GIULIO CICCONE’S hopes of success in the Giro d’Italia’s general category disappeared last Sunday on his home roads as he fell well behind the leaders on the hellish Blockhaus climb.

Apparently his suffering was not helped by a wasp sting.

No rival to the leaders’ ambitions, the 27-year-old is no longer a marked man and, free to try for stage wins, did just that yesterday with a powerful ride on the Giro’s mountainous 177km stage 15 from Rivarolo Canavese to Cogne.