"My dream is to win a monument": Giulio Ciccone shifts focus to stage wins and one-day glory

After years of trying to establish himself as a Grand Tour general classification contender, Giulio Ciccone has decided to end that chapter of his career. The 30-year-old Lidl-Trek rider, once seen as Italy’s next great GC hope, confirmed that he will no longer chase overall results, shifting instead toward stage wins and one-day races.

The change comes after yet another season derailed by misfortune. “At three-week stage races the fact is my body can’t finish because of physical problems. It’s not about fitness or belief, after eight or nine days my body gives up, that has always happened,” he admitted to La Gazzetta dello Sport in comments gathered by Idlprocycling.

Ciccone has long fought to break into the top 10 of a Grand Tour, particularly at the Giro d’Italia, where Italian fans once hoped he would evolve into a national leader. However, he always left empty-handed GC-wise for one reason or another.

Coronavirus forced him out of the 2023 Giro, a painful saddle sore also didn't let him start the 2024 edition, while in 2025 a crash late in the second week destroyed his best shape of the season when he was one of the main contenders to fight for a podium spot. His best Giro classification remains 16th in 2019, the same year he claimed the mountains jersey.

He had much better luck when focusing on stage wins. He has won three times at the Giro (2016, 2019 and 2022), the first of them with Bardiani - CSF, and has 13 professional victories so far.

"There was the crash in Gorizia at the Giro d’Italia [2025 edition], which forced me to withdraw on the eve of the big mountains when I was sure I would do very well," Ciccone lamented in another interview he gave a few days ago.

At the Tour de France he found more success in plan-B scenarios rather than going for the GC. In 2023 he won the polka dot jersey, and in 2024 he fought for GC until a disastrous final time trial pushed him to 11th. The same cannot be said about the Vuelta a España, in which he has never managed to win a stage or do a decent GC run.

That pattern of repeated frustration solidified Ciccone’s new direction. “I think I must utilise my traits better. And now that I have the data, I feel stronger in shorter races and in the classics. I will use that motivation to perform better,” he explained.

He now plans to return to his roots: the aggressive racing style he showed early in his Bardiani years, only thinking about the stage win. “I’ll go for the stage wins, do what I’m good at. I don’t want stress anymore about the GC,” he said. “2025 was very good, but the crash in the Giro on the eve of the third week full of mountain stages was a setback. I was sure I would go well there.”

Looking ahead, Ciccone already knows what motivates him. “I want to start 2025 well, maybe already in the UAE Tour. My dream is to win a monument. I dream of Liège and I already see that second place behind Tadej Pogačar as a victory,” he said.

He also plans to keep the Giro and Tour de France on his program, but with a completely different approach. “I’ll ride the Giro and the Tour in 2026, but will aim for stage wins. I will attack, even from far out, and I would love to wear the pink in the Giro at least once. I want to enjoy and have fun.”