Giro d’Italia Stage 21 preview: Sprinters set for final battle in Rome as Simon Yates seals pink jersey

The final stage of this year’s race begins in Vatican City and features a Rome city centre circuit, which will see Simon Yates crowned 2025 winner

Giro d'Italia – stage 21 map ( giroditalia.it)

Today marks the end of the 2025 Giro d’Italia, a thrilling and often surprising edition that will end with Simon Yates donning the maglia rosa and lifting one of cycling’s most beautiful trophies.

Before that, though, the GC teams get to pootle through Rome and watch the sprinters do battle for one last time. With just 600m of elevation gain, this 143km stage is a day for the pure fast men, albeit with one late twist.

Stage 21 starts in the Vatican City to pay homage to the late Pope Francis, before heading out through the Eur business district towards the coast and returning to the stage start via Ostia.

That’s essentially a detour before the riders head onto the city centre circuit that will decide the winner of the final sprint: eight laps of a 9.5km course through the Italian capital, complete with urban furniture, some technical corners, and brief cobbled sectors, known as sanpietrini, to break up the city roads.

Heading onto the final straight, it’s classic sprint finish territory, but with a twist that could make it the perfect homecoming for Mads Pedersen, runaway winner of the maglia ciclamino and already with four stage wins under his belt.

The road pitches up partway through the last kilometre, with a 5% section with around 250m to go, potentially setting up a perfect end to the Dane’s Giro d’Italia as he has looked utterly superb on uphill sprints throughout the past three weeks.

But the final day of a Grand Tour can always spring a surprise - see Jordi Meeus’ totally unexpected win on the Champs-Elysees in 2023, ahead of Jasper Philipsen - and there are plenty of sprinters’ teams without a win who will be desperate to at long last make their mark in this corsa rosa. Expect chaos, champagne for the winners, and plenty of custom all-pink gear to admire en route to Rome.

Route map and profile

Giro d'Italia – stage 21 map (giroditalia.it)

Giro d'Italia – stage 21 profile (giroditalia.it)

Start time

A later start time today: 3.05pm local time (2.05pm BST) - and a later finish too: 6.45pm local time (5.45pm BST).

Prediction

Stage 18 ended in a surprise win for the breakaway but today is one for the pure fast men, with the sprinters’ teams gearing up for one last lead-out. Olav Kooij, Mads Pedersen and Kaden Groves are the strongest of the sprinters left in the race, each with a win (four in Pedersen’s case) already to their name.

We’re backing Olav Kooij to seal the honours on the final day of what has been a mesmerising Giro, with the terrain suiting him more than the punchier figure of Pedersen - who may simply sit back and enjoy some champagne, with the points classification sewn up.