Lidl-Trek DS defends team’s Giro tactics: ‘That criticism makes me angry’

“I’m glad you ask this question, because a lot of podcasts have been very negative without really knowing what was going on inside the team,” Rast told In de Leiderstrui on Sunday. “They often speak very loudly, and that makes me angry.”

The debate around Lidl-Trek’s Giro centred on the team’s three main objectives. Jonathan Milan was there for the sprints, Derek Gee-West for the general classification, and Giulio Ciccone had been promised freedom to chase his own opportunities in the mountains.

That plan had been agreed before the race, but as the Giro unfolded it became an easy target. Milan lacked his usual finishing punch in several sprints. Gee-West often had to fend for himself in the mountains, while Ciccone kept chasing opportunities without quite finding the result he was looking for. Still, Lidl-Trek refused to abandon the idea of racing on three fronts.

The most discussed example came on stage 19. Ciccone and Gee-West both found themselves in the front of the race, but not with the same objective. Ciccone was chasing the stage win and the mountains points. Gee-West was still fighting for the best possible place in the overall standings.

When Ciccone attacked after the penultimate climb rather than staying with Gee-West, the move drew plenty of criticism. Some argued that Gee-West might have been able to challenge for fourth, or perhaps even third overall, had the two worked together. Rast strongly disagrees.

“We also questioned whether it was the right move,” he said. “But it was a decision made in the moment. Derek said over the radio that Giulio should keep going, and many sports directors in the peloton were on our side. Only from the outside people were saying: what idiots.”

With two days to think it over, Rast said he would still make the same call.

“Ciccone was riding for the stage win, and we had promised him that freedom during this Giro,” he explained. “On top of that, he had a minute on the chasers. In many situations, that is a gap he can hold.”

Ciccone eventually faded after spending too much energy earlier in the day, while Gee-West finished second. But Rast does not believe Gee-West’s race was compromised by the Italian’s attack.

“Derek didn’t have to ride in the valley because the others were chasing the stage win,” Rast said. “And if Giulio had waited, he would not have descended as fast. Then everything would have fallen onto Derek’s shoulders, because we would have had two riders there. In that scenario, Derek would also have lost a minute to the peloton.”

Rast’s frustration was not limited to stage 19. He also pointed to stage 18, where Lidl-Trek committed heavily to Milan, only for the Italian to finish third after making a few small mistakes in the sprint.

“Everyone gave Jonathan shit because he made small mistakes in the sprint and finished third,” he said. “They praised Jasper Stuyven for his lead out, but everyone forgets what we did the whole day until the final kilometre.”

Rast claimed that the criticism ignored the risk Lidl-Trek had taken to put Milan in that position.

“We showed balls by believing in Jonathan on that stage, and other teams benefited from that,” he said. “I asked him beforehand what he thought, and he wanted to go for it. We used the whole team to chase that opportunity, and that was great. Because of that, we didn’t have a lead out anymore before Jonathan made a few small mistakes. That is what it is.”

In the end, Lidl-Trek did not leave the Giro empty handed. Milan won the final stage in Rome, Ciccone took home the mountains jersey, and Gee-West finished fifth overall.

“I’ll be honest: when the team said before the Giro that they wanted to win three stages, I said I wanted to win five,” Rast said. “Last year we won six, but you don’t win six stages every year.”