Giulio Ciccone makes no excuses and doesn't hide behind a finger. As he usually does, he speaks frankly and acknowledges his opponent's merits. "There's not much to say: it was a matter of legs and Storer was simply faster than all of us who didn't have enough to chase him - explains the Abruzzo rider from Lidl Trek -. What happened? He simply dropped us because he was the strongest. The team? They worked perfectly, nothing to complain about, in fact, I can only thank them."

The questions keep coming, and they point out that in the group behind Storer, not everyone worked the same way. "At the beginning, there were some misunderstandings, but it's normal when there are few of us left - Cicco explained -. Obviously, when almost everyone is a team leader, it's difficult to find an agreement and pulling becomes a problem, but it's also true that the finish line was very close and we didn't recover anything."

Is it more the regret of losing to a guy who was able to arrive alone, or is it more the bitterness of the partial failure on the climb? "Cycling is like this, it can happen, today Storer was simply the strongest of all, and my congratulations go entirely to him."