When an Italian neo-pro wins a brutal mountain stage on Giro d'Italia debut from the breakaway, expectation will naturally follow for when he can target the maglia rosa and potentially challenge as a future winner. That's exactly what Giulio Ciccone did in 2016 as a fresh-faced 21-year-old racing for Bardiani, and after a decade of trying to match that expectation, he's finally managed to pull on pink for the first time.
During that time, Ciccone had raced seven times at his home Grand Tour, many of them starting as a GC hopeful, several ending in heartbreak, with crashes and setbacks seeing him win two more stages. But never – until Tuesday afternoon – has he pulled on the jersey which he'd dreamed about since he was a child.
Even just 12 months ago, what looked like was going to be a certain top 10 GC finish, the first of his career at the Giro or any Grand Tour, disappeared in an instant after he crashed on stage 14, having been sitting in seventh, and abandoned a day later.
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Sprinting for the line on stage 4 of the 2026, Ciccone knew he had a chance at pink if he just finished in the top three and snatched any of the bonus seconds available. Once it was confirmed that he'd finished third in Cosenza past the finish line, elation hit, and he had realised a lifelong ambition.
"The feeling is amazing. I always dreamed of this since I was a kid. I started the sport dreaming to wear this jersey, and today I really realise one of my best dreams," said Ciccone.
"I was not expecting this today after many hard moments, especially last year after the crash. It's really something crazy."
Bizarrely, after all those starts as a real GC contender, this year Ciccone wasn't even trying to target the overall, with a refreshed mindset offering him the chance to chase stages freely, while helping Derek Gee-West target the podium, and with the team mostly built for Jonathan Milan's sprint train.
Lidl-Trek left the Bulgarian Grande Partenza empty-handed after Milan missed out narrowly in the two sprint stages, but Ciccone has brought them back into the spotlight. He adds a stint in pink now to the time he enjoyed in the yellow jersey at the 2019 Tour de France, but even with that prestige among his palmarès, nothing beats the maglia rosa for an Italian.
"When I had the yellow jersey, I was really young, so I didn't expect to wear it. But for sure it's one of the best ones in the world, so it was really a special moment," said Ciccone in the mixed zone. "I have to say that the pink jersey is also something special, especially for me, because I started riding a bike with this dream.
"I see myself when I was 19, I was just in Abruzzo trying to find a way, which kind of rider to become. There have been a lot of difficult moments in my career. Last year at the Giro, I tried to do the GC, and I was aiming for a good result; now I'm not fighting for it anymore. I had months away from racing with injuries, Covid, lots of highs and lows, but this is one of the more amazing moments I've had to be here in the maglia rosa."
Ciccone spoke of how he is more relaxed without the GC pressure on him in 2026, but he will be desperately hoping to make it through the tricky undulating stage on Wednesday and Thursday's mostly flat day into Naples, so that he can don the maglia rosa on his home region's most famous climb: Blockhaus.
He's not overly confident in his team to control the next two days, given they are a largely sprint-focused outfit, and keeping it past Blockhaus will almost certainly be impossible as the overall favourites come to the fore, but making it there in pink would bring a frenzy from the already enthusiastic locals.
"Starting from tomorrow, it's a difficult stage, and I don't think my team is ready to control a stage like tomorrow. But we'll try to defend the jersey. Derek Gee will try to take care of the ambitions on GC," said Ciccone in his pink jersey press conference.
"I hope to bring the maglia rosa to Abruzzo, but it will be very hard to keep it after Blockhaus because it will be a big test for Jonas Vingegaard; no one can hide there anymore.
"It's an effort of more than 30 minutes, and my gap is very small, so it's going to be difficult.. The stages in Abruzzo in my career have always been very unlucky, so I will try to go there with no stress. This is because I ride the Giro with a different mindset."
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