Paris-Nice (st. 4) / Tirreno-Adriatico (st. 1)

Colombian finishes inside reduced GC peloton before crucial 25km ITT on Thursday; sits now just 19" off lead. Blues off to 15th-place start in Tirreno's TTT around Lido di Camaiore.

The breakaway won in Pélussin, end of the longest stage in the 2019 Paris-Nice, as Danish Magnus Cort (AST) triumphed after Wednesday’s 212km from Vichy, including up to four rated ascents in the last quarter of the stage – which shrank the peloton down to just 30 riders. The thirteen-man early escape, coming to the final ascent with just four members -Cort, De Gendt (LTS, 2nd), Ciccone (TFS, 3rd) and De Marchi (CPT, 4th)-, got to the line with nearly fifty seconds over the main group.

The Movistar Team offered a solid impression, barely their best performance of the week, with all members of the group directed by Arrieta / Jaimerena sharing duties to keep Nairo Quintana well protected. The early work by Imanol Erviti and Jürgen Roelandts into the flat was continued later on by some good effort into the ascents by Soler, Anacona and especially Valls and Carretero, who led Quintana quickly back to the bunch after the Boyacá native suffered a mechanical with 40km remaining.

Nairo will get in 14th place overall, 19″ behind new race leader Michal Kwiatkowski (SKY), to a crucial 25.5km ITT in and around Barbentane, featuring the ascent to the Saint-Michel de Frigolet abbey halfway through the course. A key test to gauge the chances by the ‘Cóndor’ to opt to a high GC result in the final weekend.

— 2019 Paris-Nice ITT, start times (Thursday 14th; Colombia: -6h): 14.07 Carretero, 14.11 Erviti, 14.27 Roelandts, 14.28 Soler, 14.54 Valls, 15.13 Anacona, 15.33 Quintana.

Tirreno-Adriatico: 15th place for Blues at opening TTT

Over at their second men’s race of the week, the 2019 Tirreno-Adriatico, the Movistar Team roster led by Max Sciandri and Chente García Acosta took 15th into the 21.5km opening team time trial in Lido di Camaiore, a race starting over wet roads from the morning rain and ending with a pretty dry surface for the last few teams, such as winners Mitchelton-Scott.

1’32” was the finishing gap (23’57”) against the Aussie squad by Rojas, Mas, Oliveira, Arcas, Prades, Sütterlin and Carapaz, now focused -starting with Thursday’s 195km stage two towards Pomarance- on seeking for stage wins.

Cover picture (c): BettiniPhoto.net / Movistar Team