Tirreno-Adriatico stage 1 - How it happened

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the opening stage at Tirreno-Adriatico.

The action is set to get underway in just a few moments.

The weather conditions are awful in Lido di Camaiore...

Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) gets us underway in the rain.

Big names setting off early on include Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).

Van Aert starts his run!

Sprinters including Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Alberto Dainese (Team DSM), and Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) are also among the early runners today.

Wout van Aert hasn't been off the podium at an individual time trial since the Tokyo Olympics. How he fares today should depend quite a bit on whether the rain clears up for the starters later on.

Today's time trial is run on the same coastal road in Lido di Camaiore as last year's opening time trial, though here the stage is 2.4km shorter.

So far, Nico Denz (Bora-Hansgrohe) is the quickest at the checkpoint with a time of 6:05 (49.315kph).

Van Aert is three seconds back.

Denz's checkpoint time would be good for 10th at last year's opening stage.

Dylan Groenewegen crosses the finish line with a time of 14:24 (47.917kph).

Simmons goes 30 seconds quicker with a time of 13:54 (49.640kph).

Denz is even quicker with a time of 13:37 (50.673kph).

Last year there was a strong headwind on the way out, turning into a tailwind on the way back. Ganna went 3.5kph quicker in the second half.

This time around it looks like the speed differences are nowhere near as pronounced. Denz went 1.3kph quicker in the second half here.

Van Aert takes second behind Denz. The Belgian was five seconds slower over the 11.5km course.

Van Aert during his run.

So far it's Denz, Van Aert and Simmons at the top of the standings.

Riders look to be suddenly speeding up at the first checkpoint. Bruno Armirail (5:40) and Laurens De Plus (5:44) are over 20 seconds up on Denz there.

Julien Simon crossed the checkpoint in between them. The TotalEnergies rider is third quickest so far at 5:57.

Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) is quickest at the finish with a time of 13:25 (51.429kph).

Alessandro De Marchi (Israel-Premier Tech) has matched Armirail's time at the checkpoint.

French TT champion Bruno Armirail out on course.

Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) is out on course now. Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) sets off shortly.

De Marchi fourth at the finish, 18 seconds down on Armirail.

Pidcock sets off now.

There are puddles all over the road in Lido di Camaiore, including some massive ones along the gutters.

The rain is still falling, though perhaps not as strongly as before.

Fran Miholjevic (13:39) and Florian Stork (13:37) set a pair of decent times to go fourth and third.

Pidcock races towards the midpoint of the stage and it looks as though the rain is lighter at the point of the course furthest away from the start/finish area.

Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), Attila Valter (Jumbo-Visma), and Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën) are among the next batch of riders to head out.

Pidcock rounds the hairpin midway through the course and it looks like there's no rain at all there.

5:59 for Pidcock puts him seventh quickest.

Nobody else troubling the top of the timing sheets at the moment.

14:23 for Cavendish, just under a minute down on Armirail.

Valter, Nizzolo, Buitrago next up to start their efforts.

It's still raining at the finish as Davide Ballerini (Soudal-QuickStep) races across the line.

13:54 for Pidcock at the finish, 29 seconds down on Armirail.

Tom Pidcock during his ride.

Van Avermaet, Amador, Sinkeldam now starting.

George Bennett and Michał Kwiatkowski are heading down the start ramp soon.

Armirail's time at the top of standings looks to be secure for a little while yet. No other top contenders set to start among the next batch of riders.

Tom Skujins has put in a surprisingly good time at the finish. The Latvian has gone second quickest at 13:35!

A very good time from Buitrago puts him fifth with a time of 13:38.

The top five so far is:

Armirail, 13:25
Skujins, 13:35
Denz, 13:37
Stork, 13:37
Buitrago, 13:38

A good time for Andrey Amador, 11th best at 21 seconds.

Kwiatkowski took fourth at the checkpoint with a time of 5:44. He's speeding towards the finish line now.

Skujins has only once finished inside the top 30 of a WorldTour time trial. He's second so far today.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad champion Dylan van Baarle (Jumbo-Visma) starts his ride. The rain is falling harder at the start again now.

Now Kwiatkowski races towards the line.

The Pole goes second! 13:30 at five seconds down on Armirail.

Keukeleire, Philipsen, Formolo, Oss, Sheffield among the next batch of riders to set off.

It's a very wet day in the saddle today.

Van Baarle finishes his effort with a time of 13:38 to go seventh quickest.

Around 80 riders left to run.

Astana's Gleb Syritsa is quickest at the checkpoint!

The 22-year-old is reportedly two seconds up on Armirail.

Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) passes the checkpoint. He's three seconds up on Syritsa.

A 13:28 for Syritsa at the finish! The Russian goes second at just three seconds down on Armirail.

Sheffield will be coming home in around five minutes – can he beat Armirail?

Now hail is falling at the start... Grim stuff as Mads Würtz Schmidt (Israel-Premier Tech) sets off.

Magnus Sheffield is flying! He's just passed the 12:30 mark with 500 metres to go...

That is a dominant ride by Sheffield. 12:59 at the finish line a full 26 seconds up on Armirail.

Hindley, Benoot, O'Connor, Adam Yates, Julian Alaphilippe among this batch of riders either already out on course of shortly heading out.

Jai Hindley has crossed the line and slotted into second place! A great ride by the Australian with a time of 13:19.

