Spring Classics season is well underway, but the major stage races of the spring are here, too, with Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico hosting many of the peloton's GC specialists this week.
Joining those with ambitions of stage race glory are Classics riders ramping up for the cobbles over the next month, as well as sprinters looking for more stage wins to add to their palmarès while also looking ahead to Milan-San Remo.
Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
In the absence of Ayuso, who is heading to Paris-Nice with his new team, Lidl-Trek, the Spaniard's former UAE teammate Isaac del Toro lines up as the main favourite this time around.
The Mexican has already triumphed this season, coming from behind to defeat Antonio Tiberi at his team's home race, and he finished fourth here on his debut two years ago.
Now 22, Del Toro has more experience to draw on and, following 18 victories last season, is already one of the top riders in the world.
There won't be a summit finish on which to make a difference here, however. Instead, Del Toro and the other climbers will look to win the race on the walls of stage 5's Santuario Beato Sante (featuring 9% gradients up to a maximum of 19%) and stage 6's Camerino (featuring an 800m section at 13% and a 600m section at 19%), each of which features three times.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
Mathieu van der Poel has started his season in flying form, living up to the tag of overwhelming favourite at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to win the Belgian season opener with seeming ease. His preparation for the main clutch of Classics continues in Italy at a race that frequently slots into his spring plans.
The Dutchman heads to Tirreno for the fifth time in his career, having taken three stage wins along the way. Last year, he notched a second and third place during the week before going on to win Milan-San Remo, the E3 Saxo Classic, and Paris-Roubaix.
Van der Poel would be happy to add another stage win to his tally this week, but you sense that getting a week of racing kilometres in the legs ahead of those bigger goals to come is the main aim of the week.
Kaden Groves comes along as Alpecin-Premier-Tech option for the sprint stages, while it's also worth keeping an eye on talented 22-year-old Tibor Del Grosso.
Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Two-time race winner Primož Roglič is the only previous champion of Tirreno-Adriatico to line up at the start this year. The Slovenian won the race in 2019 and 2023, and will look to go clear of Moser, Rominger, Nibali, Pogačar et al as the second most successful rider in Tirreno history this week, even if Roger De Vlaeminck's six titles remain well out of reach.
With the addition of Remco Evenepoel to the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe stable over the winter, Roglič has been somewhat out of the limelight and in the shade. He'll be leading Red Bull in Italy, however.
The Slovenian has won almost all there is to win of the prestigious WorldTour stage races at this point, with only the Tour de Suisse missing from his palmarès. He has 11 titles across Tirreno, Paris-Nice, Catalunya, Itzulia, Romandie, and the Dauphiné, and last spring scored a second win in Catalunya.
Roglič makes his 2026 season bow in Lido di Camaiore, so we don't have much to go on in terms of form, but he has a strong team around him, with former Giro d'Italia winner Jai Hindley among the support riders.
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek)
A nailed-on sprint stage on the final day and a tempting, if challenging, run to Magliano de' Marsi on stage 3 is all the sprinters have to make do with at this year's Tirreno-Adriatico – a reduction in the three flat finishes of last year's race.
However, Jonathan Milan, a double stage winner and points champion in each of the previous two editions, is back for the ride this week. With Jasper Philipsen elsewhere and Tim Merlier still awaiting his season start, the Italian lines up as the strongest sprinter on the start list and the favourite to add at least one further stage to his tally.
Milan already has five wins to his name this season, all taken in the Middle East. He'll face stronger sprint tests here, though, with the likes of Paul Magnier, Kaden Groves, and Arnaud De Lie also racing. Still, the 25-year-old starts the race as the outstanding sprint favourite for a reason.
Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious)
Italy has waited some time for a heir to their great GC riders of history, the most recent of which was Vincenzo Nibali. Could Antonio Tiberi fill that role?
The 24-year-old is making progress towards that goal, even if he may not reach the heights of Italian cycling's past heroes. A fifth at the 2024 Giro d'Italia and a third at last year's Tirreno-Adriatico are his standout results to date.
Tiberi started 2026 strongly, too, following up fourth at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana with second behind Del Toro in the UAE. He heads to Tirreno ready to do battle with the Mexican once more on the back of another podium at the Trofeo Laigueglia, and he's clearly a man in form.
Laigueglia saw Tiberi and teammate Santiago Buitrago work Romain Grégoire in the final, with the Colombian soloing home to victory. He and Buitrago will team up once more this week, forming a powerful duo at the head of the Bahrain Victorious selection.
Cristian Scaroni (XDS-Astana)
Italian puncheur Cristian Scaroni has already made our list of riders who could make a breakthrough this spring. The 28-year-old's performance in numerous hilly one-day races last season (four wins and 15 more top-10s) was vital in helping XDS-Astana secure their future in the WorldTour.
Will he make the step up at that WorldTour level races this season? We'll find out shortly, with Scaroni hitting Tirreno en route to Itzulia and the Ardennes Classics. Astana directeur sportif Dmitri Fofonov said after Scaroni's Tour of Oman triumph that he hopes his charge can carry his performances onto that higher level.
