Christian Scaroni climbs to Giro d'Italia stage 16 win as Isaac del Toro clings onto race lead after GC shakeup

Christian Scaroni led home an XDS Astana one-two on stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia, as the general classification was shaken up on a brutal day in the mountains.

The Italian escaped with teammate Lorenzo Fortunato on the final climb of the Passo San Valentino, after they had survived from the day's break. Fortunato, in the blue jersey for leading the mountains classification, allowed the win to go to Scaroni at the finish.

Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) finished third, completing an all-Italian podium, on the day his team leader Primož Roglič crashed out of the race.

The general classification was shaken up on the first day of a climb-heavy final week at the Giro, with Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) clinging onto the pink jersey, despite a powerful attack from Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), who lept up the standings as a result. Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) also lost time to Carapaz, but gained time on Del Toro, as did Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech).

Del Toro now leads Yates by 26 seconds, with Carapaz a further five seconds behind. Gee is 1:31 behind Del Toro.

How it happened

The race was back into the high mountains on stage 16, with unpredictable weather presenting a foreboding backdrop as the riders got set for almost 5,000 metres of climbing on the road to San Valentino.

With multiple teams still involved in the fight for overall victory, EF Education-EasyPost, Visma-Lease a Bike and Ineos Grenadiers were all aggressive from the outset, looking to get riders into any potential breakaway that formed before the climbing began. In the end, Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike and Irish national champion Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) got into a seven-rider strong move that looked to pull out a gap before the first ascent to Carbonare.

However, disaster then struck for Ineos and Tarling as the Welshman slid out on a soaking wet roundabout and careered into a barrier. Tarling was immediately pulled from the race by his team as the rain continued to fall.

A huge group of riders, led by Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), made contact with the head of the race. Several other strong climbers were present, including Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana). The arrival of the chase group meant that there were then more than 24 riders at the sharp end of the action. Fortunato took more mountain points at the top of the first climb to extend his lead in the maglia azzurra.

Another crash occurred back down the road in the GC group as Primož Roglič and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) both went down. After a difficult day on stage 15, Roglič was already struggling and immediately abandoned the race this time. With under 70 kilometres left to go, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) also crashed but was able to quickly remount his bike and continue.

EF Education-EasyPost and Visma-Lease a Bike upped the tempo on the penultimate climb, the Passo di Santa Barbara, in a bid to put UAE under pressure. Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates-XRG) was distanced by the move and all but fell out of contention in the overall classification.

By the time the final ascent began, the break had been cut down to just a handful of riders with Astana the best represented in the remnants of the early move. Cristian Scaroni and Lorenzo Fortunato both worked over Jefferson Cepeda (Movistar) before the Ecuadorian then fell away.

Meanwhile, in the GC group, Simon Yates and Richard Carapaz both looked to attack Del Toro in the maglia rosa, with Carapaz’s vicious move soon opening up a gap. The EF rider continued at a furious pace up the climb, taking back significant time as the summit approached. Fortunato and Scaroni held on for an Astana 1-2 on the line, with Scaroni crossing first, as Carapaz came in fourth to move to within 30 seconds of the race lead.

Results

Giro d’Italia 2025, stage 16: Piazzola sul Brenta > San Valentino Bretonico (203 km)

1. Cristian Scaroni (Ita) XDS-Astana, in 5:35:05
2. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) XDS-Astana, at same time
3. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +55s
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:10
5. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier tech, +1:23
6. Jefferson Cepeda (Ecu) Movistar, +1:43
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +1:52
8. Simon Yates (Gbr) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
9. Gijs Leemreize (Ned) Picnic-PostNL, +2:19
10. Yannis Voisard (Sui) Tudor Pro Cycling, +2:31

General classification after stage 16

1. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 61:31:56
2. Simon Yates (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +26s
3. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +31s
4. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +1:31
5. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious +2:40
6. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +3:23
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +3:31
8. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +4:07
9. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:36
10. Adam Yates (Gbr) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +5:08