Tirreno Adriatico 2014 – Stage 1
Donoratico – San Vincenzo (TTT)

Welcome to the 49th Tirreno – Adriatico which starts in Donoratico with a Team Time Trial. Despite the clash with other WT event Paris - Nice, this race always manages to draw some big names to here aswell. We are especially looking forward to see some big names in this race. Froome, Quintana, Nibali, Van Garderen, Contador, Porte, Kangert, Talansky ,La Bestia, Caruso, Meyer, Spilak, Kelderman, Van den Broeck, Costa are probably going to make up the top 10 of the GC. Some teams will probably regret sending their lead riders to this race instead of Paris – Nice. The sprinters present aren’t as big names in status and name. Abundi, Hanzen, Nizzolo, Viviani, Guido, Boasson Hagen and Guardini are the biggest names present.



The first stage is, as mentioned before, a team time trial and the favorites are Sky, Giant and Movistar, although we can’t underestimate Belkin, Garmin, Tinkoff-Saxo, Katusha, Quick-Step, BMC and Orica for an win either. TTT are always hard to predict so we’ll just have to wait and see.



Favorites Movistar are the first to stage today. National champions Amador and Costa are pulling the team today to give Quintana are good as possible position. The set the mark at 21’43�.



BMC are next and they too have two national champions in the team this race. Van Garderen and Cataldo are they riders in alternating jerseys, Phinney in a regulair BMC jersey will also be of great help in this TTT. They beat Movistar by 6 seconds. 21’36�.



Katusha also start early today and they are also not short of national jerseys. Chernetskiy and Spilak were their respective national flags. With the whole team being able to perform on the TT, we should keep an eye on them. They come close to BMC’s time but they miss by 1 second. 21’37�



A Team Time Trial and not mentioning Quick-Step is close to a federal offence and they are looking to redeem themselves after the 15th place in the Vuelta’s TTT of last year, which ironically was organized by the same organizers as this race. they set a new best time with 21’34�.



Garmin start the second group and they too have the obligatory national champion on board. Bradley Wiggins is wearing the British national jersey. Although he still believes to be a GC contender he’ll has competition in his own team by youngsters Yates and Talansky. They set a time of 21’41�. good for 4th place currently



Belkin has brought a strong team with Gesink and Kelderman for the climbs, Malori Clement and Boom for the time trials and Bos for the sprints. Potentially able to bring the most points from the race if everything goes well but we all know that everything going well is nearly impossible. They finish in 21’39�, taking the place from Garmin.



Tinkoff-Saxo is here with Contador and Langov, the duo that performed well in the Tour of Oman climbs. Although Langov is likely to assist Contador more than in Oman, he should not be crossed out soon. With a time of 21’43�, tying for 6th place but being given the advantage over Movistar.



Orica – GreenEDGE is hoping on Cameron Meyer, Michal Matthews and Cadel Evans to bring in the points, this race. expecting anything from the others is rather foolish. They also brought no national champions to this race, which is a shame. They seem to be off the pace already with 21’49�. 8th place.



The 2013 champions Team Sky have come with a team that many other WT teams are jealous off, with Froome they have probably the best stage racer and with Boasson Hagen a competent sprinter to boot. With the whole team having time trail capabilities, anything less than a win today is a disappointment. They fail however by only finishing in a time off 21’40� only 5th place.



The name switch from Argos Shimano to Giant Shimano was more symbolical then many people assume. Where Argos was famous for being a sprinters team, Giant barely has any sprinters left. Kittel went to Belkin, Degenkolb went to Astana and Mezgec went to Vacansoleil. Giant is now a climbers team by signing Kangert, Hesjedal, Poels and Yates. They take 5th place with a time of 21’40�.



That means that Omega Pharma Quick-Step takes the first stage of Tirreno – Adriatico and after taking the Vuelta leaders jersey thanks to winning the TTT, Rohan Dennis will take the leaders jersey of the Tirreno as well.

Placing		Team	Time
1		Omega Pharma - QuickStep Cycling Team	21'34"
2		BMC Racing Team	+2"
3		Katusha Team	+3"
4		Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+5"
5		Team Giant - Shimano	+6"
6		Sky Procycling	+6"
7		Astana Pro Team	+6"
8		Garmin - Sharp	+7"
9		Team Tinkoff - Saxo	+9"
10		Movistar Team	+9"