Eight hundred fifty watts. 59 minutes. Three GC contenders.
They’re just some of the numbers that can help us unpick a smash-mouth 2025 Giro d’Italia that still feels hard to understand.
Here are the stats that support the key narratives of what was a wild, and at times wacky, corsa rosa:
59:22: Simon Yates crushes Finestre climbing record
Simon Yates blew up both the Giro d’Italia and the climbing leaderboards with his redemptive raid over the Colle delle Finestre.
The 32-year-old crushed a record 59:22 climb of what’s undoubtedly one of the Giro’s most notorious peaks Saturday. At 18.5km long and relentlessly steep, the high-altitude, gravel-strewn Finestre is absolutely foul.
The website Climbing Records reports Yates’ stage 20 ascent was 1:23 faster than the previous record of 1:00:45 set last year by Pablo Torres, and poignantly, five minutes faster than the time set by Chris Froome in 2018.
⛰️ COLLE DELLE FINESTRE
⏱️ 2005, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2024, 2025
Climbing times for paved & unpaved parts and whole ascent.
#Giro pic.twitter.com/QSQGtuLNp1
— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) June 1, 2025
Data fiends over at Lantern Rouge estimate Yates climbed the Finestre on Saturday at 6.2w/kg.
That may not sound like much in this Pogačar-powered 7w/kg era, but let’s not forget the awful Alp includes 8km of loose gravel and several hundred meters of thin air.
Watts per kilos aside, a record-setting ride was some way for Yates to bury a demon that he’d been nurturing a full seven years.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s latest grand tour winner was haunted by the memories of being blasted out of the pink jersey in 2018 by Froome’s infamous Finestre long-bomb.
Seven years later, Yates left Isaac del Toro and Richard Carapaz to squabble and carved open the Giro on the same stoney slope.
“When the parcours was announced, I had the idea to come back and maybe close that chapter,” Yates said after the stage Saturday. “Maybe not to take the race like I’ve just done now, but at least to try and to show myself the way that I can.
“I’ve been feeling good all race, but I just needed to believe in myself,” Yates said after his race-winning move.
“In the end, I had the legs to do something there,”
6.2 w/kg of legs, in fact
852 watts: Wout van Aert sets power PB in Giro rout
Wout van Aert bulldozed all his early season doubters at this Giro with a stage win, an MVP pull for teammate Simon Yates, and a handful of personal power records.
Van Aert recently shared a grab from his TrainingPeaks account that showed he set a 1-minute power record for 2025 and an all-time 10-minute PB during the Giro’s second week.
The staggering data grab reveals Wout hit 852 watts for one minute of lactate-riddled pain. For 78kg WVA, that’s close to 11w/kg.
Below that, the photo shows he averaged 518 watts during his best-ever 10-minute effort.
Ouch.
As far as data goes, it’s a pretty sure sign that Belgium’s favorite son is just as fierce as ever.
Forget the near-misses in the monuments or “that” sprint against Neilson Powless.
An intense fight to the line from these three
Pedersen, Van Aert and Del Toro produced some formidable power numbers while competing for Giro d’Italia Stage 13 victory on a brutal uphill finish.
Last 650m at 9.6%
Sprint Cycling pic.twitter.com/AcPMgvHjNk
— Velon CC (@VelonCC) May 23, 2025
And Van Aert more than brought that data to life out on the road. The 30-year-old was everywhere during this corsa rosa.
It was Van Aert of the 2021 Tour de France vintage.
In fact, he was so impressive that a jury of journalists [not including this one] awarded him the Trofeo Bonacossa after stage 21, a prize for “best sporting achievement.”
“People will say I’m back, but I was never gone,” Van Aert said after he narrowly lost out to Mads Pedersen on stage 13.
Whether he “went away” or not, Van Aert’s Tour de France teammate Jonas Vingegaard must be grinning ear to ear right now.
11 days: Isaac del Toro paints Mexico pink
“Torito!”
“Torito!”
That seemed to be the soundtrack to many of the start and finish towns of this Giro d’Italia.
Isaac del Toro put his name on everybody’s lips and planted a flag for Mexican cyclists in the past month.
UAE Emirates-XRG’s latest prodigy became the first Mexican to wear the maglia rosa when he pulled on pink after stage 9. At 21 years and 172 days old, he also became the youngest Giro leader since Guido Bontempi in 1981.
Del Toro is only the third Mexican to win a grand tour stage after Julio Pérez Cuapio and Raúl Alcalá.
Who’s betting he’s the only rider from his Latin nation to have their own online fan club, too?
