Brave Ciccone tried to hold Vingegaard’s wheel but failed: "Maybe it was a mistake to follow him"

It was Ciccone who came closest to Vingegaard on day two of this Tour of Spain. In fact, the Italian was only narrowly beaten by the Dane at the first mountain finish. On day five, Lidl-Trek finished third in the team time trial, although this saw Ciccone drop from third to fifth place in the GC.

Then, on day six, a few breakaway riders overtook the GC contenders, causing Ciccone to drop to seventh place for a day. A day later, there was another mountain finish, and once again the experienced Italian was able to keep up with the best. Ciccone started stage nine showing no signs of weakness.

Even when Vingegaard, after a good lead-out from Matteo Jorgenson, took off, Ciccone seemed to be able to keep up again. The Italian was the only one who immediately locked onto the Dane's wheel, but not much later Ciccone had to give up. The Lidl-Trek rider dug too deep, although he did finish in the same time as most of the GC contenders.

“I think he just went too fast,” Ciccone laughed afterwards. “It went too hard for me. I really did my best, but maybe it was a mistake to follow him,” the Italian questioned his choice in the mixed zone. “Maybe it would have been better to set the pace at the foot.”

Nevertheless, there was also a sense of positivity heading into the rest day. “The feeling was good. We really had the confidence to try it in this stage. That's just the way it is. Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it doesn't. Today Jonas was super strong. We will definitely try again.”