The last stage of the Paris - Nice will feature a loop in the mountains towards the finishing city. Changes in the GC are possible in principle but that requires a rider that is relatively ambitious as the last climb is the Col d'Eze and the top is placed 15 kilometers from the finish line. Therefore, even if the route is plagued with ups and downs it is not that easy to make a change to the general classification. The stage itself is quite short at 127 kilometers but if it is tackled at a fast pace it will hurt many riders.
The first climb of the day was not too far from the start of the stage. It was the Cote de Duranus, which top was 94 kilometers from the finish line. A group of 7 riders was at the front of the race, including riders like Marco Pinotti (Sky), Joost van Leijen (Sunweb), Anthony Roux (Cofidis), Javier Moreno (BMC) and Alexandr Kolobnev (Vacansoleil). No one was too interested in the KoM points. Meanwhile, Tom Slagter (Cannondale) and Julien Simon (IAM) were in an intermediate position trying to bridge the gap. Back at the peloton, Quickstep was controlling the race but letting the gap grow, which was already 2' 30'' at the top.
Lotto joined Quickstep at the front of the group and they increased the pace considerably in the middle part of the stage. At the Cote de Chateauneuf they had George Hincapie (Lotto), Sergio Henao (Lotto) and Rohan Dennis (Lotto) at the front but the gap to the break had already grown to 4' 45''. By that time, Tom Slagter, Julien Simon and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL) had bridged the gap and joined the early break. It was a very strong group and if the peloton wants the stage they should start chasing harder very soon.
Tom Slagter beat Julien Simon at the top of the Col de Calaison in their fight for the KoM points. They still had many points to collect so could be contenders for the jersey. However, the things were not looking particularly good for the break as they had a gap of 3' 30'' over the bunch with 57 kilometers to go. There were riders in the break suffering in the climbs. Meanwhile, Lotto was making the race as hard as possible and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) was expected to attack either in the Cote de Peille or in the Col d'Eze.
Lotto continued to increase the pace at the Cote de Peille, the hardest climb of the day. However, the attack from Jelle Vanendert had not happened yet and it looked like Quickstep was regaining control of the peloton and they still had plenty of riders to put at the front of the pack. Nevertheless, there were only around 75 riders in that group as the pace had taken a toll on many riders. Tom Slagter was the one who attacked at the break and was at that point leader in the KoM classification. He had 1' 10'' over the other riders from the break and 3' 20'' on the peloton at the top.
Tom Slagter stayed ahead for many kilometers but was eventually caught in the descent towards Nice, before starting the Col d'Eze. Once the climb started, it was the turn for Joost van Leijen to work at the front of the group. His pace was hard enough to drop Thomas Voeckler (Dimension Data) and make a few other suffer. At the group of the leader, the favorites looked to be waiting for the last climb but with 18 kilometers remaining and a gap of 3' 25'' the stage win would probably go to one of the riders in the break. Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep) looked quite comfortable and the Col d'Eze was probably not hard enough to leave him behind.
Jelle Vanendert was followed by Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel) at the top of the Col d'Eze but the attack from the Belgian came way too late and Quickstep was responding to the attack without problems. The Belgian team still had 5 riders in a group of less than 50 riders and Lloyd Mondory looked quite comfortable close to the front of the group. A few other riders attacked in the climb, most notably Mikel Nieve (Katusha) and Rui Costa (Ag2r). However, they did not go that far and the attack from Vanendert accelerated the pace enough that they were brought back.
Jelle Vanendert did not go far and even though others like Davide Rebellin (Astana) tried to attack in the descent, Quickstep was completely in control of the pace. Meanwhile, Tom Slagter had attacked close to the top of the Col d'Eze when the break broke into pieces. The Dutch was only 3 kilometers from the finish line and with 1' 35'' over the remainder of the early break it looked like the stage would go his way. There were 6 chasers, even though they went almost 1 by 1 at the top of the climb. The gap to the peloton was 2' 20'', so there would not be bonus seconds left for them.
