'Ha, you've got me there' — Scaroni accidentally reveals his full ambitions at this Giro

"Tomorrow a new Giro begins." So said Giulio Ciccone, who in stage eight of the Giro d'Italia finally put an end to all doubt and let himself drift out of the GC battle. The 31-year-old Lidl-Trek Italian intends to make the most of the two remaining weeks — but the same type of rider is also circling at the already highly successful XDS Astana.

Ciccone was named before the Giro as a top favourite for the mountains jersey and he had made no secret of his ambitions. After the failed bid for a Giro podium in 2025, he walked away from GC racing at Grand Tours. In this edition he wants to win — and the blue mountains jersey could very well be part of that picture.

In the opening seven days, however, Ciccone gave no impression that he was abandoning the GC from the outset. He was sharp through the Bulgarian opening weekend, and on day four in southern Italy he took the pink jersey. He wore it for just one day, but in the stages that followed he continued to climb with the best. Still, after Blockhaus on Friday he made it explicit: "Derek Gee-West is our GC man."

In a stage eight finale that actually suited a punchy rider like Ciccone rather well, he genuinely tried to get into the move — but the peloton wouldn't let him go. Too dangerous for the pink jersey. And so he drew his conclusions. "I gave my best for Derek, and then took it easy on the final climb." Then came the magic words: "Tomorrow — Sunday — a new Giro begins."

From stage nine onwards, then, we can expect Ciccone on the attack — with the second week also offering plenty of opportunities for the early breakaway. But at XDS Astana this week in the mixed zone, one Italian rider approached IDL Pro Cycling with a knowing look — suggesting there is no need to waste too much energy at this stage. His name is Christian Scaroni, and he may well be Ciccone's most dangerous challenger for the mountains jersey.

Presented with that proposition, Scaroni laughed briefly. But his smile said rather a lot. "The most important thing will be to save the legs for now — especially because in a large front group I'm dangerously close to the pink jersey in the GC, so I probably won't yet be able to fully test how good I am going uphill. But if the legs feel good, I'll try something."

By virtue of a day in the breakaway on stage five, Scaroni is still in the top ten overall — all the more so after he slipped into the front group again in stage eight and clawed back a healthy minute on pink jersey holder Afonso Eulalio of Bahrain Victorious. Scaroni finished sixth and now sits fourth in the general classification after eight stages. The gap to pink, at 4 minutes 18 seconds, is fairly significant.

Not that it will bother Scaroni too much. On day two he provided a stunning lead-out for the stage win of his fast teammate Guillermo Thomas Silva, who also took the pink jersey that day. On day six he saw Davide Ballerini win in Naples, and across a day and a half of breakaway attempts he has already accumulated a fifth and a sixth place in stage results.

The legs are turning — and that will matter when the Giro truly comes alive for Scaroni in the second and especially third week. Because returning to the mountains jersey: Scaroni kept his answer deliberately brief — and for a reason. "The mountains jersey is normally decided in the final week, when you can pick up the most points on the longer climbs."

"I'm not thinking about that yet — for now it's genuinely day by day," he said. But Scaroni had already said too much, because by laying out that calculation about mountain points in the third week, he had effectively revealed his ambitions. "Ha — yes, you've got me there. That's certainly true."

Fellow Italian Ciccone has been warned.