Just 48 hours after his solo ride to victory on the dirt roads of Strade Bianche, Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) will be back in action at Tirreno-Adriatico on Monday for a final week of stage racing before Milan-San Remo and the other Monument Classics.
Mathieu van de Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quickstep), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) and Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) also face a painful start to the week in Monday's opening time trial after also suffering on the gravel roads of Tuscany on Saturday, while the likes of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Ben O’Connor (AG2R-Citroen) and Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) begin the week with fresh legs and ambitions for key stage victories or overall success in Italy.
Tirreno-Adriatico was once the best road to peak form for the spring and possible victory at Milan-San Remo but a date change from Monday to Sunday has made it more of a race apart, with overall victory as prestigious as any other weeklong stage race.
Tadej Pogacar, Michael Matthews, Mads Pedersen and other riders have opted for Paris-Nice. However, some - including Jasper Stuyven of Trek-Segafredo - will ride neither and then dive straight into Milan-San Remo before heading to Belgium.
Van Aert makes his season debut at Tirreno-Adriatico after illness during his altitude training camp forced him to miss Strade Bianche. Like van der Poel, Alaphilippe and Peter Sagan, who all suffered at Strade Bianche, the next seven days of racing will be an important pathway for them back to peak form. Some of them will be under pressure to get a result, while all will be hoping to find their best form.
We can expect the Classics riders to fight for a stage victory as Tirreno-Adriatico crosses central Italy, while O’Connor, Hindley, Alexandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), Pinot, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers), Enric Mas (Movistar) and others fight for overall victory and the spectacular trident winner’s trophy.
Geraint Thomas was due to make his European debut at Tirreno-Adriatico but his health problems have further delayed his build-up to the Giro d’Italia. In contrast, Primoz Roglic is a late entry to Tirreno-Adriatico after he recovered from his winter shoulder surgery and worked well at altitude in recent weeks.
With two-time winner Pogacar opting to ride Paris-Nice as he shakes up his 2023 race programme, UAE Team Emirates will be hoping João Almeida, Brandon McNulty and Adam Yates can give them a third consecutive victory.
The sprinters also have their chances during Tirreno-Adriatico, with Jayco-Alula building their team around Dylan Groenwegen (Jayco-AlUla), Mark Cavendish is part of Astana Qazaqstan’s line-up and makes his European debut in Italy, while Fabio Jakobsen bolsters Soudal-QuickSteps hopes of a stage win. Other sprinters to watch include Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ), Girmay, Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and Alberto Dainese (Team DSM).
Meanwhile, Ganna is the clear favourite for Monday's time trial before sprinters and climbers get their chances.
Tirreno-Adriatico traditionally ended with a seafront time trial when it finished on a Wednesday. Now a road stage brings down the curtain next Sunday, with the time trial on the opening day creating the first-time gaps amongst the riders.
It is difficult to see who can beat Ganna on the pan flat out and back 11.5km course along the Tuscan seafront. The Hour Record holder won a similar stage in 2022, beating Remco Evenepoel and Pogacar by 11 and 18 seconds respectively. We can expect a similar result this year and it will be interesting to see how much time the pure climbers like Yates and Mas lose to their GC rivals. A rider like McNulty and Almeida could gain a discrete early advantage.
Tirreno-Adriatico heads south to Follonica on Tuesday for a likely sprint finish, before heading inland to Foligno for a second chance for the sprinters.
The climbs start on stage 3 with the 3.1km 7% climb up to the finish in the centre of Tortoreto. The mountain finish is on stage 5 to Sarnano Sassotetto, with the finish atop a 13.1 km climb that averages at 7.4%.
Last year Pogacar blew apart the field and put a minute into Jonas Vingegaard in the snow and cold on a similar stage to Carpegna but the finish was after a descent from the climb. This year it is a real mountain top finish at Sassotetto.
The climbing continues on stage 6 around Osimo, with 193 km on a shark’s tooth course in the steep hills of Le Marche. They come one after the other and often blow apart the peloton at Tirreno-Adriatico.
The overall winner of Tirreno-Adriatico will be crowned in San Benedetto del Tronto, but after a 154 km road stage that includes some early climbs and then five circuits on the seafront.
The stage and overall winners will have bragging rights as the teams travel north for Milan-San Remo and the midweek Milano-Torino but everyone will be hoping to end Tirreno-Adriatico with far better form than when they started it.
Cyclingnews will have full live coverage of every stage, with full-stage reports, news, interviews and analysis from Stephen Farrand, who will be at the race in Italy.
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