Tom Slagter wins in Nice! The Dutch had plenty of time to celebrate his win at the Promenade des Anglais because his chasers were too far behind to bother him. Slagter proved to be the strongest by far in the break and will also climb on the podium to get the KoM jersey. This way, Cannondale is the first team that has taken wins with 3 different riders in 2018. Yesterday's win by Sebastian Langeveld (Cannondale) together with Slagter's results means that the American team will leave the race with a good bounty even though they did not put anyone high in the GC.
The chasing group rolled over the line 1' 21'' behind the winner led by Marco Pinotti and followed by Joost van Leijen. There was a moment of this group not working as a unit in the descent and that allowed other riders to get in there from behind and Slagter to gain a crucial advantage. Nevertheless, the break proved to be very strong as even with a very fast pace in the peloton only a few of the riders were caught back by the group of the leader. The top 5 was completed by Javi Moreno and Anthony Roux.
The sprint in the peloton was won by Mikel Nieve ahead of Jelle Vanendert as they crossed the finish line 2' 08'' behind the winner. Lloyd Mondory won the race comfortably as the attacks came too late to do any real damage. He would be joined in the podium by Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana) and Daniel Moreno (Euskaltel) and none of them even tried to put Mondory in an difficult position today. It is worth noting the good performance of two local riders: Jonathan Hivert (Sky), 7th in the GC, and Sylvain Chavanel (FDJ), 9th. Chavanel came from winning the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and clearly has been a stellar signing for FDJ.
The calendar is really busy in this part of the season and right after the Paris - Nice is finished, the Tirreno - Adriatico starts. The race will take the riders from Lido di Camaiore, on the shore of the Tirreno sea, to San Benedetto del Tronto, on the shore of the Adriatic. The route is very varied and the 7 days of racing will feature two time trials: a TTT to start and an ITT to finish. There will also be a mountain-top finishes and stages for the sprinters and the puncheurs. The key stage will most likely be the one finishing a Monte San Vicino, but it is unlikely that the race will be decided by that time.
The Tirreno is a World Tour race so all the top teams will be at the starting line, alongside 3 Pro Conti squads. Among the most successful riders in the race we can find Bauke Mollema, who won in 2012 and 2014, and Denis Menchov, winner in 2013 and with a second place. The Russian will not be at the starting line as Tinkoff decided to skip the race. Last year's winner was Andrew Talansky but he was playing down his options in this season given that he is quite short of racing so far and he crashed in the Paris - Nice. In principle, it should be Juanjo Cobo that is the leader for the HTC team in the race.
Favorites:
- Jerome Coppel (Quickstep Floors): The Tirreno - Adriatico is almost a race designed for Jerome Coppel. The French will have a mountain-top finish, a TTT where Quickstep should have a very good performance and a final time trial that is long enough to put time on the pure climbers. Therefore, the winner of the last Tour de France is the top favorite to grab the win in San Benedetto del Tronto next Tuesday. In terms of his season so far, he got the 6th overall place in Qatar but he should start getting serious results pretty soon.
- Chris Froome (UAE Team Emirates): Chris Froome is another rider that is a very good time trialist and he can also climb with the best. However, his performance in the last Paris - Nice was not too good. He was affected by one of the crashes in the early stages and never really got involved in the race. Nevertheless, it should have been good training to come to the Tirreno - Adriatico. Froome is also a rider that knows how to win stage races as he took the 2012 Tour de Suisse and the 2017 Criterium du Dauphine so it should not be a surprise if we see him in the final podium.
- Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery Channel): Peraud is another rider that has high hopes for the Tirreno - Adriatico. The French is a rider that does not win often and he has only once been in a podium of a week-long stage race: the Criterium du Dauphine that he won. Given his performances in Grand Tours he should really turn up his game in these races as they are sometimes the key to have a better preparation for the big scenarios. The route should be good for him but there are doubts as to how good the Discovery Channel team will be in the TTT, which could generate significant gaps.
