"It's one of those days when it's hard to find the words: since I was a child, my dream as a cyclist has always been to wear the pink jersey, even if just for one day". Giulio Ciccone struggles to speak through the emotion, but he does so with an open heart, with eyes that smile and that jersey which is now, finally, his.

"I started chasing it in 2016 at my first Giro d'Italia, today I take it after 10 years when I thought about it, yes, but not too much. And I dedicate it to my family and to everyone who has helped me on this journey: the life of a cyclist in recent years has changed a lot, there are always more sacrifices to make and these also involve those who live around us, which is why I want to share this joy with those close to me".

THE PRESS CONFERENCE. Seven years after the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, Giulio Ciccone has reclaimed a symbol that carries the weight of consecration. The pink jersey, worn for the first time in his career at the end of the first Italian stage of the Giro, has the flavor of maturity, sacrifice and rebirth. It is not merely a position in the standings: it is recognition of a rider who over the years has learned to reinvent himself without losing his own identity.

Because if cycling has changed radically, Giulio Ciccone has remained authentic, resembling riders of the past who lived heroic cycling, made of sweat and emotion.

"Seven years is not a short time since I wore the yellow jersey," Ciccone recounts. "Cycling has changed a lot in seven years. A new generation of riders has arrived that didn't exist seven years ago. Everything has become much more difficult, much more exasperating, so every single result requires much more dedication, much more sacrifice, much more preparation".

Words that well explain the feeling of an athlete who grew up in another era of recent cycling, one in which at 19 years old you were still far from professionalism. "Today at 19 years old they're already very strong and ready to compete in the general classification of the grand tours. At 19 I was still in Abruzzo trying to find my way to reach professionalism".

Yet, within this generational gap, Ciccone has remained true to himself: "What hasn't changed is my mentality, my determination, my desire to work, to continue growing and to never stop".

The pink jersey comes indeed at the end of a journey made of pain and obstacles. The Abruzzese doesn't forget the Giro he left last year with an important classification in his hands, nor the surgical intervention that forced him months away from racing, Covid, crashes. "Cycling always repays me. There have been many difficult moments. But today I want to enjoy this moment because it's repaying me and I'm living a beautiful period".

And it is precisely the sense of carefree lightness that continually returns in his thoughts. Ciccone seems to have found a new poetry and a new strength. "Lightness is fundamental. It gives you that carefree attitude in racing. When you're competing for the general classification you must always be super focused, instead having this lightness helps you consume less energy, to be more lucid".

A philosophy that is also reflected in the way he approaches this Giro. Lidl-Trek arrived with a team built mainly for Jonathan Milan's sprint finishes, not to lock down a general classification. Ciccone knows this well and doesn't hide it.

"You don't improvise competing for the general classification from one day to the next. There are teams that came here just for that and this is not our case. I want to try to win and I want to keep this jersey as long as I can, but we must be realistic".

The dream, of course, would be to arrive in pink in Abruzzo. But the roads of home, in Ciccone's career, have never been his allies. "I've always had a big problem with the Abruzzese stages, I've never found luck. And it's one more reason this year to try to live them in the most carefree way possible".

The big appointment will be the Blockhaus, the mountain symbol of Abruzzese cycling and the first real test for the general classification contenders. Ciccone knows perfectly what to expect. "I think the Blockhaus will be the first big test for Jonas Vingegaard. On a climb like that lasting more than half an hour, he'll have to race his own race and there you can't hide".

He will try to resist, maybe to surprise again, but without changing his nature. Because this Giro, before it's a chase for the classification, wants to be a return to emotion.

"Cycling for me is made of emotions. Many times modern cycling bores me, I don't like racing while standing still and maybe finishing sixth or seventh".

And so the pink jersey takes on a value that goes beyond the result. "Wearing a jersey, feeling the warmth of the crowd, feeling that extra charge, for me it's an emotion. It's worth more than many other situations. It's worth more than a single victory".
This is why Ciccone's smile, under the Italian sky of the Giro, seemed like that of a boy who had rediscovered the joy of truly having fun. Not the symbol of a classification to defend at all costs, but of a rider who has rediscovered the most authentic sense of his own racing.