Giro-E Enel 2025 – Tappa 14 Tirano-Bormio

The route to the Mortirolo Pass was harder than what the professionals got. Truly the full experience. Today, the Giro-E Enel offered participants of Stage 14 a real delight of a climb: the Mortirolo Pass. But up the steeper side, avoided even by the pros. A tough, unforgettable stage.

The Giro-E was made all the more memorable today as it featured Miguel Indurain and Claudio Chiappucci, who wrote one of the greatest chapters of cycling history on the Mortirolo. 5 June 1994, Giro d’Italia, Stage 15 Merano-Aprica: after the Stelvio Pass, Marco Pantani broke away from everyone (Indurain, Gianni Bugno, Chiappucci) on the Mortirolo. Indurain caught up with him on the downhill section, then Marco broke away again on the brink of Santa Cristina and at Aprica won with 2’52’’ on Chiappucci and 3’30’’ on Indurain. That was the day the legend of The Pirate began.

Back down to earth now. Today the Giro-E began in Tirano, just like last year. The town is a bike-friendly municipality, not only because it has hosted the Giro on many occasions (last time as a stage finish in 2011, and as a stage start in 2015). People can cycle here. On the road with a road bike or dirt roads with a gravel or mountain bike. Visitors can then buy a ticket for the Red Train of the Bernina railway line and go on an excursion to Saint Moritz. The beauty is in the journey, not the destination. Which is always true, but even more so here. Because this trip is on a train that from Valtellina travels through the Poschiavo valley and finally arrives in the Engadin valley. The Bernina railway line features breathtaking landscapes and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008, together with the Albula railway line. The starting point is the centre of Tirano, in Valtellina, just like the start of today’s Giro-E Enel stage.

Located in the heart of the Alps, on the border between Italy and Switzerland, Tirano offers history, art and nature. Here visitors can see the most important representation of Valtellina Renaissance, the towering Basilica della Madonna in Tirano. So again, there are many things to see by bike or on foot, including vineyards, terraces and picturesque villages. If you have a motor on your bike, you can even go up the Mortirolo Pass.

The Tirano-Bormio Stage

The secret of boxing champions is they keep punching hard when their opponent is reeling from a hard blow. The same applies to the great Giri, when you have to start separating world-class athletes from domestiques. Yesterday the Giro d’Italia and the Giro-E Enel featured the first major mountain stage, as well as the first five-star stage of 2025. Today we got a second taste of that, in particular in the Giro-E, which came up with its own stage.

Another 2,100 metres of elevation gain and over 62 kilometres in total. The stage finish was in Bormio, but first there was a spectacular climb. The Giro-E entered the route of the Giro at kilometre 18, at the top of the Mortirolo Pass, but after going up from the Mazzo in Valtellina side, which is more famous and demanding: 9.7 exhausting kilometres with a 10.6% average gradient and peaks of 18%. Good luck going up that route without a motor. You would have to be Emiliano “Mister Zoncolan” Cantagallo or Marino Lejarreta, the great Basque climber and guest of Continental, with his many victories in the Eighties at the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

After a tough climb, the cyclists faced a demanding downhill section that ended in Grosio, and then another long climb that ended just outside Bormio, with a short climb of the Motte (three kilometres at an 8.2% average gradient with peaks of 13%, to finish on a high note) and then the final part to the finish line in the centre of Bormio, which was virtually downhill, ironically.

Personality of the day – Massimiliano Perri

From heavy-duty Iveco trucks to pedal-assisted road bikes at the Giro-E. Joining the other riders at the start line in Tirano today was Massimiliano Perri, director general of Iveco Mercato Italia, cycling with the RCS Sport team.

“I specifically chose this Giro-E stage and it’s one of the toughest. The mere mention of Mortirolo gives me goose bumps. I associate it with Pantani in 1994, when he left everyone speechless with that sprint and went on to win the stage. So many cycling memories, so many thrills. I couldn’t miss this opportunity. I’ve loved cycling ever since I was a child. I was born in Civitavecchia, near Monti della Tolfa, and I always used to see lots of cyclists passing. I fell in love. The great thing about cycling is you’re out in nature. You go on beautiful trips and see spectacular places. The only problem is you need time and with work and family it’s harder for me to find time to cycle at the moment. However, when I have half a morning free, I jump on my gravel bike and go for a nice ride.”

Giro-E is also about sustainability – an issue that’s very dear to Iveco. “It’s fundamental. We have to try and decarbonise our daily activities and obviously businesses – Iveco more than anyone – are always looking for ways to do that. We were pioneers in the pursuit of decarbonisation as we introduced natural gas vehicles 20 years ago. Using biological methane as a fuel makes vehicles completely environmentally friendly because the CO2 emissions are virtually zero. We are official suppliers for the Giro d’Italia and one of our biomethane S-Ways leads the Carovan. Cycling is one of the most environmentally friendly sports and we have a vehicle that is so environmentally friendly that it produces zero emissions.”

Second ANCI Talk in Lombardy: Biassono 29 May at 13.30

After the Giro-E ANCI Talk in Tirano, it’s already time to look ahead to the next in the series, which aims to promote the long-term impact of a big sports event by using sports and sporting values to develop young people’s skills and create work and income opportunities.

Biassono is set to host the sixth and final Stakeholder Forum this on Thursday 29 May, at 13:30. The topic will be Youth and School, with a special focus on school and work orientation services in Valtellina.

As with the others, the event will take place in the Green Fun Village hospitality area in the town of the stage start. This time the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI) is collaborating with ANCI Lombardy and the Municipality of Biassono.

These Stakeholder Forums are among the many activities organised by ANCI at the Giro-E 2025, along with other initiatives such as Giro Express, Reporter for a day, and the ANCI team of young administrators riding every stage. The ANCI Talks are part of a wider programme of activities financed by the National Fund for Youth Policies, with the objective of promoting initiatives with a long-term impact on the socio-economic inclusion of young people in local communities.

For further information and to sign up for the next ANCI Stakeholder Forums, click here

Click here to see the Giro-E rankings.