He forgot to take off the ice vest and rode the entire time trial of the Giro with it, finishing ninth

The time trial of the Giro d'Italia left one of the most unusual images of this edition when Lorenzo Milesi appeared at the finish line after completing the 42 kilometers between Viareggio and Massa with an ice vest still on under his jersey. The Movistar Team rider still managed to secure a surprising ninth position, but later confessed that he simply forgot to take it off after warming up.

Lorenzo Milesi rode the entire Giro time trial with an ice vest on: “I forgot to take it off”

The young Italian explained the situation in statements to Eurosport just after getting off the bike. “I forgot to take off the ice vest,” he commented with a laugh. “I realized just after I started, but it was too late to take it off. So I told myself I had to keep the same pace and see how it went.”

| Lorenzo Milesi forgot to take off his cooling vest for his time trial and rode the whole race with extra weight. The Italian is currently in seventh place and reacted somewhat embarrassed afterwards. #GirodItalia

Cycling HBO Max pic.twitter.com/U8gkj4ECYj

— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) May 19, 2026

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The detail is even more striking considering Milesi's final result. The Italian finished ninth in the stage, 2:40 behind the winner Filippo Ganna, in one of the longest and most demanding time trials of this Giro. The course, completely flat and very fast, was designed for pure specialists, and the Movistar rider managed to break into the top 10 despite the extra weight and discomfort of the cooling vest.

Ice vests are common in modern cycling during warm-ups before time trials or on very hot days. Riders use them to lower their body temperature before exertion and delay the onset of thermal fatigue. What is exceptional in this case is that Milesi competed in the entire stage with it accidentally on.

The Italian also acknowledged that the anecdote probably cost him time. “I'm sure I could have done better without the vest, but I've learned another lesson. We'll try to do better in the next stages,” he added.