RCS Sport, the organiser of the Giro d'Italia, scrambled to play down reports of problems with the route of the men's 2025 Corsa Rosa, insisting that the route presentation planned for November 12 in Rome was postponed due to simple 'technical problems'.
The route of the Giro d'Italia Women does not seem in doubt, with the concerns reportedly centred around the opening stages of the men's race in Albania.
"The presentation of the 2025 Giro d'Italia and Giro d'Italia Women has been postponed to a date yet to be determined," RCS Sport said in a brief note to the media.
"We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and will provide an update regarding the new date as soon as possible."
According to leaks in the Italian media, the 2025 Giro was going to start in Albania, with the Balcan country paying a reported €7 million to host three stages.
The Albania Grande Partenza appeared to be part of a political game plan to promote relations between Italy and Albania after a history of invasion, tensions and mass immigration by Albanians to Italy in the early 90s.
Last year Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni struck a deal with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to transfer and retain some immigrants in Albania, while their requests for asylum were processed. The deal was reported to cost close to €800 million over five years and somehow act as a deterrent to the many asylum seekers who risk their lives and travel to Italy by boat from Turkey, Greece and, especially, Africa.
However, those plans recently fell apart when European and Italian judges ruled that asylum seekers could not be held in Albania and their cases considered via a special fast-track process due to concerns about their safety if they were returned to their country of origin.
The collapse of Meloni's immigration policy appears to have had a ripple effect on the 2025 Giro d'Italia Grande Partenza.
Italian state television RAI suggested that Albania is angry with the way the Italian media has portrayed the country after the failure of the immigration policy and so is trying to back out of hosting the Giro d'Italia Grande Partenza.
RCS Sport CEO Paolo Bellino insisted that the start in Albania was not the issue despite the growing reports.
"No change of plans, no problem with Albania, the November 12 press conference was postponed only because of a technical problem. I can't anymore as we will soon issue a press release," Bellino told Tuttobiciweb.
RCS Sport appear to be refusing the idea of a 'plan B' for the Grande Partenza. However, a press release failed to materialise on Thursday evening.
Meanwhile reports of a quickly drawn-up alternative Grande Partenza emerged, with three possible stages in Sicily before the planned route was resumed in Puglia. A local journalist confirmed the reports and the father of Sicilian rider Damiano Caruso even listed the stage towns on Facebook.
The Albania Grande Partenza could become a victim of a political fallout of the failed immigration policy of the Italian right-wing government.
RCS Sport have worked hard to strengthen their ties with Italian politicians in recent years as it pursued more revenue for its races and especially the right-wing government led by Giorgia Meloni in the last two years. Meloni presented the final maglia rosa to Tadej Pogačar in Rome this year.
RCS Sport ignored complaints from the teams and brushed off environmental concerns about a long transfer to move the final stage of the Giro to Rome in 2023. In exchange, the Rome city council reportedly agreed to pay €1.2 million a year to host the final stage, plus the cost of road closures, policing and street cleaning. Italian media have revealed that the Italian tourism office paid RCS Sport €3.3 million as part of a sponsorship package to promote Italy.
If the Grande Partenza fails to go ahead in Albania, it would be a huge financial blow to RCS Sport and leave them embarrassed. Any fee from Sicily would be considerably lower than the seven million reportedly offered by Albania and so leave a hole in RCS Sport's budget.
Unless the Italian government somehow covers the loss, RCS Sport could be forced to cut costs. There have been suggestions that Pogača could return in 2025, with Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel also named as possible headliners of the 2025 Giro d'Italia.
RCS Sport may now have to redesign the opening stages of the race, their budgets and so their hopes of attracting big-name contenders for the 2025 race.
