will certainly have carte blanche in the fifth stage, but before that, there's the fascinating Pianezze stage with many short climbs, including the famous Ca' del Poggio wall. After a sixth stage perfectly suited for breakaways and crossing into San Marino, the queen stage with the finish at Monte Nerone is scheduled, which could decide the winner of the Giro Women 2025. However, pay attention to the final stage with the finish in Imola, which is anything but simple and could completely shuffle the cards.

In addition to the pink jersey, the athletes will compete for the blue jersey of the best climber, the red points jersey, and the white jersey for the best young rider - let the challenge begin!

The big names at the start

All eyes are on Elisa Longo Borghini, the outgoing champion, again wearing the tricolor, with a strong and ambitious team, but she will have to deal with some heavy hitters. The most well-equipped team is certainly Sd Worx Pro Time, which arrives without explicit general classification intentions; the team's big goal is the Tour de France with Lotte Kopecky, but they will certainly be in the race. Besides the world champion who will arrive in Italy formally "just for training", there will be European champion Lorena Wiebes, currently the strongest sprinter around, and especially Anna Van Der Breggen. This is the great return of the Dutch superstar who has already won the pink race 4 times, the last in 2021 before retiring, and since it's one of her favorite races, it's hard to believe she'll hold back. Today, Marlen Reusser (Movistar Team) is the most fearsome opponent, after some difficult seasons, the Swiss rider has undergone an incredible transformation, especially in climbing, having already won the Tour de Suisse, Vuelta Burgos, and finished second in the Vuelta Feminina. The opening time trial is perfect for her, and we could already see her in pink.

Among the general classification contenders will be the strong South African climber Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, already twice second, the French duo from Fdj Suez, Juliette Labous and Evita Muzic, Paulina Rooijakkers from Fenix Deceuninck, and the German Antonia Niedermaier who in 2022 won the beautiful Ceres stage. On the Italian front, there is great anticipation for Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv Alula Jayco), second in the Italian championship, and the PicNic Postnl trio: Francesca Barale and Eleonora Ciabocco, the under-23 Italian champion, could aim for the white jersey, while Marta Cavalli is finally finding the right pedaling stroke after some truly difficult seasons.