Stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia was a rollercoaster of emotions for the Lidl-Trek team but also a masterclass of racing, with Derek Gee-West forced to chase hard to avoid losing time on GC before Giulio Ciccone finished third in the sprint to take the maglia rosa for the first time in his career.
Gee-West had already lost a minute after being involved in the stage 2 crash in Bulgaria and feared another time loss when he punctured on the fast descent to Cosenza. He was fortunate that Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos) had been distanced and was chasing with loyal and strong teammate Ben Turner. Gee-West joined the Netcompany train to mount an intense chase.
While Turner regretted not being able to save himself for the sprint, Gee-West was grateful he was so strong in the chase.
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"I thought it was going to be another minute gone," Gee-West admitted to TNT Sports post-stage.
"Luckily Egan was back there with Ben Turner and they were ripping it to come back. We also had Matteo [Sobrero] to drop back and close the last little but it was a hard chase."
Sobrero was the MVP of the stage for Lidl-Trek, the hard domestique work that turned disaster into success.
After his work to help Gee-West, he also protected Ciccone before the sprint and went deep to close the gap to late attacker Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). Without Sobrero, Christen could have won the stage and taken the maglia rosa. Instead the race came back together and Ciccone took third and pink. It was a huge moment of relief for Lidl-Trek, after they failed to win the opening sprints with Jonathan Milan.
Ciccone was in tears and kissed the maglia rosa on the podium, 10 years after winning his first stage as a 21-year-old. In theory the Italian is only chasing stage victories at this year's race, with Gee-West Lidl-Trek's protected GC rider.
"It's pretty special," Gee-West said of taking the maglia rosa.
"For everyone in his race that jersey means a lot but for Giulio even more. To hear him talk about it on the bus this morning, knowing it was a realistic goal, it's super, super cool to pull it off."
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