“Bike racing isn’t on paper” - Derek Gee and Giulio Ciccone hopeful Giro d’Italia chaos can spark surprise Lidl-Trek GC challenge against Jonas Vingegaard

Lidl-Trek arrive at the 2026 Giro d’Italia with one of the most versatile setups in the race. While Jonathan Milan targets the sprint stages and an early Maglia Rosa in Bulgaria, the team’s wider ambitions stretch far beyond bunch finishes.

Between the aggressive stage-hunting instincts of Giulio Ciccone and the growing general classification credentials of Derek Gee, Lidl-Trek head into the Giro believing the race’s traditional chaos and attritional nature could still create opportunities behind overwhelming favourite Jonas Vingegaard.

The Canadian was responding to the growing consensus around Vingegaard’s status as clear favourite following the withdrawals of major rivals including Joao Almeida, Richard Carapaz and Mikel Landa in conversation with Cycling News.

“On paper, you would say no,” Gee admitted when asked whether anyone could realistically match the Dane in the mountains. “But at the same time, bike racing isn’t on paper.”

Gee returns to the Giro after finishing fourth overall in 2025, a breakthrough performance that established him as one of the peloton’s emerging Grand Tour riders.

This year’s build-up, however, has been far from ideal. Illness following Volta a Catalunya forced the Canadian to miss Lidl-Trek’s altitude camp in Sierra Nevada, leaving him uncertain about how quickly his best condition will arrive during the race.

“Unfortunately, this year, because I got quite sick after Catalunya, I missed the prep camp,” Gee explained. “I think for sure it’ll be a loss that I will feel towards the start of the race. Hopefully it’s not something I can never catch up to during the race.”

Rather than hiding from those concerns, Gee instead appeared unusually relaxed about the uncertainty surrounding his form. “When you don’t have the best run-in, it also kind of takes some pressure off,” he said. “If the legs show up right away, that’s great. If I struggle in the first week and the legs show up in the third week, then that’s great.”

That patient outlook fits both Gee’s rider profile and the nature of the Giro itself. The Canadian has repeatedly shown an ability to grow stronger as Grand Tours progress, while this year’s route features a brutal final week packed with climbing and attritional mountain stages.

For Gee, the Giro’s identity itself is part of the attraction. “It’s a very attritional race, the Giro is every single time,” he explained. “The third week makes such a big difference. The Giro has always been famous for having the hardest stages, the worst weather.”

That suffering and unpredictability is precisely what the Canadian believes creates opportunities in a race where one rider appears overwhelmingly superior on paper. “It feels like the purest of bike races,” Gee said. “That really appeals to me as a bike rider.”

With cold weather, long mountain stages and cumulative fatigue all expected to shape the final week, Lidl-Trek appear hopeful that the Giro’s traditional chaos could gradually narrow the gap between Vingegaard and the rest of the field.

Alongside Gee’s GC ambitions sits a very different but equally important role for Ciccone. The Italian arrives at his home Grand Tour after a build-up shaped around altitude training rather than heavy racing, with the Lidl-Trek rider openly admitting his focus will primarily be on aggressive stage hunting in conversation with Cycling Pro Net.

“It’s going to be more about stages,” Ciccone said. “Of course I want to try to win a stage.”

At the same time, Ciccone also acknowledged that his tactical role could evolve depending on how the general classification develops around Gee deeper into the race. “We’ll see day by day,” he explained. “Depending also how is the situation in the GC.”

That flexibility could become extremely important for Lidl-Trek in the mountains. Ciccone’s attacking style and climbing ability give the team another card to play if Gee establishes himself as a genuine podium contender. “We have Derek Gee for the GC and also Johnny for the sprint,” Ciccone explained. “So I think we can win more than one stage.”

The route itself appears particularly well suited to the variety within Lidl-Trek’s lineup.

Ciccone believes the parcours offers numerous opportunities for aggressive riders capable of handling hard uphill finishes and selective stages. “If you look at the parcours, I really like it,” the Italian said. “We have many opportunities to try. There are many hard stages and especially uphill finishes.”

That combination of sprint opportunities for Milan, selective climbing stages for Ciccone and a brutally attritional third week for Gee gives Lidl-Trek several different ways to shape the race.

And if the Giro becomes as chaotic and exhausting as Gee expects, the team may yet discover they are fighting for far more than stage victories by the time the race reaches the Alps and Dolomites.