Trek-Segafredo finished the 2019 Giro d`Italia in Verona on Sunday having taken the blue mountains jersey through Giulio Ciccone and fifth place overall thanks to Bauke Mollema, calling the race `one of its best Grand Tours in the team`s history`. The US WorldTour team - which secured Richie Porte`s signature for the 2019 season, with the Australian now set to lead the team at the upcoming Tour de France - is also rumoured to be taking on Giro runner-up Vincenzo Nibali from Bahrain-Merida for next year, which could mean that the best is yet to come from the squad for Grand Tours. But, for now, Trek-Segafredo are content to bask in the post-Giro afterglow of a top-five finish, a win in one of the major jersey competitions and Ciccone`s stage win in Ponte di Legno.ADVERTISEMENT `We achieved all our goals, with a stage win, the top five, and, on top of that, we had the mountains jersey for the whole Giro,` pointed out sports director Kim Andersen on the team`s website. Ciccone cleverly took the blue jersey on the opening time trial stage in Bologna, where whichever rider was fastest from the bottom to the top of the final climb up to the finish was to be named the 2019 Giro`s first `king of the mountains`. The 24-year-old Italian measured his effort through the first part of the stage in order to give it everything on the climb. Although that meant that he only finished 64th on the stage, it was enough to take what would be his first blue jersey - and far from his last, it turned out, as Ciccone then wore it for the rest of the Giro, save for a single stage, having temporarily handed it to teammate Gianluca Brambilla following stage 12 before re-taking it the next day and making it his with the stage win on stage 16 from Lovere to Ponte di Legno.
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