Nico Denz celebrates his third stage win at the Giro d'Italia!

Nico Denz celebrates his third stage win at the Giro d'Italia!

On May 29, 2025, the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia took place, which led from Morbegno to Cesano Maderno over a distance of 144 kilometers. Nico Denz from Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe was able to prevail in this stage with an impressive breakaway attempt and triumphed with a lead of 61 seconds over Mirco Maestri (ITA) and Edward Planckaert (BEL) in this emotional race. This was Denz's third stage win in the Giro, having already achieved two successes in 2023. According to krone.at, the main field of favorites for overall victory conserved their strength and reached the finish almost 14 minutes behind.

The stage was characterized by attacks, especially on the climb of Parlasco. Denz initially belonged to a larger group of 35 riders who were able to pull away in the hilly initial phase. Eventually a smaller breakaway group formed, from which Denz emerged alone with 19 kilometers to go. The victory came in a time of 3:12:07 hours, which made it clear that the sprinter teams were unable to intervene in the action that day, while Denz took advantage of the moment to secure his triumph. cyclingnews.com reports that the next stage, stage 19, will cover 166 kilometers from Biella to Champoluc and will include three first category mountains.

Overall ranking and failures

In the overall standings, Isaac del Toro (MEX) remains at the top, followed by Richard Carapaz (ECU) and Simon Yates (GBR). Del Toro currently has a lead of 41 seconds over Carapaz and 51 seconds over Yates. In a surprise move, Juan Ayuso (ESP) withdrew from the race after suffering a painful bee sting that affected his vision. These incidents show how quickly events can change during the race, especially under the demanding conditions of the Giro d'Italia, which has been a major event in road cycling since 1909 and is one of the Grand Tours, alongside the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, as Wikipedia explains.

With the upcoming climb in the overall standings and the difficult conditions of the upcoming stages, riders will have to adapt their tactics. Speaking after his win, Denz said the triumph was particularly emotionally significant as his team's chances of winning the overall had diminished after team captains Jai Hindley and Primož Roglič suffered injuries. However, this victory brings a breath of fresh air to the Red Bull Bora team's morale and increases the excitement ahead of the crucial stages ahead.

The overall ranking is as follows: