Giulio Ciccone happy to take polka dot jersey: "There are two different ways to win this KOM classification, yet both are hard!"

Giulio Ciccone was among the most active riders of today's stage 15. The Italian and his team paced the breakaway for a significant part of the stage in hunt of KOM points for the Italian. In the end, 16 points were enough to get the Lidl-Trek rider into polka dot jersey with same score as previous jersey holder Neilson Powless.

"It was a brutal day. I was not at my best today. I did my maximum effort to take as many KOM points as possible. It was good opportunity. We will continue like this in the third week. Me and my teammates are in good shape, so we will try again. I’m feeling better than yesterday about the outcome of the race, because I got the KOM jersey after a big fight."

"I’m sort of happy, yet it is still not good enough. In order to claim this jersey in Paris, I need to be in the breakaway as many days as possible, whereas Pogacar and Vingegaard can take points while in the GC battle. There are two different ways to win this KOM classification, yet both are hard!"