After four days of racing at Tirreno-Adriatico, the Race of the Two Seas heads to its decisive summit finish at Sarnano-Sassotetto on Friday, though the final climb has been shortened due to high winds at the ski station.
Race organisers RCS Sport announced ahead of stage 5 that they have cut the final 13.2km climb down to 10.7km as a result, meaning the stage will now see the peloton take on a shorter 165.6km stage.
"Due to the weather conditions of strong wind on the top of the mountain, RCS Sport, the race organisation, has decided to anticipate the finish line compared to the previously planned one, in order to ensure the greatest safety of the race and all its actors," RCS announced on Friday morning.
Stage 6 at Paris-Nice will also be shortened for the same reason, with the opening 117.8km of the 197.4km stage from Tourves to La Colle-sur-Loup set to be neutralised.
"Due to strong winds, today's stage is shortened," organisers announced in a statement. "The first part will be neutralized and the start proper will be set at km 117.8, in La Fontaine d'Aragon. More info will follow regarding the schedule and the route."
The alterations to stage 6 at Paris-Nice cut out a chunk of largely flat and rolling roads to start the day as well as the second- and third-category climbs at the Côte des Tuilières and the Côte des Caillan. The riders will now start at the 79.6km to go mark, taking in the tough hilly closing section of the route.
At Tirreno-Adriatico, the stage 5 finish will now come in the area previously set aside for team bus parking at the Rifugio Fonte Lardina, rather than the section of the road further up at the Valico di Santa Maria Maddalena.
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The climb is now 10.7km long with an average gradient of 7.3% and a maximum gradient of 14% coming at around the midway mark. Aside from than the finish, the remainder of the queen stage will remain the same, running from Morro d'Oro in Abruzzo and taking in two other classified climbs late on. The new stage length is 165.6km rather than the 168km it was previously.
Check below for the new map and profile of stage 5 at Tirreno-Adriatico as well as the original profile for stage 6 at Paris-Nice.
The Slovenian beat Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) to victory on the toughest stage of the race yet and now lies six seconds down on new race leader Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe).
Over in Paris-Nice, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) holds the race lead by six seconds from David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) ahead of the weekend's decisive mountainous stages.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
