LIVE stage 20 Giro d'Italia 2025 | Will del Toro, like Dumoulin and Yates in the past, lose his pink jersey on the brutal gravel climb?

Friday started with an uphill start, but the less skilled climbers will have more room to breathe on Saturday. The first sixty kilometers are on pretty flat roads, although it will probably still be quite fast: early breakaway, you know?

After 65 kilometers, the first categorized climb is on the program, although it is only a fourth-category climb. The Corio is 6.5 kilometers long and has an average gradient of 3.7 percent, which should not be an impossible obstacle for pros of this caliber.

After a short descent, the road starts to climb a little more before reaching the Colle del Lys (13.7 kilometers at 4.3 percent) after 100 kilometers. This is a somewhat irregular climb, with the first 5.5 kilometers at 7.1 percent. This is followed by a slightly less steep descent before heading via Chiusa di San Michele to the most challenging mountain of the entire race.

The Colle delle Finestre! 18.5 kilometers of climbing at an average gradient of 9.2 percent. Except for the first kilometer, every kilometer is at least 8 percent uphill, with some sections reaching double digits.

To top it all off, the last 8 kilometers are on unpaved roads. It's not surprising that we've seen some crazy things happen on this Finestre, with Chris Froome's solo attack in 2018 at the expense of Tom Dumoulin and Simon Yates perhaps the highlight.

At the top of the Finestre, it is only 10 kilometers downhill, after which we still have to go to Sestriere. That means another 16.3 kilometers of climbing, albeit at an average gradient of 'only' 3.8 percent. Differences made earlier in the stage can be further magnified here, especially as it gets steeper and steeper.

Climbs
69.2 km: Corio (6.5 km a 3.7%)
115.7 km: Colle del Lys (13.7 km a 4.3%)
177.5 km: Colle delle Finestre (18.5 km a 9.2%)
205.0 km: Sestriere (16.3 km a 3.8%)

Times
Start: 10:45 AM local time (04:45 AM EDT)
Finish: around 4:14 PM local time (10:14 AM EDT)

Should the riders be worried about the weather? Not about the temperatures (around 20 degrees Celsius) or the wind, but there is a chance of rain in Sestriere in the late afternoon.

The teams did push hard on Friday, but Isaac Del Toro's pink jersey never really got into trouble. The leader of UAE Team Emirates-XRG has one more day to survive, and with his Pogacar genes, it is not unthinkable that the Mexican will want to seal the deal in this super-tough stage. He will then have to watch out for the riders who already tried to attack him on Friday.

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) has been trying all week, and Saturday won't be any different. And Visma | Lease a Bike didn't ride all day for Simon Yates in stage 19 for nothing. He is in good shape and will want to settle the score with the Finestre, where he had such a dramatic collapse in 2018 and lost half an hour. Tom Dumoulin lost the Giro to Chris Froome on the same climb.

On the penultimate day of a Grand Tour, it is always a question of who is willing to take big risks and put their top ten finish at stake. Is Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) not satisfied with fourth place? And Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) and Egan Bernal (INEOS) with sixth place? Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) is taking a chance and is a dangerous candidate for the stage victory.

This certainly applies to the men who are also in the top ten and have less to lose. Michael Storer (Tudor) will want to make up for a frustrating Giro, and Einar Rubio and Movistar are always up for a bold attack. Del Toro will be perfectly happy if his teammate Adam Yates wins the stage and secures a top-ten finish, or does the pink jersey need his domestique badly?

Looking at the attackers, we don't give them much of a chance. But after losing minutes on Friday, Max Poole (and especially Romain Bardet at Picnic-PostNL), Davide Piganzoli (Polti), and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) cannot be ruled out. It will also be a chance for XDS Astana to show its strength with mountain king Lorenzo Fortunato, previous stage winner Christian Scaroni, and perhaps Wout Poels.  

Top favorites: Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)
Outsiders: Simon Yates (Visma | Lease a Bike), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Michael Storer (Tudor) and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana)
Long shots: Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers), Einer Rubio (Movistar), Adam Yates (UAE Emirates-XRG), Christian Scaroni and Wout Poels (XDS Astana), Tom Pidcock (Q36.5), Davide Piganzoli (Polti) and Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL)