How Crazy Was Albania? The Giro d’Italia 2025 Goes Abroad

Gregor Brown hits the ground in Albania to ask Giro d’Italia 2025 riders what they really thought of the start abroad — and their answers may surprise you. #Giro

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Welcome to Albania. Yes, Albania. The Giratalia, Italy’s biggest bike race kicked off in a country that’s not even Italy. But don’t let that fool you. Today is stage three, the third and final day of this Balkan detour. We’re in Velour on the sparkling Adriatic, where the mountains meet the sea and riders meet potholes. We had a sprint stage, a time trial in Tyrana, and now one last punchy loop around Albania before the riders board a plane and say Riva to this rugged, surprising, still rough around the edges land. We got Primos Raglitch over there, I think, zipping up the pink jersey. Josh Tarling probably still sipping champagne, but I want to find out what the riders think of Albania. What do you think? two days into racing in Albania. Would you come back here on vacation? I’ve actually already been here on vacation. So, uh, so yeah. Uh, yeah, I’ definitely come back. Especially like down here is really beautiful. I think I’d like to explore. Yeah, down here a little bit further south. It’s supposed to be really beautiful. And then also the far north. So yeah, cool country. I think we’ll see some nice images today. It’s probably one of the most interesting histories of any country in really like the modern era. you know, it was like a communist dictatorship up until 1990. And really, really interesting history and uh yeah, some cool museums in Tana and yeah, interesting stuff to learn here. Oh, this is a beautiful place. I mean, especially down here, it looks so different than than where we just were in the capital. So, uh yeah, it’s cool to get to see the country and I I can recommend it. Like, it’s a bit bit of history with with the cold war who was who lasted here just till the ‘9s. So, uh that that was nice to see. And like the capital was quite quite nice to see. Like had already some nice coffee bars, some good restaurants. If you like to explore and to to discover it’s like a nice country. The most beautiful was like the the hike I did in the north. It was just with a backpack and it was the famous Valona t hike. Basically one day walk from from one valley to another. Like if you are a real tourist who want to sit and relax at the at the beach I think it’s that’s not maybe not the nicest country but if you want to travel with a backpack I can recommend. Yeah I think here is a lot nicer. Actually where we’ve moved to now is uh is really nice. If you look behind where we’re at now it’s beautiful. Also quite an interesting place to uh start a grand tour. Definitely an experience for sure. Interrupting to bring you this special announcement. The gi coverage is brought to you by bicycle.com. Have too many bikes in your shed or garage? No problem. List them in minutes and sell to cyclist worldwide. Head on over to bicycle.com/flowbikes to sell right away and get your 30% off seller protection code. Now back to regular programming. Olaf, two days in Albania. Do you see it as a Mediterranean vacation destination? What’s your opinion? I mean, yeah, we get to a lot of nice places with cycling, but uh yeah, also a lot of suffering in for us, not not just the holiday feeling, but I think yeah, we’ve been lucky with the weather and uh yeah, it’s been been something different than we have experienced Yeah. before. This place is quite nice here actually. I’m driving in yesterday, a lot of restaurants and our hotel’s nice. I mean, I’m I’m enjoying the the country cuz it’s a new place to be and and the culture, but uh as I say, the roads are not particularly the best, but uh on the other side is the same for everybody. So, I have no excuses. All right, interview’s done. Riders rolling up to the start. Usual suspects were chatty, some more caffeinated than others. I grabbed a coffee for myself. This isn’t my first rodeo. And frankly, the coffee here in Albania criminally underrated. Now we wait. The races are out in the road. The buses are parked. Mechanics are working overtime. Time to tune into the race to see who thrives and survives in this last Albanian showdown. Yeah. Yeah, it was a super nice ride today. It was really um just like flowing roads and then on the coast was really like change the scenery in us. It was really nice. Yeah, it was my first time here. Of course, it’s a little bit special. A big difference in people. There’s a lot of poor place and there’s nice place. So, it’s a mix. Looking forward to go to Italy. It’s been great and uh yeah, it’s beautiful down the south here. So, I enjoyed it and uh yeah, it was a different experience, but just watch out for the guys. Yeah, a few dogs coming over the road once in a while. So it was a exciting final. Let’s say it like this. You know in the end before we went here a lot of people were talking about this with stray dogs and animals on the course but so far I only saw these two dogs crossing the road. So it haven’t been too bad. So uh luckily nothing happened. From the chaos of Tana to Velour’s coast. The Jirro’s Albanian start gave us drama grit and a taste of the wild side. tomorrow over to Italy proper, Pulya to be exact. Let us know what you think about the Jirro start in Albania. Was it a bold move or a logistical nightmare? Drop your thoughts down in the comments. Me, I think it’s a bit like the Jirro itself. Rough in spots, beautiful in others, but impossible to ignore.