Favorite for mountain jersey in Giro d'Italia and Tour de France already emerges: "I'm going to attack, even from far away"

He’s fought for years, trained for it, dreamt of it — and he’s been so close more than once: Giulio Ciccone, the now-30-year-old Italian of Lidl-Trek, finally drew a line under chasing general classifications after yet another unsuccessful 2025 campaign. In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport he revealed more about what’s to come.

It was no secret that Ciccone was determined to crack a top-10 in a Grand Tour. Every year he charged in with full optimism, especially in his beloved Giro d’Italia. But each year something got in the way: corona in 2023, a saddle-area injury in 2024 and a crash at the end of week two in 2025 ruined his Giro campaigns.

In the Tour de France he often switched to plan B. In 2023 he promptly won the mountains jersey; in 2024 he teased a top ten for three weeks but a disastrous time trial in the third week left him 11th. His best Giro placing remains 16th in 2019 — the same year he also bagged the mountains jersey. At the 2025 Vuelta a España illness struck and he slid off the podium to 18th.

After the Vuelta and yet another Grand Tour where things didn’t go to plan, Ciccone arrived at the World Championships in Rwanda with a realisation: “At three-week stage races the fact is my body can’t finish because of physical problems. It’s not about fitness or belief — after eight or nine days my body gives up, that has always happened.”

And so in winter 2025 he will start with a different mindset, one that perhaps had its last fringes back in his Bardiani years. “I think I must utilise my traits better. And now that I have the data, I feel stronger in shorter races and in the classics. I will use that motivation to perform better.”

What that will precisely look like? In La Gazzetta Ciccone opened up about his new ambitions. “I’ll go for the stage wins, do what I’m good at. I don’t want stress anymore about the GC. 2025 was very good, but the crash in the Giro on the eve of the third week full of mountain stages was a setback. I was sure I would go well there.”

Ciccone did however win a stage in the Tour of the Alps, one in the Vuelta a Burgos and he claimed the Clasica San Sebastián title. He also finished second in Liège–Bastogne–Liège after a third place in Il Lombardia in 2024. A sixth place at the World Championships in Rwanda also opened his eyes.

“I want to start 2025 well, maybe already in the UAE Tour. My dream is to win a Monument — I dream of Liège and I already see that second place behind Tadej Pogačar as a victory. I’ll ride the Giro and the Tour in 2026, but will aim for stage wins. I will attack, even from far out, and I would love to wear the pink in the Giro at least once. I want to enjoy and have fun.”