Adam Yates, Julian Alaphilippe, Jake Stewart, Peter Sagan, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Biniam Girmay are all setting off in the next 10 minutes.

Now the rain is falling very hard at the start. It's much lighter at the checkpoint, where Yates passes through at 13 seconds down.

Gleb Syritsa during his powerful effort earlier on.

Ben O'Connor with a good ride to finish third, just a second down on Hindley.

We're now into the last 45 minutes of the time trial.

24th place for Adam Yates, 47 seconds down on Sheffield.

Magnus Sheffield has set to the pace so far.

Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) sets off to start his ride.

Aleksandr Vlasov also out on course.

Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) slots in at a second down on O'Connor and two down on Hindley.

19th at the line for Julian Alaphilippe as Jake Stewart goes sixth, just fractions of a second down on Geoghegan Hart.

Roglič at the checkpoint. He's 14th places at 10 seconds down.

Roglič was a second slower than Vlasov at the checkpoint.

A 13:17 for Nelson Oliveira takes him up to second place.

Vlasov and Roglič coming in soon.

A 13:18 for Vlasov puts him just ahead of Hindley and just behind Oliveira.

Roglič finishes with a time of 13:17. It's all very close behind Sheffield!

Second to eighth place covered by just four seconds!

Sheffield aside, the top 10 riders are just six seconds apart currently.

Roglič on the way to provisional third place.

Brandon McNulty has gone second at the checkpoint, just a second down.

McNulty, Madouas, Arensman out on course at the moment. Under 30 men left to start their rides.

Enric Mas has just set off. Kelderman, Woods, Landa are all coming up.

Second place for McNulty at the line! He's the closest to Sheffield so far, just three seconds down.

Meanwhile, Michael Hepburn (Jayco-AlUla) is quickest at the checkpoint by one second!

Now Thymen Arensman is heading to the finish.

It's a quick one for the Dutchman, who takes third at 13:07.

Now to wait and see how Hepburn does at the finish.

Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) edges out Hepburn at the checkpoint. Another second shaved off.

Hepburn enters the final kilometre...

Sheffield watches on as the Australian heads for the finish.

Sheffield hangs on! Hepburn goes second at just two seconds down.

Hugh Carthy and Mathieu van der Poel set off. Lutsenko, Almeida, Pinot, Ganna still left to run!

German TT champion Kämna is our next man to keep an eye on.

Enric Mas kicks off his race with a time of 13:28.

Kämna heads to the finish just behind Mas...

And he's done it! 12:56 for the German, who now takes over the hot seat from Sheffield.

Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma) finishes 20 seconds down in sixth place.

Meanwhile, Van der Poel has four seconds to make up from the checkpoint.

And now Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) sets off as he looks to add to his 2020 and 2022 TT wins at this race.

13:43 for Mikel Landa at the line. 26 seconds down on Roglič, so not a total disaster.

DSM's Andreas Leknessund races to the finish and a sixth place so far with a time of 13:09.

Barguil, Cosnefroy, Carthy, Van der Poel, Lutsenko next to finish.

Corratec's Valerio Conti is the last man down the ramp to start his time trial.

Van der Poel hits the final 2km of his ride.

Ganna charges towards the checkpoint on what looks like a largely dry road now.

13:35 for Hugh Carthy at the line, good for 24th so far.

Ganna comes to the checkpoint and he has blown everyone away.

5:24 for Ganna, 10 seconds ahead of the rest...

Van der Poel finishes in 10th at 22 seconds.

Eighth for Lutsenko at 20 seconds.

It looks like only Filippo Ganna will be able to make an impact at the very top of the standings now...

João Almeida is putting in a good time, though. He's racing into the final kilometre.

The Portuguese rider doesn't beat Kämna's time, though. He slots in sixth place at 13 seconds.

Mathieu van der Poel during his effort.

Pinot, Cras, Ganna, Fetter, Bystrøm, and Conti left to finish.

Ganna heads into the final kilometre with a time of 11:20 and counting.

He looks certain to take the win today.

12:28 for Ganna! That's 28 seconds up on Kämna.

A 55.3kph average speed!

No equals to this man today...

That win is the 25th in a time trial of prologue of Ganna's career and his first of 2023.

Read our race report here

Ganna during his dominant ride today.

Here's what Ganna said after his win.

"We did an amazing performance today. I'm really happy for me and the team. After Strade with Tom, we continue in a good shape altogether. It's good for the morale. We'll see tomorrow with the stages coming and we'll enjoy the race.

"I just think to ride as fast as possible. Two days ago I didn't know what my performance today could be, but I believe to do the maximum possible for me and for the Italian people.

"It's really nice because after many many podiums, now the victory arriving is very important for me. I think also for the morale and for the Classics it can be a special motivation in my head.

"I think that [Sheffield] did an amazing performance and he's in amazingly good shape. For sure, we have one of the best teams here to do something good."

Ganna in the blue leader's jersey after his opening stage victory.

The difference between the Italian and Kämna in second was the same as the difference between Kämna and 19th placed Bruno Armiral...

We'll have news and reaction coming in from Lido di Camaiore today from our man on the ground, Stephen Farrand.

Stage 2 over in Paris-Nice has just finished. Check out our report on the action here.

A look at Ganna's final kilometre during his stage 1 victory.

Later on we'll have news from stage winner Filippo Ganna, third-placed Magnus Sheffield on his ride, and Ineos deputy principal Rod Ellingworth on Strade Bianche winner Tom Pidcock.