He's been one of the top performers to start 2026, in any case, with his Oman win accompanied by another at the Classics Camp de Morvedre, podiums at the Trofeo Serra Tramuntana and Tour des Alpes-Maritimes, and four further top-10 finishes. With plenty of hills on the menu at Tirreno, he should find the terrain to his liking.
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike)
With Jonas Vingegaard leading Visma-Lease a Bike at Paris-Nice, two-time winner of that race Matteo Jorgenson is freed up to lead the Dutch squad at Tirreno, his first participation since 2020.
The American rider will be supporting Vingegaard at the Tour de France in July, but he's free to go for his own chances elsewhere, and he's in good form heading into the week. Last weekend, he made his season debut in France at the Faun-Ardèche and Faun Drôme Classics, finishing fourth at the former and second at the latter.
This spring, Jorgenson is skipping the cobbles and building up to a shot at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and so the hills of Central Italy figure to play a vital role in the lead-in to that main early-season goal.
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost)
Irish racer Ben Healy is another who should thrive on the hilly stages this week. The 25-year-old has made his name in the hills of various races around Europe, including the Tour, Giro, Itzulia, and the Ardennes. A bronze medal at last year's Road Worlds in Rwanda is a further-flung highlight of his career to date.
He returns to Tirreno-Adriatico for the third season in a row, though he hasn't quite had the success here as he had elsewhere. To date, an eighth place on last year's penultimate stage summit finish remains his best at the race, though there are opportunities to improve on that this week.
Healy has had a somewhat quiet start to 2026, with 20th and 44th at Faun-Ardèche and Faun Drôme Classics. He did, however, recently extend his contract with EF through the end of the 2029 season. This year, Tirreno and Itzulia are major stops on the way to the Ardennes.
Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)
Newly-crowned Colombian champion Egan Bernal heads up the Ineos Grenadiers selection for the race after a positive start to his eighth season with the British team. After finishing fifth at the Colombian time trial Championships, he outduelled Iván Sosa for the road title before heading to Europe for a seventh place at the Faun-Ardèche Classic.
After taking several seasons to recover from a career-threatening crash suffered in 2022, Bernal's 2025 campaign marked his best year since 2021, with top 10s at the Giro d'Italia, Volta a Catalunya, Vuelta a Burgos, and Il Lombardia coming with a breakaway mountain stage victory at the Vuelta a España.
Back at Tirreno for the first time since his fourth place in 2021, Bernal will surely be aiming for a similar result in San Benedetto del Tronto, or perhaps even a podium spot.
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Wout van Aert is our second selection from Visma-Lease a Bike, as everyone awaits to see whether the Belgian Classics star can get to the cobbles without suffering yet more bad luck.
Already this season, the 31-year-old has been forced to miss Omloop Het Nieuwsblad through illness, while a late puncture undid his season debut at the Ename Samyn Classic. Tirreno offers another reset, then, and a chance to get a good block of racing in before heading to Milan-San Remo and then the northern cobbles.
Van Aert has enjoyed plenty of success in Italy, with six of his career wins coming there – including San Remo, Strade Bianche, a Giro d'Italia stage, and two at the 2021 Tirreno-Adriatico. Back then, he triumphed in a flat sprint and short time trial, though this time around it's the lumpy stages 2 and 3 that best suit his skills.
Others to watch
While Healy is one to watch for a win over multiple days of the race, Richard Carapaz heads up EF Education-EasyPost's GC charge in Italy. The Ecuadorian is building towards the Giro d'Italia once again, where he'll go up against Jonas Vingegaard in hopes of improving on last year's third place. He hasn't enjoyed quick starts to his European campaigns in recent seasons, however, so it might be a quiet week for Carapaz.
Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) makes his ninth start at Tirreno-Adriatico, and all eyes will be on him for day one, where he'll look to add to his four previous Tirreno time trial victories. The double world time trial champion will be favourite to do just that, though a repeat of his second place overall seems less likely.
Should Primož Roglič flatter to deceive, then home favourite Giulio Pellizzari is the man most likely to step up for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. The 22-year-old is the rising star of Italian cycling after finishing sixth at the Giro and Vuelta last season. He started 2026 with third at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana.
Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) is the man most likely to challenge Jonathan Milan in the bunch sprints this week. The 21-year-old started the season in fine form with two stage wins at the Volta ao Algarve. Teammate Ilan Van Wilder, 11th at the UAE Tour, is the Belgian team's GC hope.
The other big Belgian squad, Lotto-Intermarché, also come armed with a sprint-GC pairing. Arnaud De Lie will hope to improve on a season-high of fifth place so far in the sprints, while Lennert Van Eetvelt scored sixth in the UAE.
Michael Storer heads to Italy as Tudor's GC hopeful. This time last year, the Australian took a stage win en route to finishing fifth at Paris-Nice. He'll be thrilled if he can emulate that result in Italy.
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