“The Giro keeps going and the next day you’re back to suffering” – Hoole and Lidl-Trek hungry for more at superb Giro d’Italia

With six stage victories in just fifteen days, it’s safe to say Lidl–Trek have enjoyed a Giro d’Italia 2025 to remember. Four of those wins belong to the incredible Mads Pedersen, while Dan Hoole and Carlos Verona have each claimed one apiece, making the team the undisputed Kings of the race so far.

The only real setback came with the withdrawal of Giulio Ciccone, the team’s general classification leader, whose illness ended their GC ambitions. Yet even that disappointment has served as fuel, according to Hoole, who spoke to IDLProCycling.com on the second rest day about the highs and lows of the race so far.

Hoole’s own highlight came on stage 10, when he took an emotional solo win. “It’s still a very special memory, but you also move on quickly,” he said. “It remains something very special, but the Giro keeps going and the next day you’re back to suffering.”

The suffering intensified on stage 14, when a major crash ripped through the peloton. Lidl–Trek were one of the worst hit teams.

“Unfortunately, six out of our seven guys were involved in that crash,” Hoole explained. “I’m doing okay overall, although I was still feeling it quite a bit. I had a good treatment from the osteopath on the rest day and then got a massage, so I don’t think it’ll cause any further problems.”

“Mostly some scrapes and bruises,” he added. “Because your body really takes a hit in a crash like that. But it was never so bad that I felt like I couldn’t continue or anything like that.”

Pedersen was also caught up in the incident, but Hoole downplayed any concerns: “He’s doing well, his crash wasn’t that bad. He didn’t really go down and even thought he could avoid it. But at the last second someone ran into the back of him. Luckily, he didn’t suffer much damage from that.”

Perhaps the most difficult moment of the Giro so far, though, was losing Ciccone, especially for a team that had structured some of its ambitions around his GC campaign.

“He came to our hotel that same evening and we had dinner together,” Hoole said. “It was a real blow, because the whole team was riding for the GC with Giulio. I had done work for that as well and had expectations, so when that suddenly disappears, it’s a huge disappointment. Luckily, Mads gave a kind of motivational speech at the dinner table for Cicco and the rest of the team. That already paid off on Sunday with Carlos’s stage win.”

That stage win on Monte Grappa wasn’t just a consolation prize, it was a statement. Verona’s effort came not from the breakaway, but from within the elite GC group itself.

“Carlos is riding at a really high level, we saw that on Sunday,” Hoole said. “He didn’t win from the break, you know, he went over Monte Grappa with the GC guys. There were maybe twelve riders left at that point, so that shows he’s up there with the best.”

According to Hoole, Verona had been targeting specific stages for weeks. “He really wanted to go on the attack and take time in the stages that suited him, maybe even earlier than expected. He had marked a few stages for that, especially since the GC contenders haven’t really had a lot of opportunities to go all out yet. There were very few stages where they could really test themselves, which made it even more frustrating that Giulio had to abandon. He was in the best shape of his life and never really got the chance to show how strong he was. That’s incredibly frustrating for him.”

As the race enters its final week, Lidl–Trek are showing no signs of slowing down. Verona and Patrick Konrad still have their eyes on the mountains, and Pedersen could strike again on stage 18, a day that suits his strengths.

“Together with Patrick Konrad, [Carlos] still has chances in the coming days,” Hoole said. “On Thursday, we have another nice stage for Mads to try to win, so there are definitely plenty of plans. My job will be to help get those guys into the breakaway and support them as best I can.”