Tirreno-Adriatico: Pascal Ackermann wins stage 1

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Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) won the opening stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in a crash-marred finale in Lido di Camaiore. 

Magnus Cort (EF Pro Cycling) started the sprint with 200 metres to go with Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) storming passed him toward the line with what looked like a sure victory only to be passed by Ackermann in a bike throw at the finish line. 

Gaviria was forced to settle for second and Cort was third as Ackermann took both the stage win and the overall race lead.

“I can say I’m really happy to have finally won - the last weeks weren’t that lucky,” Ackermann said following the stage. “My shape was good but we never found the right timing. I have to say thanks to my teammates because they really trusted me. I was sick all week and was only one time on the bike the last six days. I’m really happy about my sprint - I have to see it again because it felt amazing. Especially with the position I came from. I just found the right gap on the right side, it wasn’t that big but it was enough.”

A crash in the middle of the field caused several riders to go down inside the closing 3km but the main sprinters continued to battle for the stage win in a blistering pace toward the finish line. 

Adrien Petit (Total Direct Energie) launched a final flyer with 700 metres to go that forced UAE Team Emirates to ramp up their lead-out train for Gaviria, and although they caught Petit a couple hundred metres later, it was Cort who launch his bid for victory first in the sprint. 

Gaviria responded immediately, caught and passed the Dane, and looked to be the certain victor on the day, but Ackermann was only beginning to wind up his sprint further back. He found an small opening on the right side of the road and squeezed himself between Gaviria and the barriers, and then threw his bike at the line to take the stage win.

How it unfolded

The opening stage of Tirreno-Adriatico offered the field a shorter stage at 133km that started and finished in Lido di Camaiore. The peloton covered three opening loops of 27km each followed by two 18.3km finishing circuits in what was expected to be a bunch sprint back in Lido di Camaiore. 

The opening circuit included a climb at Pitoro at 17km, 44km and 71km marks during the race. The climb was relatively tame at 3.9km in length with an average grade of 5.1 per cent, which made it the only attraction of the stage for an attempted breakaway.

It was a high-calibre field with the likes of Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas leading the Ineos Grenadiers, who were not selected to race at the Tour de France. Thomas will instead lead the team at the Giro d’Italia and Froome will lead the team at the Vuelta a España. The eight-day race also features Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix). 

Seven riders cleared the field early in the race with Nathan Haas (Cofidis Solutions Credits) picking up enough mountain points to move into the lead of the mountains classification. The move fragmented on the descent of Pitoro on the second lap with Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Paul Martens (Jumbo-Visma) pushing forward in a two-man pursuit for the finish line.

The pair descended off the Pitoro ascent for the third time and headed back toward Camaiore with a gap that was reduced to a minute and a half. Their position ahead of the field seemed precarious, at best, as they headed toward the day’s only sprint for a time bonus located on the shorter finish circuits in Pietrasanta at the 107.5km mark.

Bora-Hansgrohe, Team Sunweb, Deceuninck-QuickStep and UAE Team Emirates led the peloton at a quick pace as they reached the final circuits in an attempt to set up their respective sprinters, Ackermann, Michael Matthews, Davide Ballerini and Gaviria, but also in the hunt for an opening stage win was Van der Poel and his Alpecin-Fenix team.

Pellaud and Martens continued working well together but their gap was slashed to 45 seconds with roughly 35km remaining in the race and at the start of the first of two final circuits. The pair picked up the bonus seconds for first and second place, with Matthews taking the last bonus second from the bunch as they crossed the line 30 seconds later.

The sprinters’ teams continued to up the pace heading into the final lap, picking up the two breakaway riders on the bell lap with 18km remaining. Bardiani-CSF moved forward along with NTT Pro Cycling and Israel Start-up Nation, when an attack came from Astana’s Manuele Boaro that caused some disruption among the field in the final 10km. The move was short-lived but it caused the field to react, speed up and teams began their final lead-out formations inside 5km of the finish line.

Late arrivals to the fore inside the final 3km were Alpecin-Fenix, Cofidis, Trek-Segafredo, EF Pro Cycling, and Bahrain McLaren as Ineos led the field into the last 2km. EF Pro Cycling took over the front as a crash took down several riders and caused chaos in the field within in the last kilometre.

Petite took advantage of the disarray and launched an attack with 700 metres to go, but it didn’t last long as UAE Team Emirates keep their focus on the final sprint. Gaviria looked strongest in the dash to the line only to be surprised by a faster sprinter on the right from Ackermann.

Tirreno-Adriatico continues with stage 2’s 201km race from Camaiore to Follonica on Tuesday.