Giulio Ciccone had high hopes he'd be wearing his first-ever Giro d'Italia leader's jersey when the race reaches his native Abruzzo region on Friday. But even if he's no longer in pink, the Lidl-Trek racer warns that stage 7 will be one of the most important days of the entire 2026 race for the GC battle.
The reason is the stage's finish on the category 1 Blockhaus, the Giro's first summit finish. It's a climb Ciccone has tackled multiple times in training and once in Italy's biggest bike race, too, back in 2022.
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Now lying sixth overall at more than six minutes on race leader Afonso Eulálio, Ciccone doesn't go so far as some observers, who've said that the Blockhaus is where Vingegaard could attack so hard he might even put the entire Giro lead out of reach. He points out that there are plenty of other climbs in the second and third week where everything could change yet again.
