Giro d’Italia 2025 LIVE: Stage 1 updates and latest race standings on route to Tirana

We enter the first Red Bull sprints… Six seconds, four seconds and two seconds for the first three past the line. Points on offer too… Though they are a different classification.

Some money on the line, too, with €2,500 each place…

It’s Tonelli who takes it out, and it’s very close, but Tarozzi looks to have nicked it on the line!

A little grin and the group eases back into the ride, a bit of drama there.

Alessandro Verre is out alone at the front at the moment, chased hard by his namesake Tonelli. The peloton, led by Dylan van Baarle for Visma-Lease a Bike, are taking the descent a little more gingerly and the gap is expanding again to 45 seconds.

Albania’s tourism ministry must be pleased with today’s live pictures as the helicopter tracks across the Gracen hairpins.

The gap has absolutely collapsed over the course of this lengthy descent, with the breakaway stragglers all split up and only 20 seconds clear of the peloton halfway down.

The breakaway’s advantage dropped to under a minute but is now back out to around 1:25, although they’re down to four as Taco van der Hoorn has been shelled out the back.

Into the final 2km of this climb the escapees are beginning to attack each other, with Alessandro Tonelli putting in a couple of digs to get away, but chased back by his companions each time.

Manuele Tarozzi launches an long-range attack but is quickly outsprinted by the others and it’s Sylvain Moniquet who wins the scrap for the maximum king of the mountains point atop Gracen, followed by Verre, Tonelli, and Tarozzi bringing up the rear.

Tarozzi leads Moniquet, Verre, Tonelli, and Van der Hoorn across the line at Elbasan to hoover up some more points.

UAE’s Juan Ayuso gets tangled up in some crashing Picnic PostNL riders and needs a quick bike change, but looks okay.

The riders head onto the first climb of the day, the Gracen.

The breakaway roll over the first of the day’s two intermediate sprints, at Paper, without any arguments, the Italian Tonelli leading Van der Hoorn, Tarozzi, Moniquet, and Verre over the line in that order.

We’ve got 8km to go to the second of the two sprints at Elbasan. The breakaway’s advantage is still only 1:30 as the peloton keep them on a tight leash.

No fireworks yet, with the breakaway still with 1:30 or so on the peloton as they roll along the Albanian highways.

We still have a little under 30km until the first climb of the day, the Gracen.

12.9km long at a steady 5.2%, with the first half around the 6% mark, we could see some sprinters distanced if the peloton look to put the hammer down – but with so much of the stage left it feels more likely that the bunch will stay intact.

After an early four-man move was brought back, five riders are off the front: Sylvain Moniquet, Italians Alessandro Tonelli, Alessandro Verre, and Manuele Tarozzi, and Taco van der Hoorn, the latter still making his way back to his best after a 16-month layoff for a severe concussion.

They already have 1:50 on the bunch and that looks like the break for now.

Primoz Roglic gives a cheery wave to the camera as it picks up him riding back onto the bunch.

Immediately, as expected, riders are keen to get in the breakaway.

It’s an Italian rider who ignites proceedings, keen to get some airtime at his home race, Alessio Martinelli (VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizane) kicking off the early moves.

After 9km of neutralised start we’re underway in Durres!

160km to go until the finish line in the Albanian capital Tirana and the first pink jersey of the year is secured.