Giulio Ciccone is one of the few riders in the pro peloton who has a trademark celebration, and that is throwing his sunglasses to the audience. This time around, at the
Tour of the Alps, he was fined after winning stage 1 and he may never actually do it again.
After this happened, on social media there was quite a lot of criticism over a fine that seemed unjustified - this came from fans, riders, even Patrick Lefevere! For most, understandable criticism as a 250CHF fine seemed to be exaggerated.
"I hadn't thought about it. It's... I don't want to say ridiculous, but it's hard to say because the rules change every year," Ciccone said to
Wielerflits this morning. "My mistake was that I hadn't studied the rules, but now I know. I'm not going to continue doing it".
The
Lidl-Trek rider has managed to take his first win in over two years and it came as a special one, even if over the past seasons he's shown great legs. He leads the Tour of the Alps, where he can realistically take another win, however the fans surely won't get another free pair of sunglasses.
In any way, the team will be paying for the costs of the fine not the rider itself, and there was no consequence besides the monetary one, so it does not affect the climber's race in any way. "It's strange to get a fine anyway when you win the race. I don't agree, but I can't change it".
My goodness. I never thought my joke became the reality. Well done, UCI. My expectation for you is low.