Betting pool tips Giro d'Italia 2025 | Who should you pick for the 3 days in Albania - perhaps a former winner? - and for the 18 days in Italy?

Who remembers Filippo Ganna's Giro in 2020? The Italian won three time trials in a tailor-made race that year, as well as a tough transition stage. It marked his breakthrough in the grand tours, a point where his current teammate Joshua Tarling stands before the start of the 2025 Giro. The Welshman finished last year's Vuelta somewhat disappointed but is now venturing into a grand tour for the second time.

A very important factor in this is the change in mindset that INEOS Grenadiers has undergone, with a significantly more aggressive approach in all races. Tarling already demonstrated this in races such as the UAE Tour and Paris-Nice, where, in addition to his time trial success, he also attacked in mountain stages and did his thing in the echelons. In the spring races, the 21-year-old fast rider also rode aggressively and proactively but was often caught in the last phase of a race. If he continues this form in the transition stages of the Giro, you have a guarantee of time trial points and a great baroudeur.

Everyone knows how tough the final week of this Giro d'Italia is, but in the past, the Italian race has often been somewhat overshadowed by its own success. In other words, stages were mainly about waiting and waiting some more, with breakaway riders taking full advantage in the last seven days. In that context, Louis Meintjes of Intermarché-Wanty could be an option, as he is the kind of rider who can stay with the breakaway every day in the final week and still score many points.

His team, Intermarché-Wanty, has been doing this for four years now, resulting in four top-15 places in grand tours. In the 2021 Vuelta and 2023 Tour, he was in a very promising position for a top-ten finish before dropping out. Two points to consider: Meintjes first has to make it to the final week, and as a South African, he is not particularly comfortable in the cold conditions that sometimes occur in Italy in May.

One of this spring's revelations is Milan Frentin. The confident sprinter from Belgium already showed his talent last season but has continued that form into 2025. Fretin won straight away in Almeria and Algarve and finished in the top ten in seven Belgian classics, although he crashed in the Classic Brugge-De Panne.

Cofidis has great faith in the qualities of the 24-year-old Belgian, who knew at the start of the season that he needed to perform well over the next three weeks. He still has to prove himself against Olav Kooij, one of the fastest men on earth, but on a good day, anything is possible for Fretin.

Another rider we tipped for the spring classics but he was unable to deliver due to circumstances. Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek started the spring with a bang and, despite not achieving a top result, was also the best rider in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but then crashed hard on his knee in Strade Bianche, was ill for a week and, to top it all off, crashed in Paris-Roubaix.

As a result, his planned altitude training for this Giro was canceled, but Vacek will still be at the start after being able to train well. The Czech rider is a strong time trialist, reasonably good on the climbs, and fast in the finish, which makes him a crucial asset for Mads Pedersen's Lidl-Trek team. The Dane is missing his regular lead-outs Alex Kirsch and Ryan Gibbons due to injuries, which means that Vacek, Soren Kragh Andersen, and Daan Hoole will have to take on more responsibility.

When discussing men in excellent form, we discuss UAE rider Brandon McNulty. The American is unbeatable on his good days, as we saw in the Tour de France and last year's Vuelta a España, where he won the opening time trial. His start to the season has been less impressive this year than in 2024, for example, but that doesn't necessarily spell trouble for the Giro d'Italia.

Where Jay Vine showed his skills in the Tour de Romandie, McNulty demonstrated his immense strength in the Ardennes. In the Amstel and Liège, he was in the chasing group, while in the Flèche Wallonne, he set the pace on the Mur de Huy and eventually finished fifteenth. If McNulty can continue that form in the Giro, Juan Ayuso, and Adam Yates will have something to cheer about.

In the Giro d'Italia, it's not just about winning but also about points. Teams such as Cofidis, XDS-Astana, and Picnic PostNL are still battling relegation, which means they will go for every good result in every stage. The Kazakh team has started the season strongly and is already closing in on Picnic PostNL in the standings.

This is partly thanks to results such as those achieved by Max Kanter and Wout Poels last week. The Dutchman won a stage and the GC in the Tour of Turkey and is now chasing a stage victory in the Giro, while Kanter won the Famenne Ardenne Classic on Sunday and is therefore coming to the Giro with fast sprinter's legs. The fact that he can also survive a hill is a nice bonus. However, the team can also count on Christian Scaroni, Nicola Conci, and Diego Ulissi, among others, in those stages.

He already did well in the 2022 and 2023 Tours, but now, at 28, Luca Mozzato has been selected to ride the Giro d'Italia for the first time. The fast Italian is the only rider from Arkéa - B&B Hotels on the start list who can score but has had an inconsistent year. This comes after an excellent 2024, in which he finished second in the Tour of Flanders, among other achievements.

Mozzato raced a lot last year but seems to have opted for a slightly more relaxed approach this season. This could see him finish in the top ten several times without you even noticing him. Anyway, you need guys like that, too.

With Isaac del Toro, Giulio Pellizzari, and Davide Piganzoli, the entire podium of the 2023 Tour de l'Avenir is present in this Giro. While Piganzoli is riding for Polti-VisitMalta on his own behalf, Del Toro and Pellizzari are racing for the teams of the two big favorites in this Giro: Juan Ayuso's UAE Emirates-XRG and Primoz Roglic's Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.

Pellizzari already showed some great things in last year's Giro and has taken another step forward. He wasn't even scheduled to ride in the Giro. Still, after an injury to teammate Matteo Sobrero and especially his brilliant performance in the Tour of Catalonia, the sports management couldn't ignore the 21-year-old rider. Together with Jai Hindley and Daniel Felipe Martinez, he will have to support Roglic as best he can in the final week.

This year's Giro starts in Albania, and we happen to have a former winner of the Tour of Albania (2.2 race) at the start. Filip Fiorelli was the best in 2019 and is one of the few riders who has already raced in the country. Will this give him an advantage in the first three days? Probably not, but the Italian has already proven this year that he has good legs, both uphill and in the sprint.

That, combined with his attacking spirit and natural desire to compete in intermediate sprints, makes him an interesting option for a Giro with many transition and sprint stages. His team will also be looking to Enrico Zanoncello in the pure sprint stages.

We conclude our list with someone from the Louis Meintjes category. Someone you don't have to look for in the first two weeks of the Giro but who could come to the surface in week three. Chris Harper is Jayco AlUla's GC man for this Giro, but his team knows they don't have to control the race.

Harper can, therefore, ride his race in the Giro, so to speak. The Melbourne native feels most at home on the longer climbs and therefore belongs in the same category as the aforementioned Meintjes, but also Michael Storer (Tudor) and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana): a group of riders who could well prove crucial in week three of this Giro!