Key Takeaways: 2025 Giro d'Italia Stage 11

Breaking down how an unexpectedly hard stage was won & how it continued to tighten the race for the overall title

Apologies for the delayed send on yesterday’s Stage 10 Key Takeaways post; due to a lovely combination of a technical glitch and human error, it was stuck in the outbox until early this morning.

After yet another brutally fast start kept an early breakaway from building up a defensible gap, Richard Carapaz burst clear of the peloton on the day’s final climb, before holding off the UAE-led chase over the final 10 kilometers to win Stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia and move into sixth place overall. The stage, which took the peloton through the dramatic, rugged mountains between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, served up some unexpected GC action, with Egan Bernal testing the favorites on a brutal mid-stage climb. While the move was ultimately brought to heel, it caused UAE’s dual leaders Juan Ayuso and Isaac del Toro, to panic, literally shoving their domestiques out of the way to respond to the move personally, which exposed potential cracks and pain points within the team that could be exploited later in the race and create the potential for a thrilling battle for the overall win.

See exactly how it happened and three key takeaways below:

Stage Top Five:
1) Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +0
2) Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +10
3) Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +10
4) Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) +10
5) Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) +10

GC Top Ten:
1) Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +0
2) Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +31
3) Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) +1:07
4) Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1:09
5) Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +1:24
6) Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +1:56
7) Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +2:09
8) Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2:16
9) Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2:33
10) Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +2:33

Stage 11 Race Notebook

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186.1km-163.3km: The race starts incredibly fast, with extremely strong riders like Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen attacking on the flat sections, which keeps the pace high and prevents a breakaway from getting clear.

127.6km: At one point, even the race leader, Isaac del Toro, is getting in on the action by getting into early moves, which dooms them and ensures more attacking. For this reason, along with the simple fact that it wastes precious energy in a three-week race, this is highly inadvisable.

106.7km: Wout Poels leads a group clear with Lorenzo Fortunato and Wilco Kelderman before the day’s first climb, and they are joined by a massive chase group at the base of the climb.

106.4km: When the peloton hits the climb, a full UAE team sets a hard tempo on the front (Roglič is already almost completely isolated). This, along with the fact that the breakaway only has a gap of just over a minute, means that they will have a hard time building a stage-winning gap, and that GC contenders in the group could attempt to attack and bridge across.

94.6km: And, sure enough, on the steepest section of the brutal climb (9.9% avg for 14km), Egan Bernal attacks. Behind, despite having Rafał Majka on the front, Juan Ayuso puts his hand out to push him aside and chases him personally.

94.2km: As soon as Ayuso takes off, Del Toro responds, clearly not trusting his teammate. However, with such a long way to the finish line, this move has nowhere to go and is quickly reeled in by the group behind. This is yet another waste of energy from the UAE leaders.

47.2km: After the descent, UAE impressively has a full team of eight riders on the front, and they are keeping the gap to the breakaway at just over two minutes, meaning they must want to contest the stage. Behind, Roglič only has two teammates with him, which is better than the first week, but highlights how weak his support team currently is.

36.2km: With the gap this close, it is only a matter of time before a team with stage win aspirations takes it up, and eventually Mads Pedersen gets to the front and immediately begins chewing into the gap, taking it from 2’47 to just over a minute in ten kilometers.

9km: On the final climb, just as the peloton is about to catch the breakaway, Richard Carapaz attacks, expertly using the caught riders as a screen between him and the UAE riders.

8.4km: Despite having a strong team with him, Del Toro attempts to solo bridge to Carapaz, but, with the gap already at seven seconds, he cannot, and this surge disrupts the chase and ends up increasing Carapaz’s gap.

5.8km: By the time they crest the climb, Carapaz has a gap of 32 seconds, but the UAE team is back together and pulling at a strong pace.

1km- Carapaz Finish: Going under the final km, UAE has pegged the gap back to 17 seconds, while Roglič is positioned at the back of their leadout. Up ahead, Carapaz crosses the finish line to win the stage.

GC Finish: Ten seconds later, Del Toro leads the peloton in for second to pick up the six bonus seconds, while Ayuso and Roglič sit further back in the group.

Three Key Takeaways