- Cadel Evans (Lotto - Soudal): Cadel Evans suffered a big crash in the Paris - Nice that left him bruised for a few days. However, if he is fit for the race he will be a threat in the GC because Lotto is meant to do a very good TTT on the first day of the race. The mountain-top finish in Monte San Vicino might be a stage to limit the losses and be in a position to win the race in the final time trial for Evans. There are a few riders that should be better climbers but the gaps should not be that big among the best at the top of the climb.
Other riders with a shot at the podium are Robert Gesink (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Michael Rogers (Vacansoleil - DMC), Laurens Ten Dam (Team Sunweb), Juan Jose Cobo (HTC - Highroad), Levi Leipheimer (Trek - Segafredo) and Michele Scarponi (Astana Pro Team).
Among the sprinters in the race we can find Mark Renshaw and Jure Kocjan (BMC Racing Team), Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Mark Cavendish (IAM Cycling), Andre Greipel (HTC - Highroad) and Tyler Farrar (Discovery Channel).
Stage 1: Lido di Camaiore - Lido di Camaiore (TTT)
The first stage of the Tirreno - Adriatico is key for the general classification. The race will start and finish in Lido di Camaiore, with the riders racing along the coast north towards Forte dei Marmi and back. The wind could be a deciding factor but they will have it in opposite directions in the two runs along the beach. At 23 kilometers, it will be a difficult test for many teams and the gaps that will be open in the GC will be significant. Therefore, the favorites that ride in strong teams will have a clear advantage.
HTC - Highroad was the first important team to hit the road in Lido di Camaiore. The American team is as good as it takes in the time trials as they have brought riders like David Millar, Andrew Talansky and Stefan Schumacher to the Italian race. In the intermediate time check they were down on Astana but they clearly made up for it on the way back, where the wind was against the riders to finish 43 seconds clear of Cofidis, who had set the early pace, and take the 1st position. It was a good run and Juanjo Cobo would mostly likely be in a good position in the GC after the stage.
Euskaltel - Euskadi is a very good team but they are quite lacking in the time trialing aspect. Even if they brought a really strong squad to the Tirreno - Adriatico only Simon Spilak is a rider that can be classified as good against the clock. Their result was a reflection of this fact as they lost 33 seconds against HTC, albeit in the 2nd provisional position. It was quite clear already that this would be a very important stage in terms of the GC and David Lopez would not be happy starting the race so far behind some of his rivals.
The next among the favorite teams for the stage was Lotto - Soudal. The almighty Belgian team has been consistently a powerhouse for the last few years. Even if the time trials were not their best area a few years back, they have considerably improved with riders like Tony Martin, Rohan Dennis and Cadel Evans. Their performance today was impressive and they managed to narrowly beat HTC by only 2 seconds at the finish line, even though they had been 13 seconds clear at the provisional check. It was very likely that this would leave them top of the table at the end of today.
The next important team to finish was Team Sky. The British squad is not one of the strongest in the World Tour but they have brought a very solid team to perform in the TTT of this Tirreno - Adriatico. Riders like Mathias Frank, Marco Pinotti and Bradley Wiggins are well complemented by the rest of the team. The proof was that they managed to stop the clock only 24 seconds behind Lotto, in the 3rd provisional position. It is the debut for Mathias Frank in the team and, although he was playing down his options, he may even get involved in the GC.
In principle, BMC Racing should be a step behind Lotto and HTC in terms of their potential for the TTTs but not by a huge margin. They don't have superstars in the discipline but have the depth in the riders that have come to Italy. Their performance on this opening stage was more or less as expected and they took the 4th provisional place, 26 seconds behind Lotto. In terms of the GC it is difficult to guess who will be involved as they lost Peter Stetina (Cannondale) as a reference and Ruben Plaza looks to be too young to be up for the task.
