Tirreno-Adriatico: Quintana wins overall

Tirreno-Adriatico is more of a signpost than a destination in the grand scheme of things, and Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) signalled their intentions for the weeks and months ahead as the race drew to a close in San Benedetto del Tronto on Tuesday.

Cancellara made amends for his narrow defeat to Adriano Malori (Movistar) in the opening time trial in Lido di Camaiore last week by scorching around the 10-kilometre course at a speed in excess of 52kph to claim stage victory and lay down a marker of sorts ahead of Milan-San Remo at the weekend.

Quintana’s performance on the day was rather less assured – he finished some 55 seconds down on Cancellara – but he had done the bulk of the heavy lifting on the snowy upper reaches of Monte Terminillo on Sunday, and he sealed final overall victory here, 19 seconds clear of Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) and 31 ahead of his fellow countryman Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep).

The short time trial along the seafront at San Benedetto del Tronto has become the default finale for Tirreno-Adriatico in recent years, and it was the third time that Cancellara has emerged victorious in the short test on the Adriatic Coast, following his triumphs in 2011 and 2012. The Swiss rider beat Malori by four seconds, while Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) took third, a further five seconds back.

“I think I made up for the mistakes from the prologue. I just gave it all in. I’m really happy and satisfied, not just with the race but also with the bigger picture and the big races in the next weekends,” Cancellara said.

Cancellara began his time trial just as Malori was bringing his effort to a close with the provisional quickest time, and the pair were evenly matched through the opening section, with Malori a second up at the intermediate time check. On the back end of the course, however, Cancellara took flight.

Though less fluid and comfortable, perhaps, than during his heyday as a time triallist between 2006 and 2010, Cancellara showed that he is not lacking in raw power ahead of the spring classics as he put five seconds into Malori in the closing five kilometres to stop the clock in 11:23, a time that was never remotely threatened for the remainder of the afternoon.

“I’ll think about Milan-San Remo from Friday, when we’ll see what the weather is going to be like, because that’s an important factor,” Cancellara said. “And in any case, from now on, every weekend is important for me.”

Quintana does enough

Carrying a buffer of 39 seconds into the time trial, the consensus was that Quintana’s blue jersey would be similarly out of reach and so it proved, even if his performance over the 10km course was a little short of what he will aim to produce in Utrecht on the opening day of the Tour de France.

The Colombian had the added luxury, however, of being updated on the progress of Mollema, Uran et al, and would have been particularly mindful not to take any unnecessary risks. He carried the blue jersey safely across the line in 51st place, 55 seconds down on Cancellara, enough to seal overall victory.

If Quintana’s dominance at the weekend had removed much of the suspense, the battle for the podium places promised to be keenly fought. Mollema began the day just nine seconds clear of Uran, and given their respective recent time trialling pedigree, many anticipated that the Dutchman would cede the second step of the podium.

Surprisingly, however, Mollema reached the time check ahead of Uran and although he was visibly struggling to keep the gear turning over in the closing kilometre, he reached the finish four seconds up on the Colombian’s time to secure second place overall.

Uran’s low-key showing (25th at 38 seconds) almost cost him a spot on the podium as Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) offered a full demonstration of his improvements against the watch, as the Frenchman delivered an assured ride to finish inside the top 20 (19th at 33 seconds).

Although Pinot fell just four seconds shy of dislodging Uran from the podium, he had the consolation of holding off Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and defending fourth place overall. Contador was the best of the general classification riders on the day, finishing 15th at 31 seconds, though his next major time trial – the mammoth 55km test at Valdobbiadene at the Giro d’Italia – will be a rather different animal.

Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) brought the curtain down on his non-descript Tirreno-Adriatico by completing the time trial in 17th place, and in the morning newspapers he placated home anxieties by confirming that, despite his misgivings about the parcours, he will indeed be on the start line at Milan-San Remo on Sunday.

Another man with designs on Milan-San Remo is Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) and he took his emphasis on La Classicissima to extremes on Tuesday afternoon. Eager to save his legs for the Cipressa and Poggio, Sagan soft-pedalled around the course to clock the slowest time of the day, some 2:59 down on Cancellara, and risked finishing outside the time limit. The Slovak did just enough, however, to stay in the race and seal victory in the points classification.

Results

General Classification

Points Classification

Mountains Classification

Best Young Rider

Teams classification