“We are not worried about the Giro” - Lidl-Trek not concerned after Giulio Ciccone undergoes surgery

On Tuesday, Lidl-Trek announced that Giulio Ciccone will be forced to miss a team training camp in Tenerife and delay his start to the season due to him undergoing surgery for a perineal cyst. However, the team’s head of performance Josu Larrazabal has said that he is not concerned about Ciccone’s season and his ambitions at the Giro d’Italia.

In an interview with GCN, Larrazabal said “for the Giro, there is still a long way to go, almost twelve full weeks until the Giro so we are not worried about the Giro”. He then went on to say that “of course, it will have an impact on the coming weeks so we will reschedule a little bit the first races, but other than that, the April altitude camp and the programme stay the same and we are confident everything will be fine”.

Ciccone had been due to start his season at Tirreno-Adriatico in March and he had also been set to ride the Volta a Catalunya and the Tour of the Alps ahead of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but all of that is now up in the air, as according to Lidl-Trek “doctors have imposed a four-week stop from any on-bike training, depending also on post-operative developments. The rehabilitation phase will follow”.

Also speaking to GCN, the team’s head doctor Gaetano Daniele said “Giulio will be strictly followed in the post-operative period. Now complete rest for 10 to 12 days. Then, new control by the surgeon for stitches removal. In that moment, it will be more easy to make a plan for a realistic and safe return on the bike”.