Tirreno-Adriatico: Van Avermaet claims overall victory

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Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) edged out world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) by a solitary second to claim Tirreno-Adriatico, while Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) continued his fine start to the season by cruising to victory in the concluding time trial in San Benedetto de Tronto.

In years past, the short time trial along the seafront of Adriatic town has sometimes been anti-climactic in feel, but this time out 10.1km test provided a gripping denouement to a most unusual edition of the Race of the Two Seas.

The cancellation of Sunday’s mountain stage to Monte San Vicino changed the complexion of the race, giving Van Avermaert and Sagan a rare opportunity to vie for overall honours, and they showed they deserved that chance by stealing off the front in the finale at Cepagatti on Monday.

Van Avermaet’s stage win there put him into the blue jersey and he began the final time trial holding a 7-second lead over Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-QuickStep), with Sagan a further second behind in third.

At the midway point on Tuesday, that trio were locked closely together, as Sagan went through the 4.5km mark one second quicker than Van Avermaet and two ahead of Stybar, and it became a matter of staying power over the back end of the course.

Stybar, shoulders already swaying, was the first to yield, and he struggled in the second part of the time trial, and he would slip off the virtual podium and drop all the way to 7th place in the final general classification.

Sagan, wearing the red jersey of points classification leader, hurled himself into the corners in the finale, stomping on the pedals to clock a time of 11:32, good enough for 11th place on the stage.

The Slovak then endured a tense wait by the finish line to see if he had broken the hex and recorded his first victory since winning the World Championships road race in Richmond last autumn.

As Van Avermaet entered the final kilometre, it was obvious that Sagan had stretched out his advantage on the latter part of the course, and by the time he reached the finishing straight, it was clear that, however it fell, the race would be decided by a second or so at most.

Van Avermaet duly stopped the clock in 11:39, just enough to fend off Sagan’s stout challenge and claim an unlikely overall victory at Tirreno-Adriatico. It also continued the Belgian’s recent sequence of wins at the expense of the world champion.

Once the eternal second, Van Avermaet’s last four victories have come ahead of Sagan, as he beat him into second place in Rodez at last year’s Tour de France, at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last month, at Cepagatti in Tirreno-Adriatico on Monday and once more in the final overall standings.

Bob Jungels (Etixx-QuickStep) moved up to third overall after Tuesday’s time trial, having begun the day in fourth place at 21 seconds and an outside threat for overall honours. In the event, the Luxembourger was two seconds slower than Van Avermaet, but it was enough to bump onto the final step of the podium, 23 seconds down.

FDJ’s Sebastien Reichenbach and Thibaut Pinot each produced fine time trials to move up to 4th and 5th on the general classification, just one second behind Jungels, while Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) – so disappointed by the cancellation of Sunday’s stage – salvaged a haul of WorldTour points by placing 6th overall, 29 seconds down.

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Cancellara on song for La Classicissima

The battle for stage honours was decided long before the final starters as Fabian Cancellara scorched around the 10.1km course at an average speed of 54.431kph. That was some 13 seconds quicker than early pace-setter Johan Le Bon (FDJ) and nobody would come any closer to the Swiss for the remainder of the afternoon.

World time trial champion Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and former hour record holder Alex Dowsett (Movistar) placed third and fourth, but they were fully 15 seconds down on the flying Cancellara, who continued his fine start to his final season in the professional ranks.

It was Cancellara’s fourth win of the season, after triumphs at the Challenge Mallorca in January, the Volta ao Algarve time trial last month and Strade Bianche ten days ago, but he looked to downplay the state of his form.

“I don’t think it’s incredible, it’s more like business as usual,” Cancellara said. “The parcours seemed to be faster this year because of the weather, and I just did what I had to do.”

His rivals for Milan-San Remo will have taken notice, though Cancellara was quick to inssit out that the men at the business end of the general classification were bigger favourites for La Primavera than he.

“For me it’s now recovery mode because I hadn’t the best feeling this week,” he said. “You see Van Avermaet, Sagan and Stybar had a nice battle. They’re the guys to watch, the pressure and responsibility goes to them.”

Tirreno-Adriatico is over but the mind games are only beginning. Milan-San Remo awaits.

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