Ciccone learns the meaning of 'be careful what you wish for' as his competitors eat him alive on brutal stage 5

It was a sorry sight in stage five of the Giro d'Italia: Giulio Ciccone in his pink jersey, alone at the front of a thinning peloton, knowing that the jersey he had waited so long to wear was already going to be taken from him after just one day. Could his team Lidl-Trek have done more to defend the maglia rosa? IDL Pro Cycling put the question to sporting director Gregory Rast.

Ciccone had dreamed of this moment for so long. On the fourth day of his ninth Giro it finally arrived. By four seconds, the 31-year-old Italian had taken the lead in his favourite race, and in celebration Trek immediately unveiled a stunning custom bike for him the following morning, complete with nod to his childhood hero Marco Pantani.

Ciccone was able to enjoy the pink jersey for 203 kilometres on the road from Praia a Mare to Potenza. Sadly, enjoyment was the last thing on the menu. It rained all day, he was attacked from all sides by riders close to him in the classification, and in the finale he was left isolated, forced to watch helplessly as Afonso Eulalio took the lead from him.

"Today was not the best day to wear the pink jersey for the first time. It was one of the hardest and most nerve-wracking days of my life," Ciccone said after the finish. "The weather was bizarre — I think we had everything thrown at us out there. I suffered on the final climb and I was absolutely freezing. And we simply don't have the team to control the race, so there was nothing more we could do."

For Ciccone, it was a long, grinding day, and after the final climb he was left with only designated GC man Derek Gee-West for company in the peloton. And Gee-West was understandably not going to do any pace-setting at the front. "We have a super-strong sprint team here with Jonathan Milan. And I have to thank Derek — despite his own GC ambitions, he helped me a great deal throughout the stage. That's all he could do."

Rast agreed. "It was dreadful weather — a really tricky day. We knew we would lose our four sprinters on the first climb, and that's exactly what happened. Everyone was attacking because everyone knew we weren't strong enough to control things. And when the group became too large and too strong, we rode with Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier. We kept the gap at around two minutes."

The moment the lead suddenly doubled in a short space of time was directly linked to Ciccone changing his rain jacket. "He had to swap his jacket because he was too cold. We had to ease off while they were going flat out up front. It briefly looked as though Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe might do something on the final climb, but that didn't really materialise. Up front they were very, very strong."

Had Ciccone had one or two more helpers, he might have been able to defend the pink jersey. But the day's final blow came in the form of Matteo Sobrero's struggles. "We would have loved to have Matteo survive the climb, but he wasn't having his best day. We only had Derek and Cicco left, so Giulio went to the front himself — both because he was in pink and to try to keep warm."

Rast described Ciccone afterwards as "realistic, but disappointed." At UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the moment Ciccone changed his jacket was also noted as the decisive opportunity. "I immediately called it on the radio — that was the moment. We had two minutes and were suddenly gaining fast. That was perfect for the front group."