Ciccone attacked with 18 kilometres remaining in the 178-kilometre journey from Rivarolo Canavese and never looked back; distancing himself from Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) and Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost).
The Trek-Segafredo rider made certain of his victory after creating 1’33” of separation on Buitrago, who had earlier passed an exhausted Carthy on the category two climb’s steeper gradients.
It was there that Ciccone decided to alter his approach and, according to the 27-year-old, “it was the best choice that I made”.
“The steep part of the climb was at the beginning, in my mind I say, ‘OK, if I go alone here I can arrive alone’,” an emotional Ciccone said after the stage.
“Otherwise, with two or three riders, you never know what can happen. I tried here today because my legs were really good. It was the best choice that I made.
“I think this has been my most beautiful victory, even better than the yellow jersey at the Tour de France.
“This has an indescribable value for me.”
An early crash was not enough to prevent Richard Carapaz from retaining the pink jersey in the end, with the Ineos Grenadiers star finishing the stage to hold his seven-second lead over Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe).
Matthew Holmes (Lotto Soudal) was the first to attack the 159-strong peloton after the neutral section, though Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) was quickly on his heels.
The unlikely pair were quickly brought back to the pack before a touch of wheels six kilometres in saw Carapaz caught in the pile-up.
As Ineos escorted the GC leader back up the road, few breakaways followed, though neither team could create a lasting attack until the 40th kilometre; when Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe), Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Soudal), Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r Citroen) and Anthony Perez (Cofidis) moved 20 seconds clear.
It took 15 kilometres before the peloton brought them back but the next escape wasn’t too far away, as a large group of 22 bridged across with 100 kilometres to go.
Lawson Craddock (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) were but a few of the names among them, and the gap grew to 4’30” by the time of the first climb, Pila-Les Fleurs.
The pursuit of KOM points fuelled the break’s burst up the category one climb and it was van der Poel who attacked first, followed by Koen Bouwman who was eager to unseat Diego Rosa (Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team) as the maglia azzurra.
It wasn’t until the final three kilometres to the top that Bouwman made his move – the Jumbo-Visma rider going solo to gain all 40 points on offer at the summit and overtake Rosa as the mountains jersey-holder.
Bouwman tried to extend his lead over the top of the climb but he was soon joined by van der Poel and Martijn Tusveld (Team DSM), a trio that would go on to establish a 1’34” gap on the breakaway with 60 kilometres remaining.
Merhawi Kudus (EF Education-EasyPost) was tasked with leading the chase, with teammate Carthy in behind as several riders dropped out of the pursuit.
Ciccone was among those still in contention, however, and it didn’t take long for the Italian, Buitrago and Antonio Pedrero (Movistar Team) to move across to the Dutch leaders who were now without Bouwman for the rest of the climb up Verrogne.
Carthy soon followed with 40 kilometres to go, though it was Ciccone who led the group over Verrogne to take the 40 KOM points.
A string of attacks from Ciccone then followed; each one reducing the group of six as they entered the final 20 kilometres.
Carthy was all that remained from Ciccone’s efforts, but, two kilometres later, he was gone, allowing the latter to ride away and cross the finish line ahead of Buitrago and Pedrero.
