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Tirreno - Adriatico Discussion
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 26-10-2025 17:36
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Directeur Sportif
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 Tirreno-Adriatico
This year its Tirreno-Adriatico’s turn to the be the mountainous stage race in the triple clash. So last year’s winner, Vansevenant, won’t be relevant. Instead, we could view the 2023 winner,  Kudus, as the defending champion. He is back to defend his crown in what we will be a recreation of the duel from last year’s Tour de France as  Lecuisinier is also here. Mostly like it will be closer this time as Evonik probably isn’t going to let Kudus in the break again.
The course provides a worthy venue for the rematch with 3 big summit finishes on stages 4,5 and 7. The riders will also need their climbing legs for a tough hilly stage into Castelraimondo on Stage 3. All four of those stages are over 195k with 3 and 7 being 225k so stamina could be an important factor. In addition to the climbing, there is a 21k flat team time trial on stage 6 and a 5.4k prologue. Finally, the sprinters get one chance on stage 2.
Kudus and Lecuisinier aren’t the only big name climbers here, the field is packed with quality and includes 14 80+ climbers altogether.  Pogacar is a clear number 3 and might hope to challenge the big two if things go his way. Australian veterans  Morton, and  Haig are joined by up and comers  McNulty and  Sivakov in the next tier. If stamina has a big impact then  Latour could be looking at making a big splash for his new team.
| Rider | FL | MT | HI | TT | RS | ST | | Lecuisinier | 71 | 85 | 75 | 78 | 80 | 78 | | Kudus | 69 | 85 | 78 | 72 | 77 | 79 | | Pogacar | 70 | 83 | 76 | 76 | 80 | 79 | | Morton | 69 | 83 | 75 | 72 | 77 | 78 | | Haig | 72 | 83 | 74 | 77 | 75 | 76 | | McNulty | 72 | 82 | 74 | 77 | 77 | 75 | | Sivakov | 69 | 82 | 72 | 76 | 77 | 79 |  Carthy | 71 | 81 | 75 | 67 | 76 | 77 | | Latour | 69 | 81 | 75 | 70 | 78 | 80 |  Oomen | 71 | 81 | 75 | 74 | 77 | 78 |  Aular | 68 | 81 | 72 | 70 | 75 | 76 |  Giannoutsos | 68 | 80 | 72 | 72 | 78 | 76 |  Wellens | 70 | 80 | 73 | 70 | 77 | 76 |  Olivier | 71 | 80 | 75 | 68 | 79 | 75 |
Before the climbers come to the forefront there are a couple of stages for other rider types. First the prologue.
The race attracts a good selection from the peloton’s vast supply of top quality TT riders. But one man is still the heavy favorite.  Andersen already has wins in Portugal and Qatar, this could be a third.
| Rider | FL | TT | PR | | Andersen | 81 | 70 | 83 | | Ganna | 76 | 80 | 82 | | Leung | 73 | 78 | 82 | | Herregodts | 73 | 79 | 80 |  Larsen | 77 | 74 | 80 |  Würtz | 77 | 83 | 79 | | Zakarin | 74 | 79 | 79 | | Matsuda | 76 | 77 | 79 | | Razumov | 74 | 79 | 79 | | Sajnok | 74 | 78 | 79 | | Erdenebat | 75 | 78 | 79 | | Tanfield | 73 | 79 | 79 | | Groselj | 78 | 77 | 79 | | Gonzalez Salas | 69 | 79 | 79 | | Goldstein | 74 | 79 | 79 |
After the prologue comes the one chance for the sprinters. With just one stage to contest the field is pretty limited. Andersen is among the top 10. The most likely winners seem to be Lutsyshyn and  Gross. Larsen, with his strong prologue could have a shot at the leader’s jersey if he can get a top 3.
| Rider | FL | SP | AC | PR | | Lutsyshyn | 70 | 79 | 80 | 70 | | Gross | 74 | 79 | 79 | 64 | | Mareczko | 74 | 78 | 77 | 75 | | Prasad | 74 | 78 | 79 | 68 |  Van der Kooij | 73 | 78 | 77 | 66 | | Scott | 72 | 78 | 78 | 57 | | Larsen | 77 | 77 | 76 | 80 | | Forssell | 69 | 77 | 77 | 78 | | Hopkins | 70 | 77 | 77 | 75 | | Andersen | 81 | 76 | 74 | 83 | | Alben | 75 | 75 | 77 | 71 |
The parcours also yields one chance for the puncheurs on Stage 3 although it is likely the GC guys will also be at the forefront and the top puncheurs will be targeting Paris-Nice. Formolo,  Mas and Van Poucke are guys who might be targeting this stage.
