Gerdemann grabs first stage at Tirreno-Adriatico

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Team Milram continued to reverse its fortunes as Linus Gerdemann delivered a stunning victory in the first stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. After going winless the entire half of last season, the German slipped away with a group over the top of the climb with four kilometres to go and then overpowered Spaniard Pablo Lastras (Caisse d'Epargne) and Saxo Bank's Matti Breschel to claim the victory.

It was Gerdemann's second win of the year following a similar upset in the Trofeo Inca in Mallorca in February. With the time bonus he becomes the first leader of the race with a six second advantage over Lastras.

"I don’t care if it's sunny or raining. A victory is a victory and I'm just happy," Gerdemann said in the winner's press conference after a cold and wet 148km stage to Rosignano Solvay.

"Actually I didn’t expect that much because in the group of four guys, there was Matti Breschel and Luca Paolini who are quite fast in the sprint. Paolini looked strong in the last kilometre, the peloton was not far away, so I didn't expect that much. I was relaxed and I was surprised that I beat these guys in the sprint."

Gerdemann took the first blue overall leader's jersey and confirmed he is targeting overall victory at Tirreno-Adriatico.

"I'm quite motivated. At my last race, the Ruta del Sol, I didn't have much luck but I felt strong. When the climbs aren't that long, then it's a bit more for explosive riders and perhaps now I'm an explosive rider. Yeah I'd like to win Tirreno-Adriatico. It's one of the big races of the spring and our whole team was motivated. We're focused on getting a good result here."

Misery loves company

With much of the Mediterranean coast socked in by a rare March blizzard, the riders were lucky that the first stage of Tirreno-Adriatico even got underway.

While riders of Paris-Nice may have been complaining about the coating of snow that greeted them in Limoges, in Livorno the riders of Tirreno-Adriatico faced something even worse: an icy cold rain which would punish them throughout the stage.

The mood was also dampened by the news that Androni-Giocattoli's Massimo Giunti had been removed from the race following a positive test for EPO earlier this year.

It was a day for the hard men who are immune to adverse weather, and Ukrainian Dmytro Grabovskyy was the one man who seemed impervious to anything mother nature could throw at him.

The ISD-Neri man escaped early in the 148km stage to Risignano Solvay and built up a lead of over five minutes ahead of the Garmin-Transitions and Liquigas-Doimo led peloton.

A crash caused a split in the peloton with 40km to go, making a brief moment of panic for the Acqua & Sapone team who led the push to bring the two groups back together. The front group seemed to ease slightly allowing the peloton to regroup as it slowly whittled away at Grabovskyy's lead.

With 25km to go, the ISD man enjoyed just under a four minute lead over the soggy bunch, his cheeks bright red from the frigid cold and the effort.

The pace of the chasing bunch picked up as they neared the climb to Rosignano Marittimo which would be traversed twice in the closing laps, with the Garmin-Transitions and BMC teams holding most of the front positions. Still, Grabovskyy powered on as Mario Cipollini, who provided his team with bikes, watched from the heated comfort of the press room.

The Ukrainian's legs must have been burning as he hit the climb with its brief section of 9%, yet he maintained a smooth, even tempo despite the furious chase behind that had halved his lead to just under two minutes.

The climb wasn't so favorable for Mark Cavendish, who came detached from the peloton and had to chase just as Liquigas and Sky were driving the pace at the front.

At the top of the climb a small group countered an attack by Milram's Fabian Wegmann and opened up a small gap, but on the descent the bunch was hot on their heels. Colnago-CSF Inox rider Federico Canuti kept going and pulled away two more riders as the peloton had Grabovskyy in its sights.

The warmth of the peloton beckoned the ISD man, and soon he was enveloped by the group as they streamed back out onto the course for another lap around the finishing circuit.

Action heats up in closing kilometres

Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was quick to counter-attack on the twisty descent as the Team Sky-led group took the turns a bit more gingerly than the Spaniard.

As he entered the final lap, Urtasun was joined by Milram's Niki Terpstra, and the pair managed to wrest a few seconds' lead over the bunch. Meanwhile, well behind the peloton, Mark Cavendish had given up even trying to regain the peloton, knowing he faced the climb one more time in the final 10km.

Terpstra left his companion behind as the road began to tilt upward, but his time was limited as Liquigas led the chase behind the attack of Fabio Taborre (Androni Giocattoli). The Italian caught Terpstra and left him behind but it wasn't for long as the gap was practically non-existent.

As Tom Boonen (Quick Step) made his way back into position after getting shuffled to the back on the climb, an attack from Sky's Juan Antonio Flecha was countered by Saxo Bank's Matti Breschel, together with Acqua & Sapone's Luca Paolini, Gerdemann and Lastras with 4km to go.

Despite the furious chase from Liquigas on the descent, the four men pulled out a 10 second advantage, and held just metres heading into the sprint.

Lastras opened up as the peloton began to make contact with the group, but Gerdemann found some extra strength and snuck past the Spaniard to claim his second win of the season.