Male Team 07 - 13 Mar
Tirreno-Adriatico
992 Kilometers 7 Stages
The 53rd edition of Tirreno-Adriatico has been conceived by organisers RCS Sport as a tribute to the memory of the late Michele Scarponi, who will (hopefully) see one of the stages finish in his home town, Filottrano (Sunday 11th March). The ‘Race of the Two Seas’ has otherwise chosen to repeat a successful formula with standard, very much known routes, including two TTs, sprinters’ stages, routes which require lots of stamina and tough courses suited to climbers and classics riders.
The two time trials are exactly the same ones presented in the 2017 race: the competition will start with a 21.5km TTT in Lido di Camaiore (Wednesday 7th), over long straights, and finish with a 10km ITT in San Benedetto del Tronto (Tuesday 13th), whose completely flat terrain, perfect for specialists, usually sees GC riders more than half a minute apart in the day’s classification.
Two are the routes suitable for sprinters: stage two in Follonica (Thursday 8th), after 167km with only one short ascent right from the start, and stage six to Fano (Monday 12th), end of another short day (153km) with some steep hills in the beginning. Between them will be the three decisive stages: day three to Trevi (239km, Friday 9th), including two climbs of the ‘muro’ of Santo Tommaso -final km at 11.5%; slopes up to 20%-; Filottrano on stage five, with three ascents (800m, 11.8%) and a 5% uphill finish to close things up; and the Queen stage of Sassotetto (Saturday 10th), 11km of slopes averaging just over 7%.