Favorites stage 6 Giro d'Italia 2025 | Who’ll grab the first slice of Pizza Napoletana in the final that Kooij knows so well?

As mentioned, the Giro has included a stage to Naples for years. Diego Maradona's city is the final destination of an incredibly long 227-kilometer ride that starts in Potenza and finishes in the home of the pizza Napoletana.

Last year, Olav Kooij of Visma | Lease a Bike won on day 9, and the finish is the same. Normally, we expect a sprint finish, knowing that the difficulty lies at the beginning of the stage. Well, beginning... It will be 150 kilometers of ups and downs!

From the start, it's a 4-kilometer climb before descending to the foot of the Muro Lucano, where there is an intermediate sprint. Then, we continue straight to the top of the Valico di Monte Carruozzo, a 19.8-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 3.7 percent.

After 145.5 kilometers, the final obstacle is the Monteforte Irpino. After that, it's still a good 80 kilometers to the finish line, where, this time, there will be no local lap. Instead, the riders will ride along the coast to the finish line. The speed will be high, with the last kilometer being dead straight.

Times
Start: 11:50 AM local time (05:50 AM EDT)
Finish: around 5:15 PM local time (11:15 AM EDT)

There were some rain forecasts, but it should be dry at the start in Potenza on Thursday. That could change in the afternoon, when rain is expected to fall in the region, accompanied by a northeast wind. The temperature will then drop to 16 degrees, but the sun will return once the climbing is over. With temperatures around 22 to 25 degrees, we will have dry conditions on the way to Naples.

This year's route to Naples is reminiscent of the 2023 edition, which ended in a bunch sprint. There are no climbs in the final like last year, and with more than 80 kilometers of flat terrain, there seems to be no other possible scenario. And so, in our opinion, Olav Kooij is the top favorite. The Dutchman from Visma was perhaps already the fastest on day 4 and knows the last phase of the 6th stage well after his victory in Naples last year.

We are also looking closely at the results of stage 4 in terms of his opponents, with Casper van Uden keen to repeat his feat for Picnic-PostNL. He beat Kooij, Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who are his main challengers for Friday's sprint finish.

Read more below the photo.

But that's not all, because many other fast men want a second chance after not getting any results on Tuesday. Think of Astana's disqualified Max Kanter, Ireland's Sam Bennett at Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, Q36.5's Matteo Moschetti, and the young sprint talent Paul Magnier on behalf of Soudal-Quick Step.

In Belgium, they are looking at Milan Fretin of Cofidis, Gerben Thijssen of Intermarché-Wanty, and finally, the good climbing sprinters who already showed their form on days 1 and 3: Orluis Aular of Movistar and Corbin Strong of Israel-Premier Tech. We estimate the chance of the breakaway succeeding at less than 1 percent, so if they do pull it off, hats off to them!

Top favorites: Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Casper van Uden (Picnic-PostNL)
Outsiders: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Max Kanter (Astana), Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5) and Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quick Step)
Long shots: Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor), Milan Fretin (Cofidis), Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty), Orluis Aular (Movistar) and Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech)

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])