Giro 2025 Favourites stage 4: For fast men #1

fotobureau Cor VosStage 4 of the Giro covers 189 kilometres and barely 800 metres of elevation, so it's a golden opportunity for the sprinters. On your marks, get set, go! (Slideshow route/profile)

Last year, Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan were the standout sprinters at the Giro, each taking three stage wins. Olav Kooij also celebrated a victory, although he only had nine opportunities before illness forced him to abandon the race.

This season, Kooij has already claimed three wins – two at the Tour of Oman and one at Tirreno-Adriatico. His competition at the Giro appears less fierce than last year. Mads Pedersen, the most successful of the current crop, has taken victories at Gent-Wevelgem and in Paris-Nice, not to mention his impressive start to the Giro, but he’s not a pure sprinter. The same goes for Kaden Groves, who is yet to win this year but took three stages at last year’s Vuelta a España.

Sam Bennett is also lining up in Italy, though the Irishman is a shadow of the sprinter he once was. His last major victory dates back to the 2022 Vuelta.