2025 Giro d'Italia Stage 8 Results & Recap
Stage 8 of the 2025 Giro d'Italia is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Stage 8 of the 2025 Giro d'Italia was an epic 197km ride through the Apennines from Giulianova on the Adriatic coast to the hilltop finish town of Castelraimondo, featuring 3,700 metres of climbing across a jagged profile that included the category 1 Valico di Santa Maria Maddalena (13.2km at 7.2%) and the category 3 Montelago (5.5km at 7%), before a short, punishing wall of 700 metres at 9.3% to Gagliole in the closing kilometres.
A massive 19-man breakaway established itself early, and Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) was in it. The group fractured repeatedly on the day's climbs, and on the Montelago, a four-man lead group formed of Plapp, Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike), Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana). Plapp then launched an audacious attack over the summit and used the technical descent to build a 40-second gap, entering the final 30km solo and never looking back.
The peloton sat over five minutes behind, and the race lead was unfolding among the breakaway fragments. Ulissi, hovering in the virtual pink jersey as the best-placed GC rider in the front groups, continued the chase alongside Kelderman. Arrieta briefly launched a charge at Plapp but could not make meaningful inroads. With 10km to go and just the Gagliole wall remaining, Plapp had a lead of over a minute and rode to a brilliant stage victory, finishing in 4h44'20". Kelderman took second at 38 seconds, Ulissi third at the same time — and it was the Tuscan veteran who claimed the maglia rosa, becoming the first Italian to wear the leader's jersey in four years. Plapp, just 24, described it as one of the greatest moments of his career, a vindication after wrist surgery in February and a crash in the Giro's opening time trial.
Get our full coverage of the Giro d'Italia and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.
