Key Takeaways: 2025 Giro d'Italia Stage 16

Breaking down how one of the most exciting Giro d'Italia mountain stages in recent years fundamentally shifted the battle for the overall win

After avoiding high mountains like the plague through the first two weeks, the Giro d’Italia burst to life after its first true mountain stage when it headed into the brutal climbs of the Trentino region high above the shores of Lake Garda. While Christian Scaroni won the stage hand-in-hand with his XDS-Astana teammate Lorenzo Fortunato after just barely holding onto their massive advantage built up after getting into the early breakaway, the real action was further down the road with the main General Classification contenders.

UAE’s Isaac del Toro left the stage with his race lead intact, but the 21-year-old showed his first signs of weakness after being dropped on the day’s final climb, attempting to hold Simon Yates’ wheel as the pair chased an attacking Richard Carapaz and Derek Gee. Considering both heavy pre-race favorites fell out of overall contention along the route, with Juan Ayuso cracking and losing almost 15 minutes, and Primož Roglič exiting the race after suffering yet another crash, it is becoming more and more clear that the battle for the overall will be fought between a fading Del Toro, a surging Gee, Carapaz and Yates.

Check out the blow-by-blow Stage 16 breakdown, as well as a few key takeaways below:

Stage Top Five:
1) Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team) +0
2) Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana Team) +0
3) Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull - Bora - Hansgrohe) +55
4) Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +1’10
5) Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +1’23

Time Top Five GC Contenders Gained(+)/Lost(-) On Stage 16:
Carapaz +0
Gee -13
S. Yates -42
Caruso -1’21
Del Toro -1’36

GC Top Ten:
1) Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +0
2) Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) +26
3) Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +31
4) Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +1:31
5) Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) +2:40
6) Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) +3:23
7) Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) +3:31
8) Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) +4:07
9) Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +4:36
10) Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +5:08

Stage 16 Race Notebook

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111.5km-to-go: With UAE on the front setting a pace that is allowing the breakaway to build up a massive 7+ minute advantage, multiple riders crash on a wet descent, with Primož Roglič leaving the race after hitting the floor and Richard Carapaz being nursed along by his team after being involved in the same crash.

69.9km: After Juan Ayuso is briefly dropped on a tough 10km-long climb after Ineos raised the pace while Ayuso went back to the car to take off his rain gear, UAE dishes out some payback after getting to the front to increase the pace after Ineos’ leader Egan Bernal is involved in a crash. The gap to the breakaway is still 7’18.

42.7km: On the day’s penultimate climb, the brutal Santa Barbara climb, Richard Carapaz’s EF team gets to the front and increases the pace. This almost immediately thins down the peloton, with Ayuso’s earlier issue being exposed as more than just positioning after he is dropped.

11.7km: When the reduced peloton gets up and over the Santa Barbara, the pace has been so high that the gap to the breakaway is down to four minutes. At the base of the final climb, they catch Wout van Aert, who was impressively in the breakaway, and he immediately gets to work, setting a scorching pace for the first ten minutes of the climb, averaging 510 watts for his entire turn. Considering how much bigger Van Aert is than the rest of the riders in this group, and the relatively mild gradient of this part of the climb, this pace likely significantly hurt any GC contenders already on the limit.

11.5km: As soon as Van Aert pulls off, the pace significantly decreases, and Giulio Pellizzari smartly jumps at the opportunity to attack. He quickly builds up a gap while UAE’s Rafal Majka just aims to keep the pace steady for Del Toro.

7.4km: With Pellizzari almost a minute up the road, Simon Yates accelerates on a steep, 16% stretch of the climb, and immediately breaks up the group. Derek Gee misses the initial split and is forced to chase behind. He closes the gap, but with Yates pushing nearly 500 watts for this effort, his energy investment must be massive, leaving both him and Yates vulnerable to an attack.

6.2km: Carapaz, who has a sixth sense for his rivals’ weakness, knows this, and attacks just as Gee catches on and is looking to catch his breath as Yates slows down. Carapaz smartly goes all the way to the other side of the road so Gee, who responds quickly, can’t get into his slipstream. It is notable that Del Toro, who is tucked in Yates' wheel, doesn’t respond to the attack for the first time at this Giro.

5.7km: Shortly after the attack, Carapaz, who is now just 23 seconds behind Pellizzari, is ahead of a chasing Gee, with Yates and Del Toro chasing behind.

4.1km: Carapaz, now closing in on Pellizzari, has nearly a minute on Yates. Del Toro, showing his first hint of weakness at this Giro, is dropped.

2.5km: Instead of exploding, Del Toro does a good job of finding his rhythm and stabilizing the gap to Carapaz as Bernal sits on his wheel.

Finish: The Astana-XDS duo of Christian Scaroni and Lorenzo Fortunato crosses the line for first and second on the stage, an impressive feat for a team recently on the verge of WorldTour relegation.

Chase Group Finish: Pellizzari, who started the climb five minutes behind the stage winners, drops Carapaz to finish just 55 seconds off the stage winner. Carapaz finishes 15 seconds later, with Derek Gee closing the gap to Carapaz to just 13 seconds by the finish, Simon Yates coming in 1’52 down, and Del Toro just barely holding onto his race lead, crossing the line 2’46 behind the stage winners.

Three Key Stage Takeaways