Giulio Ciccone out of Giro d’Italia as COVID-19 cases in the peloton begin to mount up

Trek-Segafredo rider Giulio Ciccone will miss next weekend’s start of the Giro d’Italia in his home region of Abruzzo after testing positive for COVID-19, the latest sign that the coronavirus may once again be spreading through the professional peloton.

News that the 28 year old from Chieti will not be lining up on the start ramp of the opening individual time trial held mainly along a cycle path along the Adriatic coast from Fossacesia to Ortona was broken by his team earlier today.

It comes a week after Warren Barguil, who is due to lead French UCI WorldTour team Arkéa-Samsic at the Giro d’Italia, abandoned Liege-Bastogne-Liege and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, putting his participation in the Italian race in doubt.

Ciccone finished 13th on the Belgian Monument, while two Jumbo-Visma riders, Sam Oomen and Tosh van der Sande – both team-mates of one of the favourites for the overall at the Giro d’Italia, Primoz Roglic – failed to start the one-day race after they returned positive COVID-19 test results.

Several other riders have tested positive for the disease in recent weeks, during the early months of a season in which the UCI has dispensed with the last of the coronavirus protocols, including compulsory testing and vaccination passports, that had been in place since racing resumed in August 2020 following a five-month pause at the height of the pandemic.

Now, it is up to teams as to whether or not they test riders, with that haphazard approach, combined with the recent positive tests, likely to stoke fears that coronavirus is once again present in the peloton.

Ciccone, a three-time stage winner at his home Grand Tour and winner of the mountains jersey there in 2019, tested positive for COVID-19 last Monday and continues to display symptoms including sinusitis, a cough, and feeling tired.

He had been due to act as co-leader of the team with former world champion Mads Pedersen at the three-week race.

However, Trek-Segafredo and Ciccone jointly agreed that it was best he withdraw giving his inability to train as well as his ongoing symptoms and continued positive tests for the coronavirus.

“Giving up the Giro breaks my heart,” said Giccone, who has been in impressive form this season, winning stages of the Tours of Catalonia and Valencia, finishing second overall in the latter, and he also took fifth place at the Fleche Wallonne.

“I can’t find any other words to describe my feelings right now,” continued Ciccone. “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; an 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.

“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,” added Ciccone. “As soon as I return to racing, I will turn this disappointment into determination.”

Trek Segafredo sports director Gregory Rast said that Ciccone “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, and it’s a pity that we won’t have our strongest man for the climbs,” he added, underlining that this close to the race, it would be “impossible” to select a rider “capable of taking over his leadership.”