Italian cyclist Giulio Ciccone has withdrawn from Trek-Segafredo’s Giro d’Italia team due to continued Covid-19 symptoms and positive test results. The decision was taken jointly by the rider and team, and comes with the Grand Partenza set to take place in Abruzzo, Ciccone’s home region. While a difficult choice for both parties, it was deemed necessary with the race fast approaching.
Trek-Segafredo team leader Giulio Ciccone is out of the 2023 Giro d’Italia due to persistent Covid-19 symptoms and a recent positive test.
The Italian has won three stages on the Giro in previous years and briefly wore the Tour de France yellow jersey after a climb to La Planche des Belles Filles.
A mountain specialist, Ciccone was also the Giro’s top climber in 2019 and recently beat Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel to a summit finish in Catalonia.
The 28-year-old had been pegged as the leading rider for his team in the May 6-28 bike race around Italy alongside 2019 world champion, Denmark’s Mads Pedersen.
GIven his recent form; he finished second overall in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, he took the Orange jersey for the Points classification in the same race, and finished fifth in the Tirreno–Adriatico and fifth in La Fleche Wallonne, before recently riding to seventh in the Volta a Catalunya.
Ciccone was devastated to miss out on his home race.
He said: “Giving up the Giro breaks my heart. I can’t find any other words to describe my feelings right now. I would have faced my favourite race after the best start to a season of my career. I would have started from home, from my Abruzzo; a historic event, even unique. Everything was perfect and then… I mean, it feels absurd. I have to swallow a bitter pill and the thought of what I could have done in this Giro will be in my mind for a long time.”
Trek–Segafredo director Gregory Rast echoed Ciccone’s sentiments.
He said: “We are losing a very important part of our Giro squad. With his innate talent and with the great condition he has shown in the very first part of the season, Giulio had everything needed to be one of the protagonists of the race. We are sorry for him, because we know how much he wanted to be there.”
On a positive note, the season is not over for Ciccone, who pledged to return and make up for lost time soon. He said: “On the other hand, I have to listen to my body. I have to recover in the best way possible because the season is long and the risk of compromising it would be too high. It’s a tough decision, but I have to accept the fact and look beyond it. As soon as I return to racing, I will turn this disappointment into determination.”
