After Juan Ayuso’s epic win in Tagliacozzo, the Giro d’Italia 2025 remained this Saturday in the mountains, but with a totally different eighth stage. No high finish, very favorable for a hypothetical breakaway. And so it turned out.
After forming a breakaway in Montelago, with Igor Arrieta, Diego Ulissi, Wilco Kelderman and Luke Plapp, the Australian attacked with 45 kilometers to go solo for the win. With enough of a cushion to not worry about the peloton, the Jayco-AlUla rider rode to an epic triumph he will never forget.
In the fight for the overall, the favorites all arrived safely at the finish, with Primoz Roglic holding a four-second lead over Juan Ayuso, but with a new maglia rosa: Diego Ulissi. The Italian from Astana entered the chasing group at the finish to take over as the new leader.
As for its development, the eighth stage of the Giro d’Italia was very disputed in its first 80 kilometers. Despite countless attempts to form the breakaway, with attacks by Nairo Quintana, Jefferson Cepeda, Wout van Aert, Mads Pedersen and a long etcetera, it was not until the foot of the climb to Sassotetto that the leading group was confirmed.
20 riders, including Igor Arrieta, Romain Bardet, Jonathan Lastra, Davide Formolo, Luke Plapp, Lorenzo Fortunato, Diego Ulissi, Marco Frigo, Remy Rochas, Wilco Kelderman and Dylan van Baarle, among others, took 2 minutes off the peloton just at the foot of the climb.
Being 13 kilometers long, the breakaway group was expected to break up on the climb. But it didn’t break up that much, as at the crest of the climb there were still 18 riders in the lead, with Arrieta, Bardet and Fortunato among the leaders.
The race was gradually approaching its final stretch. But first Montelago had to be reached, and on the approach there was a lot of fighting to create the breakaway of the breakaway. With 62 kilometers to go, a group of seven riders, consisting of Igor Arrieta, Romain Bardet, Andrea Vendrame, Wilco Kelderman, Diego Ulissi, Luke Plapp and Georg Steinhauser, had 40 seconds on the rest of the breakaway.
At the crest of the climb, Luke Plapp attacked, and took advantage of the descent to have, at 36 kilometers to go, almost 30 seconds ahead of his three rivals in the fight for the victory. The Australian, 10 kilometers later, was in a very good position, with a 1-minute lead.
Plapp had a tough challenge ahead of him, but with time running in his favor. The Jayco-AlUla rider looked increasingly likely to win the stage after a solo attack with 45 kilometers to go, when he topped the breakaway on the Montelago climb.
In this way, no one could prevent a tremendous victory for Luke Plapp, after an attack with 45 km to go. The Jayco-AlUla rider raised his arms at the finish in a day he will never forget. In the battle for the maglia rosa, there is a new leader, with Diego Ulissi 1st, Primoz Roglic 2nd and Juan Ayuso 3rd.
Giro d’Italia (2.UWT)
Results Stage 8 | Giulianova – Castelraimondo (197 km)
| 1 | Luke Plapp | Team Jayco-AlUla | 4:44:20 |
| 2 | Wilco Kelderman | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 0:38 |
| 3 | Diego Ulissi | XDS Astana Team | 0:38 |
| 4 | Igor Arrieta | UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 1:22 |
| 5 | Nicolas Prodhomme | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 1:35 |
| 6 | Andrea Vendrame | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 1:48 |
| 7 | Lorenzo Fortunato | XDS Astana Team | 1:48 |
| 8 | Georg Steinhauser | EF Education-EasyPost | 2:59 |
| 9 | Romain Bardet | Team Picnic PostNL | 3:02 |
| 10 | Alessio Martinelli | VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè | 4:37 |
Ranking General
| 1 | Diego Ulissi | XDS Astana Team | 29:21:23 |
| 2 | Lorenzo Fortunato | XDS Astana Team | 0:12 |
| 3 | Primoz Roglic | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | 0:17 |
| 4 | Juan Ayuso | UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 0:20 |
| 5 | Isaac del Toro | UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 0:26 |
| 6 | Antonio Tiberi | Bahrain Victorious | 0:44 |
| 7 | Max Poole | Team Picnic PostNL | 0:47 |
| 8 | Michael Storer | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | 0:50 |
| 9 | Brandon McNulty | UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 0:51 |
| 10 | Simon Yates | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 0:56 |
Fuente: www.ciclismoaldia.es