“Nobody gives you anything” - Giulio Ciccone savours hard-earned Giro d’Italia mountains jersey despite stage win regret

Giulio Ciccone will reach Rome with the maglia azzurra secured, but the Lidl-Trek climber admitted his Giro d’Italia still carries the sting of a stage win that escaped him.

The Italian made the mountains classification mathematically safe on Stage 20, sprinting from the GC group over the first passage of Piancavallo to take the final points he needed. Even with Jonas Vingegaard going on to win the stage and collect maximum points on the final climb, Ciccone could no longer be caught.

It means Ciccone is set to add the 2026 mountains jersey to the one he won in 2019, reward for a race built on repeated attacks, breakaway moves and one enormous effort on Stage 19, when he came close to stage victory before Sepp Kuss overhauled him on the final climb to Alleghe.

Speaking after Stage 20, Ciccone was clear that the jersey mattered. He was just as clear that it did not completely remove the frustration of missing the win he had chased. “In the end I managed to win this jersey,” Ciccone said in his post-stage interview with Cycling Pro Net. “It is a shame about the stage win that escaped me, but the only thing I can say is that I have no regrets because I really gave everything.”

Ciccone had little left by the time the Giro’s final mountain stage reached Piancavallo. After his aggressive ride on Stage 19 and another tense battle for points on Stage 20, the Italian admitted he was running on empty. “Today I was dead because I had no energy left, so I tried my maximum and I gave my maximum,” he said. “For that reason, I can be satisfied.”

His Giro changed shape once he moved away from the general classification battle. From that point, stage victory became the main target, with the maglia azzurra growing into the prize that eventually gave his race a clear result. “As I said yesterday, the cherry on the cake was missing with the stage victory,” Ciccone explained. “Of course, to be honest, that leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth, because the feeling of victory is something indescribable.”

That bitterness is easy to understand. Ciccone repeatedly animated the race, took responsibility in the mountains and came closest on the queen stage, only for Kuss to pass him late. The following day, he still had to finish the job in the mountains classification rather than simply protect what he had.

“From the moment I decided not to ride for the general classification anymore, that became my main objective,” he said. “So not winning a stage is definitely something that is missing. But it is compensated by arriving in Rome with the climbers’ jersey, which is a prestigious jersey.”

Ciccone’s connection with the Italian public has been one of the constant threads of his Giro. Even on days when the stage win did not come, his attacking style kept him at the centre of the race, and he said the roadside support had stayed with him throughout the three weeks.

“If there is one thing that has not been missing at this Giro, it has been the support,” Ciccone said. “I was really surprised again today. There was so much support on the roads, so I want to say a huge thank you.”

For Ciccone, the mountains jersey still carries real weight. He knows from experience that the classification is rarely won by accident. It demands repeated effort, judgement and the willingness to chase points even when the legs are already heavy.

“For me, a climbers’ jersey has great value because you really have to sweat for it and nobody gives you anything,” he said. “So for me it is always an important jersey.”

Rome will bring the final confirmation. Ciccone may leave the Giro without the stage win he wanted most, but he will leave with another mountains jersey, another place on the podium and a race shaped by the attacks he kept launching until there was nothing left.