Giulio Ciccone will make a belated start to his 2024 season at the Tour de Romandie next week after surgery on a saddle sore ruined the opening months of his campaign.
The Italian has already been ruled out of the Giro d’Italia, which had been his initial target for 2024, but his Lidl-Trek team has indicated that he will now ride both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.
Ciccone spent a month off the bike after undergoing surgery to remove a perineal cyst in early February. He returned to training in mid-March, when he also confirmed that he would not ride the Giro this season.
After four weeks on the bike, he has been given the all-clear to return to racing at the Tour de Romandie.
“I feel reborn and now I can’t wait to get back to racing,” Ciccone said on Friday.
“The weeks without the bike were very, very difficult. I was trying not to think about the time I was losing, but it wasn’t easy.
“When I started riding again, it was a great feeling. Of course it was hard, because the intensity of the workouts was gradual but always constant. It was like relighting a fuse, though. I felt the fire inside again.”
Lidl-Trek’s Head of Performance Josu Larrazabal confirmed that Ciccone has now been added to their Tour de France roster, where he will line up alongside Tao Geoghegan Hart. Ciccone won the king of the mountains jersey at last year’s Tour de France, having previously worn the yellow jersey at the race on his debut in 2019.
The 29-year-old Italian is also set to return to the Vuelta a España for the first time since his 2021 debut was ended by a crash at the beginning of the final week. Skjelmose is already pencilled in race the Vuelta for Lidl-Trek.
“When we decided to rule out the option of racing the Giro d’Italia, the first thought was to include him on the roster for the Tour de France. The feedback on his improving condition now allows us to confirm this choice,” Larrazabal said.
“His contribution to our team ambitions, starting with supporting Tao in his GC challenge, will be super important. The unity and teamwork of our strongest riders will be our greatest strength. A similar situation will then apply to the Vuelta a España where we will have Skjelmose and Mads [Pedersen].”
The Tour de Romandie gets underway in Payerne on Tuesday, with Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Juan Ayuso and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-Alula) among those in action.
Ciccone will be joined in the Lidl-Trek squad by Tao Geoghegan Hart.
“Of course, the Tour and Vuelta will be the most important races of my season and I want to prepare for them as best I can. The team knows what I can contribute if I feel good,” Ciccone said.
“There will be time to focus and to set with the team our common and specific goals for the coming months. Step by step; now, it’s important to live in the present, doing my best in Romandie and taking my condition to a new level."