| Rider | FL | MT | HI | RS | ST | | Kanerva | 69 | 64 | 79 | 69 | 75 | | Formolo | 71 | 78 | 79 | 75 | 75 | | Kudus | 69 | 85 | 78 | 77 | 79 | | Mas | 69 | 78 | 77 | 74 | 74 | | Van Poucke | 68 | 77 | 77 | 72 | 69 |  Seigle | 68 | 72 | 77 | 73 | 73 | | Roson | 67 | 78 | 76 | 70 | 67 |
Finally, there is the TTT, at just 21k it shouldn’t have a huge impact on the overall but there are still plenty of teams with a serious squad.
Not surprisingly EA has the best squad across all 3 measures but their focus is mainly the stage as with Wirtgen not here they don’t have a top GC contender. They also send only 7 riders which could hurt.
Among the GC contenders Sivakov and McNulty have the best teams, with the Russians having the edge. Those two will also be the biggest threats to EA for the stage win. Cedevita are also strong although a step below the other two. Just below them are UBS and Evonik, who are very similar, so the battle between the top 2 probably won’t be decided in the TTT.
Haig and Sony – Force India have a few strong riders but their team lacks depth so they will have to hope that doesn’t slow them down. The biggest loser in GC terms will likely be Morton, with cycleYorkshire’s squad being unusually weak this year.
| Top 3 | Top 5 | All | | EA Vesuvio | 80.0 | 79.2 | 78.6 | | Tinkoff Team - La Datcha | 79.0 | 78.4 | 76.9 | | King Power | 78.3 | 77.6 | 76.1 | | Polar | 79.0 | 78.4 | 76.0 | | ELCO - ABEA | 77.0 | 76.4 | 75.3 | | Los Pollos Hermanos | 78.7 | 77.4 | 75.3 | | Cedevita | 76.7 | 76.2 | 75.0 | | Jura GIANTS | 77.0 | 76.2 | 75.0 | | Team UBS | 77.0 | 76.0 | 74.6 | | Evonik - ELKO | 78.0 | 76.0 | 74.0 | | Team Puma - SAP | 77.3 | 76.4 | 73.8 | | Gazelle | 75.7 | 74.4 | 73.4 | | Indosat Ooredoo | 75.7 | 75.2 | 73.4 | | Fastned | 77.3 | 76.4 | 73.1 | | Sony - Force India | 77.0 | 76.2 | 72.4 | | Xero Racing | 76.0 | 74.2 | 71.9 | | Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam | 77.3 | 76.6 | 71.6 | | Carlsberg - Danske Bank | 76.0 | 74.2 | 71.4 | | cycleYorkshire | 74.3 | 72.6 | 68.3 | | Grieg-Maersk | 71.0 | 69.6 | 66.9 | | Aker - MOT | 69.7 | 68.2 | 66.1 | | Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | 71.3 | 68.8 | 65.4 | | Rabobank | 69.7 | 66.6 | 64.1 | | Colombini Kometa | 72.0 | 68.0 | 64.0 |
Overall, 187 riders from 24 teams on the startlist. Gjensidige and Colombini Kometa represent the PCT.
Startlist
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| SotD |
Posted on 26-10-2025 17:48
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World Champion
Posts: 12631
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Interesting to see if Giannoutsos Can land close to a top 10 here. We brought a fairly strong TTT setup here. I’m slightly worried that Giannoutsos can’t keep up, but we had to do what we could to help him. With Ioannidis and Kiriakidis here we would likely have had the 2nd strongest TTT lineup. I hope having them in France is the right call.
No sprinters here is probably a mistake, but couldn’t fit Koumpetsos with his racedays unfortunately.
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 26-10-2025 18:12
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3219
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Holy startlist batman, thanks for the preview
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| Ollfardh |
Posted on 26-10-2025 18:24
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15024
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How odd to see Oomen as a borderline top 10 favourite. But that's exactly what we need from him here!
Changed my sig, this was getting absurd.
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| ember |
Posted on 26-10-2025 19:06
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Team Leader
Posts: 7057
Joined: 27-03-2008
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Monster startlist! 
