There is an Italian in the pink jersey, four years after the last time. It is Diego Ulissi, eight stage wins in his long history at the Giro d’Italia but I never wear that color as a leader of the race. The 36 -year -old Tuscan of Cecina, who passed this season from the Eae Emirates to the XDS Astana, made his dream come true at the end of a mountain stage; It was the second of the 2025 edition, for 198 kilometers from Giulianova to Castelrainondo, and everything was born with an attack on the Sibillini of a group of twenty runners born soon (just about eighty kilometers from the street) and closed solo by Australian Luke Plapp, of Jayco Alula, first at the finish line of Castelraimondo.
“I am almost 36 years old, and when you get results like this, you retrace a whole career …”, the words of the new leader of the race. With Ulysses, Italy smiles, who had not had a leader of the Giro since 2021 (Alessandro De Marchi, at the end of the fourth stage): he will not decide the race, but fills a desolately empty box. Primaz Rogl, leader of the Emrates, left his team to be the team of the escape in which there were Plapp and Ulysses himself (together with Vendrame, Fortunato, Bardet), when the group climbed the Valley of Santa Maria Maddalena with medium slopes of 7.4 percent and peaks of the 14th; Then, in the final descents, he tried to limit the damage of the accumulated detachment (up to 5 ‘) while the Australian rushed by Montelago himself, just under 50 kilometers from the arrival of the Marche center hit with Camerino by the terrible earthquake of 2016.
Ulysses crossed the finish line a few moments later, paired with the Dutch Wilco Kelderman who preceded him at the Mini Sprint, therefore closed by Azzurro in third place. Then, while Plapp celebrated his first stage victory, Ulysses at the finish was waiting for the arrival of the group with the rose in office, to understand the detachments: in the end, they remained 17 ” ahead of the Slovenian, and 12 ” on the teammate Lorenzo Fortunato, according to now in the general classification. “I waited a long time for this result, but it was worth it,” Plapp exulted on his part. “After the fall of the second stage, when I went on a lonely escape I was afraid of falling again, downhill. And on the climb of Montelago I also had a cramp: it was very hard, but it was really worth it”. It was also worth it for Ulysses, which, recalls President FCI Dagnoni, “has always been a point of reference for the national teams, always giving the best”.
“We started with the intention of trying to play the stage, I had to try to enter the right escape. We thought that today it could be the right day and I must say that all my companions did a great job – the final comment of Ulysses, incredulous when on arrival they told him that Roglic had not kept the leadership – on the ascent people incited me to go to the whole”. Then the team of the team worked badly, “or maybe it was a choice not to tell me in detachment: I knew I could take the squad, it was just like that. I went to the maximum. When I had the certainty, what a thrill … I who usually do not break up”. Tomorrow the Giro starts from Gubbio, for 181 kilometers to Piazza del Campo in Siena, with about thirty kilometers on the dirt road of the white roads. A party for miles of fans on the route is awaited.
Giro: rankings after the 8th stage
Standing of the stage
1) Luke Plapp (Aus/Jay) I 197.0 km in 4h44’20 “(average: 41.6 km/h)
2) Wilco Kelderman (Ola/TVl) at 38 “
3) Diego Ulissi (ITA/AST) 38 “
4) Igor Arrieta (Spa/eau) 1’22 “
5) Nicolas Prodhomme (Fra/Dat) 1’35 “
6) Andrea Vendrame (ITA/DAT) 1’48 “
7) Lorenzo Fortunato (ITA/AST) 1’48 “
8) Georg Steinhauser (Ger/Efe) 2’59 “
9) Romain Bardet (Fra/DFP) 3’02 “
10) Alessio Martinelli (ITA/GBF) 4’37 “
11) Juan Ayuso (spa/uad) B 4’49 “
12) Primaz Roglic (SLO/RBH) 4’50 “
13) Isaac Del Toro (Mex/eau) 4’50 “
14) Giulio Ciccone (ITA/LTK) 4’50 “…
General classification:
1) Diego Ulissi (ITA/AST) 29h21’23 “
2) Lorenzo Fortunato (ITA/AST) at 12 “
3) Primaz Roglic (Slo/RBH) 17 “
4) Juan Ayuso (spa/uae) 20 “
5) Isaac del Toro (Mex/UAE) 26 “
6) Antonio Tiberi (ITA/TBV) 44 “
7) Max Poole (GBR/DFP) 47 “
8) Michael Storer (Aus/Tud) 50 “
9) Brandon McNulty (USA/UAE) 51 “
10) Simon Yates (GBR/Tvl) 56 “…
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Source: Ansa
Brayden White, a veteran sports writer at Global Happening, brings his wealth of knowledge and expertise to the sports section. With over a decade of experience, he is committed to delivering high-quality coverage of the latest games and events.
