It’s a helluva sport, this. You’re up, you’re down, you’re close, you’re far. And then one day: bingo. (Yes, Italians call bingo “bingo.”)
After years of crashes, disappointments and near misses at the Giro d’Italia, Giulio Ciccone finally experienced the moment he had imagined since childhood: pulling on the maglia rosa. Imagine being an Italian pro finally putting on the pink jersey. Magical.
Stage 4 delivers
The 31-year-old Lidl-Trek rider took the race lead Tuesday thanks to bonus seconds collected at both the intermediate sprint and the finish, capping off what he called an emotional day.
“This is an incredible feeling. I dreamed about this as a kid,” Ciccone said after the stage. “The reason I started cycling was to one day wear the pink jersey.”
Ciccone admitted he had not expected the opportunity to come together so perfectly after several difficult editions of the Giro. His team went into the day with a plan to chase bonus seconds if the stage stayed selective rather than ending in a full bunch sprint.
That scenario played out, with Ciccone twice finishing third in key sprints, enough to move into the overall lead.
The mountains await
Now in pink for the first time, the Italian hopes to keep the jersey through the upcoming mountain stages and into Friday’s summit finish at Blockhaus in his native Abruzzo.
Meanwhile, his teammate, national champion Derek Gee, finished in the reduced bunch and moved up a few spots, but still sits more than a minute back in 30th overall. The Osgoode, Ont. rider did have some problems, a flat at the wrong time, but managed to fight his way back.
The other Canuck in La Corsa Rosa, Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides, Que.’s Nickolas Zukowsky of Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, finished 65th in the next group, about 2:55 down. It’s highly probable you’ll see the team workhorse in a break soon … and maybe one of his trademark long-range moves will finally stick. The dude has been riding exceptionally well this year and clearly has the legs for something big.
Meanwhile, in other CanCon analysis, Ciccone is hardly a slouch when it comes to stage racing, so Lidl-Trek suddenly has a few options. Gee, presumably, can now sit in a bit while the team defends pink, with the Canadian still the bigger overall GC card. But time will tell what direction the squad takes.
The Canuck didn’t have the best start to the Giro, crashing on Stage 2. Still, there’s a reason it’s called a Grand Tour … there are a lotta stages.
Stage 5 from Praia a Mare to Potenza (203 km) is definitely a leg-breaker, but the real GC test still looms on Stage 7. Either way, anyone hoping to be in the mix in Rome needs to stay near the front tomorrow, including Ciccone and Gee.