A historical detour marked the last stage of the Giro while 159 cyclists pedalled through the Vatican gardens, receiving the blessing of the new Pope Leon XIV.
“You are models for youth around the world”, said the sovereign pontiff, after welcoming the winner of the 2025 edition, the British Simon Yates, and the other runners.
This 3.5 km crossing through emblematic sites such as the Lourdes cave, the station and the heliport, was originally thought by Pope Francis, who wanted to make Giro a strong symbol for the 2025 jubilee. Leon XIV chose to maintain the passage, in homage to the will of his predecessor.
The Colombian Nairo Quintana, winner of the Giro in 2014, dwelled to shake hands with the Pope, alone, after the group’s passage.
This “symbolic” passage was made possible thanks to years of negotiation, and it is the third time in the history of the Giro that the race crosses the Vatican, but the first time it borrows the gardens.