Fingers crossed Kragh can claim the prologue. Otter than that, we cant’t expect much. |
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| knockout |
Posted on 26-10-2025 19:11
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8235
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One of the biggest startlists we've seen in recent times. Lecuisinier is here so of course im hoping for the victory but its not gonna be easy at all. Imo the route suits Kudus a bit more but Lecuisinier has better team support making this almost a coin flip for me.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 26-10-2025 19:15
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World Champion
Posts: 13560
Joined: 05-08-2008
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That's a stacked starlist but surely the national jersey will give Formolo the boost needed to perform here.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 05-12-2025 14:22
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| Bushwackers |
Posted on 26-10-2025 19:24
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Sprinter
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This should be a lot of fun to follow. Thanks for the preview and best of luck to the other contenders.
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 26-10-2025 23:26
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4615
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Fuck me I didn’t expect Tirreno to be this stacked! Should make for a very fun and interesting race to follow. We love Latour for those sweet, sweet energy stays so hopefully with the long punishing stages they have a proper impact. First race for him in our colours too, hope he can land himself somewhere nicely in the top-10 and maybe if he does happen to be 10-20th at some stage he can go for a stage win.
Thanks for the preview! Hard to look past Lecuisinier, but Kudus on his new team will push him all the way.
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| Bikex |
Posted on 27-10-2025 00:24
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Wow everyone is here. Let's see if our TTT setup can give McNulty a little bit of an edge over similar strong riders.
Other than that I have hopes for the prologue, maybe double trouble Ganna and Leung can make it difficult for SKA this time.  |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 27-10-2025 04:29
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Tour de France Champion
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This race was too much climbing to pass up for anyone but Carthy unfortunately. Field is very stacked as expected though, and we have a weak TTT team as always. Hopefully the gang can make this a worthwhile race for us!
Thanks for the preview!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 27-10-2025 05:34
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Directeur Sportif
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First goal race fpr us and first outing for Haig this season! We're hoping to get that top 5 and some stage results, as the Top 3 goal looks very unlikely. The TTT unit is decent without being exceptional so let's hope they can keep Haig in touch. Surprised to see Alben mentioned at all, he's just here to get a feel for what sprint leadership looks like!
Thanks for the preview
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| redordead |
Posted on 27-10-2025 06:58
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Team Leader
Posts: 5511
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Big planning mistake as that's our win goal cooked. We have to aim for that 3rd place, but given how weak our TTT is and our squad in general this race has disaster written all over it.
Thanks for the preview.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| roturn |
Posted on 27-10-2025 07:07
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Let`s see what Wellens can do here. The startlist is the expected beast field, so not sending Phinney here for rd issues might have been a good decision as despite his decent skills for that profile, he would still struggle a lot against all the younger riders.
From the startlist a top15 would be all I can hope for. Obviously I`d like to aim a bit higher to reach the top10. Tough one and low scoring might continue to slowly have an early relegation zone start into the season. |
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 27-10-2025 09:11
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Classics Specialist
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Thank you for the great preview, Ulrich.
Big startlist here. Hopefully Aular is able to snatch a top-10, at least the TTT should hopefully help a bit. Would be nice to surprise with a podium result there.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 28-10-2025 03:49
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16552
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So many prologues! Gonna need a specialist next season just to make these race days interesting. Pretty bad time loss for Carthy, though I guess it was to be expected. Prologues already had big gaps in 22. Just gotta hope Carthy is more aggressive (in a good way) because of the TT deficit.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 28-10-2025 04:08
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Good start from Haig and TVD. The former losing time to just one rival is as good as we could hope for! Would've expected a bit better from Rekita but i won't mind if he's keeping something in reserve for the TTT.
Congrats to ember and thanks for the report!
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| Heine |
Posted on 28-10-2025 05:52
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Posts: 4462
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When I did some calculations before transfers I noticed prologue riders overscoring their wage, not very surpsising when you see SKA here. That win in itself is worth 40 (Stage)+10 (GC Leader)+5 (Points leader), and then potentially good points from placement next days aswell, and helps for a good end position. Congrats Ember! Another good result, combined with the Groenewegen win in PN
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| ember |
Posted on 28-10-2025 06:20
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Team Leader
Posts: 7057
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Thank you for the report, UU!
As long as it is short enough, Kragh is just amazing To be 3/3 so far this season is perfect, especially seeing him get the better of Ganna both here and in Qatar, after last year’s TdF.
Fingers crossed we can be lucky and hold yellow for another day. That would be a nice bonus. Other than that, we can only hope for breakaway participations, I think.
And thank you, Abhi and Heine! |
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| redordead |
Posted on 28-10-2025 06:34
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Looks like a bad start, but what else is new.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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