✅ 2nd place GC
✅ Youth jersey
✅ 11 days in pink
✅ Winner stage 17
✅ 4 second place
✅ 1 third place
✅ 6 podium finishes
✅ RedBull Sprint leader
✅ Most bonus seconds taken
✅ First Mexican to ever lead a Grand Tour
✅ INFINITE RESPECTISAAC DEL… pic.twitter.com/jeHHgzIvkI
— Isaac del Toro Fan Club (@IsaacDelToroFC) May 31, 2025
Del Toro made a mark on world cycling in 2023 when he joined the likes of Tadej Pogačar and Egan Bernal in winning the hugely prestigious Tour de l’Avenir.
Two years later, he’s taken celebrity status in Mexico with 11 days in the pink jersey, second overall, and the white jersey of best young rider at the Giro d’Italia.
If it wasn’t for Simon Yates and Visma-Lease a Bike, those accolades might have extended deeper.
Nonetheless, it feels only a matter of time before Del Toro joins his mentor Pogačar in achieving worldwide fame and sealing that first grand tour victory.
“It hurts, but that’s how it is. I’m not going to cry,” Del Toro said of his stage 20 upturn.
“I’m going to keep working and I’ll come back, that’s for sure,” Del Toro said Sunday. “I learned during this Giro that I can do it. Now I believe everything Tadej told me.”
Forever: Mads Pedersen rewards eternal contract with four stage wins
Mads Pedersen proved to Lidl-Trek he was well worth that “forever” contract he signed with the team in the first week of this Giro d’Italia.
Four stage wins and a huge victory in the ciclamino competition made Mads a monster presence at this Giro – just like he has been all season.
Pedersen won a small group sprint and claimed the maglia rosa on stage 1, was fastest in a bunch kick on stage 3, and emerged from the chaos of stage 5 to complete the hat trick.
A fourth stage-win came a week later in a bar-breaking, lung-bursting uphill sprint versus Wout van Aert.
Further than that, when Pedersen wasn’t punishing all the sprinters, he was a superdomestique over all terrain, and a bet-setting scourge on the team bus.
Lesson learned from the Giro d’Italia: Never make a bet with Mads ‘In The Form Of His Life’ Pedersen
An incredible three weeks for an incredible rider pic.twitter.com/aPNXuO9fUT
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) June 1, 2025
Pedersen has been the consummate captain of a Lidl-Trek team that’s been on a tear in 2025.
The U.S.-backed squad lit up the spring classics to put Pedersen on par with Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel, and it won six stages in total at this Giro.
Pedersen has lifted Lidl-Trek to a new level in 2025, and Lidl-Trek has helped Pedersen achieve a plinth in cycling’s Hall of Fame.
And now they’re an eternal match made in heaven.
“I have zero doubt that Mads will keep pushing himself and his teammates until the day he decides to hang up his wheels,” team boss Luca Guercilena said when the team confirmed the “lifelong” contract.
“His loyalty and dedication to this team have helped to shape the culture of Lidl-Trek, and we’re incredibly proud to have him with us for the long haul.”
Three: GC favorites Primož Roglič, Juan Ayuso, Mikel Landa don’t reach Rome
Woe betide any pink jersey hopeful who was anointed with the status of favorite ahead of this Giro d’Italia.
Primož Roglič, Juan Ayuso, and Mikel Landa were ranked top-3 for the corsa rosa by this curse-casting journalist.
None of them made it to Rome.
Landa didn’t even see a finish-line after he suffered a terrible crash on stage 1. He’s still in a back brace, three weeks later.
Roglič pedaled from fall to fall through the second week and finally relented to his accumulated injuries on stage 16.
He’ll be hoping for a fast comeback for the Tour de France.
Primož Roglič has won 4 of the last 5 Grand Tours he’s finished, but not finished 5 of the last 9 Grand Tours he’s started.
— Daniel Lloyd (@daniellloyd1) May 27, 2025
And Ayuso?
A crazy combination of crashes, burst stitches, and a bee sting to the eye took the wheels out of Spain’s great hope. His future is complicated in an all-star UAE team bus that includes Tadej Pogačar, João Almeida, and now, Del Toro.
Did the absense of Roglič, Ayuso, and Landa shape the race?
We’ll never know, and it’s not fair on Simon Yates to contemplate right now.
But it seems a cruel twist of fate that Isaac del Toro took control of both the race, and of UAE Emirates, on the same sterrato stage as when Ayuso and Roglič chewed the gravel and began to unravel.
Ironically, the same idiot journalist who put Roglič, Ayuso, and Landa at the top of their ranking was quick to downplay Yates, Carapaz, and Del Toro’s chances.
So maybe it’s best not to speculate further what might have happened had Roglič, Ayuso, and Landa stayed upright.