Giro d'Italia Stage 17 preview: Riders take on iconic Mortirolo climb on another heavy-hitting GC day

Independent

6 days ago

The intense final week of the 2025 Giro d'Italia continues, with more climbing on the menu on an intriguing stage 17 from San Michele all'Adige to Bormio.
This is only a 'hilly' stage, officially, although with 3,800m of altitude gain in 155km and the infamous Mortirolo climb involved, that feels a slightly optimistic description. It's not as tough as yesterday's stage 16, but the fallout from that is likely to continue today, as the strongest GC riders - at this point Simon Yates and Richard Carapaz - continue to pile the pressure on their rivals.
The roads kick uphill almost from the flag drop, with 50km of steady uncategorised climbing through Val di Sole - including at the first intermediate sprint at Cles, 23.5km into proceedings - before the real climbs start.
First up is the Passo del Tonale, a steady 15.2km cat-two climb averaging 6%, with a long descent encompassing the second intermediate sprint and leading straight into the landmark ascent of the day, the Mortirolo.
It's climbed from its 'easier' side, from Monno, but it's by no means an easy climb: 12.6km at an average of 7.6%, with highs of 16% on its punishingly steep uppermost slopes. The final 3km are all above 10% and there's no let-up from there, with a difficult descent leading into the valley road up towards Bormio.
A short cat-3 climb to Le Motte, 3km above the valley, is tacked on - 8.2% with highs of 13% - before the run-in to Bormio itself. The road heads downhill inside the final 3km before going very slightly uphill from the flamme rouge to the line, with a few sharp corners to navigate late on.
The design of the stage - similar to most mountain stages at this race, with the toughest climb far from the finish - means just about anything could happen. The GC contenders are likely to make moves on the climb to separate the wheat from the chaff, but there's a significant amount of descending and lesser climbing still to come - 50km of it. Alternatively, we could see a breakaway make a late move on the Mortirolo itself and stay away until the finish.
Route map and profile
Start time
Stage 17 starts at 12.50pm local time (11.50pm BST) and is set to conclude at 5.30pm local time (4.30pm BST).
Prediction
Could this be a day for Simon Yates? The Briton was distanced by Richard Carapaz on the final climb on stage 16, but then recovered to put the maglia rosa of Isaac del Toro in difficulty for the first time in this race. He and the Ecuadorian look the strongest of the GC riders and will look to do more damage on the Mortirolo today.
But this feels like another day for the breakaway, and there are any number of contenders: Luke Plapp and Cristian Scaroni already have stage wins, and Lorenzo Fortunato will likely be in the hunt for more KOM points to extend his lead in the maglia azzurra.
But the design of this stage means that any potential winner will need to get over the tough climbs and also roll over the lumpy terrain to the finish line, so it's not necessarily one for the purest of pure climbers. We're going with Nicolas Prodhomme, who has been fifth twice so far this Giro, both times on similar stages to this one.