WASHINGTON (AP) — President

While popes have blessed the Giro riders before and the race has previously passed through or next to St. Peter’s Square, this marked the first time that the route took the peloton on a three-kilometer (nearly two-mile) route inside the Vatican walls.Bringing the race inside the Vatican was originally intended as an homage to Pope Francis during the 2025 Holy Year but after Francis died, Leo — the first American pope — decided to honor the event in Francis’ memory.

The cyclists entered the Vatican through the Petriano gate to the left of St. Peter’s, rode around the basilica and then climbed up toward the gardens before exiting near the Santa Marta hotel at the Perugino gate.Santa Marta was where Francis lived.The passage through the Vatican occurred during the non-competitive neutralized period before the stage. The official start was given after the riders exited the narrow Perugino gate.

The 143-kilometer (89-mile) final stage concluded with a circuit of eight laps through downtown Rome and finished next to the Circus Maximus.It’s the third time since Leo was elected last month that he has met with the sports world.

Two weeks ago, Leo held a private audience with

. Then last week, he welcomed the players and staff ofAt the same time, he has sought to avoid angering U.S. President Donald Trump by praising his diplomacy and declaring Moscow’s openness to peace talks — even as he set maximalist conditions that are rejected by Kyiv and the West.

Trump, who once promised to end theof isolating Russia by holding calls with Putin and denigrating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. At the same time, however, Trump warned Putin against “tapping me along” and threatened Moscow with sanctions if it fails to back his peace proposals.

In recent days, Trump signaled he was losing patience with Putin, declaring the Russian leader had gone “crazy” by stepping up aerial attacks on Ukraine. He also said: “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who serves as deputy head of Putin’s Security Council, fired back: “I only know of one REALLY BAD thing — WWIII. I hope Trump understands this!”