Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) comes to the 2026 Giro d'Italia saying he has good form as he focuses on stage wins rather than the usual general classification ambitions, with Lidl-Trek bringing an open team to take on multiple goals at the opening Grand Tour of the year. Speaking to Cycling Pro Net on May 6, two days before the race begins in Nessebar, Bulgaria, Ciccone said Lidl-Trek's Giro duties are divided among stage hunting, GC and sprint objectives.
"It's going to be more about stage wins," Ciccone said. "I want to try to win stages and we have Gee (Derek Gee-West) for GC and also Jonny (Jonathan Milan) for the sprint. I think we can win more than one stage."
Ciccone has done a fairly limited racing calendar this year with the Italian appearing at Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo, Volta a Catalunya and the recent Liège–Bastogne–Liège. His results have been solid with multiple top 10s at Tirreno and the mountains jersey at Catalunya. However, the focus on altitude camps means he thinks he's missing that racing tempo. "I did already two block of altitude," he said. "Of course I'm missing a bit racing, but now we have three weeks here. Shape is good."
That is a shift from 2025, when Ciccone targeted the overall classification. This year Lidl-Trek have distributed leadership across the roster, with Derek Gee-West carrying GC responsibilities and Jonathan Milan leading the sprint effort. Sports director Gregory Rast has spoken of a possible top-five finish for Gee-West.
Lidl-Trek's Giro plan
Milan has four stage wins to his name as well as two points classification victories at the Giro across 2023 and 2024 – he is one of the fastest riders on the startlist. He is probably the main favourite for the opening stage and the pink jersey on day one. He has around eight opportunities to go for a sprint win. His lead-out train includes Simone Consonni, Max Walscheid and Tim Torn Teutenberg.
Ciccone, meanwhile, said the route suits his ambitions. "For sure if you look at the parcours, I really like it," he said. "We have many occasions to try and also many hard stages, especially uphill finishes."
Lidl-Trek's full eight-rider roster also includes Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier and Matteo Sobrero. The 2026 Giro d'Italia begins on Friday, May 8th, with stage 1 in Nessebar.
Cover image credit: Billy Ceusters
