Lidl-Trek defend Giro tactics and fire back at critics after Milan stage win and Ciccone mountain jersey

The Giro d’Italia unfolded for many more or less exactly as expected. Jonas Vingegaard won pink and Visma | Lease a Bike dominated the mountain stages. Lidl-Trek headed home with fifth place in the general classification, the mountains jersey and a stage win on the final day with Jonathan Milan. In doing so, Lidl-Trek did manage to answer some of the criticism that had built up over the three weeks. Team manager Gregory Rast explained the rest to In de Leiderstrui.

The fact we had already spoken to the 46-year-old Swiss Rast several times during this Giro was no coincidence. The team came to the Giro d’Italia with big ambitions, first and foremost to win sprint stages with Jonathan Milan. With Derek Gee-West, Giulio Ciccone and Matteo Sobrero, the team therefore took only three climbers.

Rast therefore had “mixed feelings” in Rome before stage 21, because: “We put a lot of weight on the sprints and we did not succeed there. That hurts,” he said, referring to Milan, who had not won through the first 20 stages. Milan did strike on the final day. Rast already called a win in Rome very important, “because then you go home with a good feeling.”

Without a victory, the Giro would not have been good enough, according to Rast. Now the team leaves with a stage win plus tangible results from Gee-West and Ciccone after three weeks of racing. “On paper we did not have a great team to support Derek, although we did that on the days when it had to be done. Fifth in the general classification, given his preparation, may well be the best he could do.”

“With Ciccone we wanted to go for stages, and I think he showed an incredible fighting spirit when he only switched to the mountains classification in stage 16,” Rast said admiringly. “He gave up the chase for stage wins there and went for the mountains jersey. And people may not realise this, but the mountains jersey has gone to the overall winner in recent years.”

Ciccone did, however, beat Jonas Vingegaard despite five stage wins from the pink jersey wearer. “That is positive and incredible,” Rast stressed. “Giulio was not far from success in the stages either; this is the way he should race. A general classification campaign is completely different, Giulio should be proud of what he has done. We are happy with his performances.”

Criticism of Lidl-Trek’s three-pronged approach mainly stemmed from the fact that Milan appeared to be missing something in the other sprints. Gee-West got little support uphill for his GC bid, and Ciccone was also largely on his own. Yet Lidl-Trek had stuck to the three goals they had agreed before the Giro. Stage 19 made that clearest, with Ciccone and Gee-West both riding for themselves.

The idea that Gee-West might then have been able to fight for fourth or third overall, thanks to some collaboration with Ciccone in stage 19, Rast firmly rejected on Sunday. “I am glad you are asking this question, because a lot of podcasts are very negative, without having any knowledge from inside the team. They often think they know everything, and that makes me angry.”

About stage 19, and especially the moment when Ciccone attacked after the penultimate climb and did not stay with Gee-West in the front group, Rast said: “We also wondered whether that was the right move, but it was a decision made in the moment. Derek had said over the radio that Giulio should go on, and many sports directors in the peloton were on our side. Only from the outside did people say: what idiots.”

Two days after stage 19, Rast had had plenty of time to think about other scenarios, and in a new Giro he would actually do the same again. “Ciccone was racing for stage wins, and we had promised him the freedom to do that in this Giro. Besides, he had a minute’s lead over the chasers, a gap he can often hold.”

Ciccone was now empty, because of all the energy he had already spent during the day chasing the mountain points. According to Rast, however, Gee-West was not harmed by the situation. “Derek did not have to ride in the valley, the others who were going for the stage win did that. And if Giulio had waited, he would not have dropped so hard and everything would have been on his shoulders, because then we would have been two riders. Even then, Derek would have lost a minute to the peloton.”

In short: “All that criticism is so irritating,” Rast said, also using stage 18 as an example of how opinions are formed. “Everyone gave Jonathan shit because he made small mistakes in the sprint and finished third. They praised Jasper Stuyven for his lead-out, but everyone forgets what we did all day, right up to the final kilometre.”

“We showed courage by believing in Jonathan in that stage, and other teams benefited from that,” Rast concluded. “I asked him beforehand what he thought, and he wanted to go for it. We used the whole team to go for that chance, and that was great. That meant we had no lead-out when Jonathan made a few small mistakes. That is what it is.”

Lidl-Trek therefore went home with their heads held high even without a stage win for Milan on the final day. “Is it a failed race if you win the mountains jersey and finish fifth overall? I’ll be honest: when the team said before the Giro that they wanted to win three stages, I said I wanted five. Last year we won six, but you do not throw six wins every year.”

Bram van der Ploeg ( X: @BvdPloegg | email : [email protected])