Giulio Ciccone's 2022 race program is a mirror of his outstanding 2019 campaign, and after a frustrating 2021, the Italian hopes to use his talents to rediscover past results.

The Trek-Segafredo rider reached his highest level to date in 2021, both by his own calculations and those of his power meter, but crashed in both the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, and for three weeks was unable to translate raw data into concrete results He was unable to translate raw data into tangible results over a three-week period.

In 2022, Ciccone aims to compete in the Giro and Tour de France to confirm his impression of progress: his 16th place overall in the 2019 Giro remains his best result in a Grand Tour, but his results in the first two weeks of this year's Corsa Rosa convinced him of the merits of exploring his overall class prospects in a more coordinated way. The results of the first two weeks of this year's Corsarosa have convinced him of the benefits of exploring the overall class prospects in a more coordinated way.

"This year was my best year by the numbers, but maybe I looked stronger to outsiders in 2019 because I was racing just for the stages and could sacrifice everything else," Ciccone said from Trek-Segafredo's He said from the training camp.

"This year I was in the top five until the last few days of the Giro. I was in the top five until the last day of the Giro this year, so overall I was much stronger in 2021.

A Trek-Segafredo communiqué released Tuesday suggested that he and his co-leader, Bauke Mollema, would focus on trying for stage wins in both the Giro and Tour, but Ciccone departed with an eye on the overall classification, at least in the Italian Grand Tour Ciccone admitted that at least in the Italian Grand Tours, he would start with an eye on the overall classification.

"To be honest, the Giro's route suits my characteristics of few time trial kilometers and many hard stages," Ciccone said.

"I don't know the standings yet, but generally speaking, going for GC in the Tour is more complicated because of the overall level. But we will decide that as we ride. The objective is to come back to win, and in the process we will see if we should consider GC or a stage win."

Ciccone will start the season with the Volta a la Comunitant Valenciana, and the Tirreno-Adriatico and Ardennes Classics are also on his schedule before the Giro opens in Budapest on May 6.

With his former teammate Vincenzo Nibali entering the twilight of his career in Astana Cazacustan, Ciccone will carry even greater home expectations in the 2022 Giro. In particular, this year's race will see him go head-to-head with eventual winner Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) in the early summit finishes of San Giacomo and Campo Felice. Ciccione was heartened by these successes, but also felt that the three-week race seemed to put a cap on the ambitions of some racers for others.

"It is important to note that we are entering a period where we have very high-level, phenomenal riders like Pogachar, Roglic, and Bernal. That has to be recognized," Ciccone said.

"You have to be realistic, not too ambitious, and see how far you can actually go. I am realistic. In the Giro, I was in the top five for a long time without investing in time trials, without paying attention to many details, without starting the race as a leader. So a podium might not be a dream, but it depends on the circumstances, the other riders in the field, and many other things."

Ciccone will turn 27 next week on December 20, but the Abruzzo native still has room for improvement. Unlike most professional players who enter the World Tour as juniors or under the age of 23, Ciccone believes his progress will be slow.

"Looking back to my junior days, I was still just a regular young guy who went to the beach. I didn't already have a professional life, like the younger generation today," says Ciccone.

"Now I'm in a shorter stage of development, but I was on a more traditional path; I turned pro in 2016, and the physical aspect has completely changed between then and now. So now I'm looking forward to the next three years where I can be at my best."

Either way, he certainly hopes for better luck than he has had the past two seasons; 2020 started off on a high note with a win at the Trofeo Laiglia, but after a positive test for COVID-19 before Tirreno-Adriatico, which was interrupted for the first lockdown, similar He never reached the same heights. He started the Giro in October of that year but abandoned after 14 stages, and his rapid progress in the 2021 Giro was undone by a crash on the road to Sega di Ara in the final week, and a further crash forced him to withdraw from the Vuelta.

"This will be an important year for me, 2021 was not a disappointment in terms of performance, just not in terms of results," Ciccone said.

While 2019, with a stage win in the Giro and a yellow in the Tour, was the best of his career so far, this season was not annus horribilis like 2020.

"I could see my growth, not only in the numbers, but also in the way I ran. I was able to fight with the GC riders on the Giro stages, like in Campo Felice, and I was able to attack them in a direct confrontation. Before, I had to go into the breakaway to win. To fight with GC riders like Bernal and (Lemko) Evenpoel for the stage win means that the bar has been raised.

Last May, Ciccone described himself as the "joker" in the Trek-Segafredo group at the Giro, but his status has since changed. After the race, he began to work more diligently on time trials, and Dario Cataldo, also from Abruzza, whose father was Michele, one of Ciccone's first coaches, joined him as a climbing domestique in the new season.

The most significant change, of course, is that Nibali has left the team and Ciccone has taken on greater responsibility in the Grand Tour. During their two years at Trek-Segafredo, the Italian pair never really added up, but they stepped on each other's toes at the Italian championships last June.

"Vincenzo had the most difficult two years of his career.

"We were not a very successful duo for a variety of reasons. But I still have a good relationship with him and he taught me how to stay calm in stage races."