‘We knew there would be fireworks’ – Long, solo pursuit through rain proves too much for Giulio Ciccone to defend Giro d’Italia lead

Giulio Ciccone did manage to reach the Lidl-Trek team bus by bike after he completed stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia, then pedalled another three kilometres to the large car park outside Potenza where the teams’ paddock was situated. But the way the Italian staggered towards the bus door after dismounting, his face grey with fatigue, made it clear he was down to the barest minimum of energy levels. It really had been that kind of a day.

The leader of the Giro d’Italia for a fleeting 24 hours, Ciccone and Lidl-Trek had been forced onto the defensive when Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), just over a minute down before stage 5, had made it into the large defining break of the day. Then when Eulálio bridged across to lone-attacker Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on the toughest, most decisive, climb of the day, the Cat.2 Monte Grande di Viggiano, the alarm bells truly began ringing for the race leader.