Giulio Ciccone sprints to fourth for the second day in a row at the traditional Tour de France build-up race and subsequently moves into the lead of the Points Classification.
After finishing fourth in the fog on the Col de la Loge on Stage 2, Ciccone replicated this result in Les Estables at the end of Stage 3.
One rider from the early breakaway was agonisingly close to making to the finish line yesterday and so, it was no surprise to see teams fighting it out to get into the breakaway today. Toms Skujins looked characteristically strong in the opening kilometers and had the support of Lidl-Trek to try to force a strong move. However, ultimately, only three riders were allowed to go clear and the trio was kept on a relatively short leash throughout the whole day.
Lidl-Trek, led by the reliable duo of Alex Kirsch and Ryan Gibbons, moved up to the front of the peloton ahead of a crucial left-hand turn to make sure that the Team’s key riders were well-positioned and ready for a fast and furious uphill finale.
Approaching the 10-kilometer to go mark, it was Mads Pedersen setting the pace to help close the gap to the remaining leaders, a signal which showed the Stage 1 winner was playing the role of trusted teammate with Ciccone the Lidl-Trek sprinter this time around.
In the end, Derek Gee (IPT) made a late, and somewhat surprise, attack with 500 meters to go and was able to get the better of the bunch to hold on for the win while, Ciccone had to come from behind to clinch fourth with the Team’s GC leader Tao Geoghegan Hart also finishing in the first part of the front group.
His results over the last two days scored him enough points to move into the green jersey, which started the day on the shoulders of Pedersen.
Ciccone’s reaction:
“It was a bit of a strange final. The climb was super fast and my teammates did a perfect job and I just made a small mistake in the last kilometer. I was too far back and I had to do a really long sprint and actually, in the end, I ad to sprint two times but, it’s like this. I am not a sprinter. In the end, I am there and my legs are good and my feeling is also good so after such a long time and all the problems I had, I think for me it’s really important to be trying to fight for the victory, for my head too. We have some hard stages in front of us and then the Tour is next so I really want to know my shape in the next days and for sure, as a team there is still more we can do here.”
