The 2025 Giro d'Italia Women kicks off with an entirely urban individual time trial. Bergamo is hosting the first stage of the pink race: starting from Chorus Life on wide, straight roads interspersed with turnarounds and short half-curves. Passing through the city center with a brief, gentle climb near the upper city before descending to the finish at Sentierone. The total route is 14.2 km.

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The course is not particularly challenging, but in women's cycling, individual time trials always make a difference and the general classification contenders must be prepared. Last year's prologue was crucial in defining the standings, and this edition could see the same scenario. All eyes are on specialist Marlen Reusser, but also on Lotte Kopecky - will one of them claim the first pink jersey?

THE TERRITORY. Lombardy hosts the start of the 2025 Giro Women, presenting one of its most precious calling cards: Bergamo. The Orobian city will be the start and finish of the initial time trial, giving guests and fans ample time to get to know it. And, inevitably, to fall in love with it.

The discovery of the city can begin by riding the historic funicular that - since 1887 - departs from the center, crosses the city walls and arrives directly in Piazza del Mercato del Fieno, leading to the Upper City, a timeless place where most monuments are concentrated. Piazza Vecchia is one of those places to see at least once in a lifetime: the view includes the Palazzo della Ragione with its sundial, the Fresco Museum, the Palazzo del Podestà and the Campanone, the symbolic tower of Bergamo that every evening at 10 PM precisely strikes 100 times to keep alive the medieval tradition of announcing the closing of the four access gates to the Upper City.

Just a few steps, then, to enter the religious heart of the city: Piazza del Duomo with the Basilica of Santa Maria and the extraordinary Colleoni Chapel.

To stretch your legs while enjoying beautiful views of the city and the Po Valley, you can walk along the Venetian Walls, five kilometers of great beauty, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017. Next to one of the access gates of the Upper City is the pastry shop where stracciatella ice cream was invented in 1961: a mandatory stop even when heading towards the nearby Monastery of Astino, recently restored and become an unmissable place to pause for those wanting to capture the ancient Bergamo atmospheres in a place of rare historical suggestion.

Unmissable, this time in the Lower City, is also the walk along the Sentierone, the paved avenue that in past centuries was the station for horse-drawn carriages and is now considered the city's elegant living room, a place of relaxed conviviality. The immersion in great beauty continues at the Carrara Academy, one of the main Italian art galleries that for over 200 years has collected masterpieces from the best painters, owning more than 1,800; on the opposite side of the same square is the GAMeC - Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery - which offers much more current exhibitions. It's hard to choose where to start.