Giro 2025 Route stage 16: Piazzola sul Brenta

Giro 2025 Route stage 16: Piazzola sul Brenta – San Valentino

Tuesday, 27 May – Stage 16 of the Giro features nearly 4,900 metres of climbing over a 203-kilometre route. The riders face four climbs along the way tackling the 17.4-kilometre final ascent, which averages 6.4% and includes sections ramping up to 14%.

There’s not much to say about Piazzola sul Brenta. Over a century ago, Guglielmo Segato and Attilio Morbiatto, two former cyclists, were born there, and that’s it in terms of cycling history

The first 63.5 kilometres are virtually flat. Then the road begins to rise towards La Fricca, a 12.9-kilometre climb at 4.6%. From here, the uphill action really kicks off, with the elevation gain coming thick and fast.

Right after the descent, the road climbs for 10.1 kilometres at 7.6% towards Candriai. Following another downhill, there’s a relatively easy section: the ascent to Vigo Cavedine stretches 9.1 kilometres at a mild 2.9% gradient.

Things get a lot more serious with the Passo di Santa Barbara, a 12.7-kilometre slog with an average gradient of 8.3%. At the summit, there are 34.7 kilometres left to race.

Almost half of that distance is downhill, and then the Grande Finale kicks in. The climb to the line is 18.2 kilometres long and averaging 6.1%.

You’d have to go back 55 years to find the last stage winner in the mountain village of San Valentino. Eddy Merckx took the stage honours as a prelude to his second Giro GC win that year.

The final intermediate sprint comes in Brentonico, halfway up the finishing climb, with 6, 4, and 2 bonus seconds up for grabs; at the finish line, 10, 6, and 4 seconds await the first three riders.

Ride the route yourself? Download GPX 16th stage 2025 Giro d’Italia.

Stage 16 of the Giro gets underway at 11:20, with the finish expected around 17:15 – both are local times (CEST). For details, see the timings in the slideshow below this article.

Another interesting read: favourites to win in San Valentino.