Discovery Channel was another of the challengers for the stage today, although not one of the top favorites. They have two very good riders against the clock, like Jean-Christophe Peraud and Peter Velits. However, the rest of the team is not in that league and they paid the price today. They could only set the 12th best time as they crossed the finish line 1' 13'' behind the best time so far. That is a very significant gap that will make it very hard for their leaders to be in contention for the final podium of the race.
The following team to finish the TTT was Cannondale - Drapac. They had quite a solid team for the stage and Peter Stetina should be their leader for the GC, although the American must still be settling in with his new team. Their performance was probably a bit below what was expected from them as it looked like the wind had picked up a bit compared to the teams that raced early on. They were 8th as they crossed the finish line, 48 seconds behind Lotto. That is also a significant gap, although it looks like many other teams have done similar efforts.
The last team to hit the road was UAE Team Emirates. The new team from the Middle East took over the Lampre outfit and they have started the season with quite solid performances and a first stage win with Marcel Kittel. They also have a good team for the time trial and they proved it by getting the 3rd final position, only 12 seconds behind the winners: Lotto - Soudal. Chris Froome will be more than happy as that gap is almost nothing compared to the stages that they will have in the Tirreno and he is much better positioned than many favorites.
In the end, Lotto narrowly edged HTC for the win in the time trial. That is the 3rd win of the season for the Belgian outfit, although they are still far from the 7 that BMC holds. Among the favorites, there are a few that have seen their options clearly diminish. As an example, Jean-Christophe Peraud is now 1' 13'' behind, Michele Scarponi lost 54 seconds and Levi Leipheimer is 49 seconds behind the leader. They will have a chance to start making up for it tomorrow, in Pomarance. However, the stage is very difficult to predict.
The riders will have quite a long stage after the starting team time trial in the Tirreno - Adriatico. At 207 kilometers, it will be a good test for the riders given the bumpy profile of the second part of the stage. The difficulties of the day are the climb to Pian di Forno and the climb to Pomarance, which top is just 3 kilometers from the finish line. The latter part of the climb features gradients well above 10% so the pure sprinters will have a hard time getting over it. The most likely outcome should be a reduced sprint between riders that have gone through the hill but the gaps are not expected to be significative.
There were many teams that wanted to put a rider in the break but there were only 4 of them that managed to do it. The break of the day was formed by Luca Paolini (Astana), Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Discovery), Maxime Monfort (Quickstep) and Andriy Grivko (Sunweb). The stage was very easy for many kilometers and they used that terrain to open up a significant gap: 7 minutes with 130 kilometers to go. The pace in the peloton was not too high with BMC and IAM putting riders at the front and not letting the gap grow too much.
IAM was clearly thinking that Mark Cavendish (IAM) could survive the hills and fight for the stage in Pomarance, which would be a surprise for the British rider. They were setting a strong pace and at the climb to Pian di Forno the had cut the gap to the early break to only 3' 10''. BMC was also ahead but it looked more likely that Mark Renshaw (BMC) could fight for the stage. Meanwhile, the first intermediate sprint was placed halfway through the climb, in Monterotondo Marittimo. Luca Paolini was the first at the sprint in the break.
The 2nd intermediate sprint was not long afterwards the climb, with 46 kilometers to go in Castelnuovo Val di Cecina. Luca Paolini was first as well ahead of Guillaume van Keirsbulck. The road between the top of the Pian di Forno and Pomarance, where they would start a final circuit, was really hard even if it not include any serious climb. It was plagued with roads going up and down the hills. The gap to the peloton had stayed at 3 minutes and there was no one in the peloton to sprint for the remaining points. One of the victims of the road was Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel), who crashed heavily but was able to rejoin the peloton shortly afterwards.
Euskaltel joined the chase of the break after the passage through Pomarance and with 13 kilometers to go the gap had decreased considerably, to only 45 seconds. The riders were very close to starting the last difficulty of the day, climbing back to Pomarance. The climb was very irregular, with a very tough last kilometer with steep gradients. The top was only 3 kilometers from the finish line so any gaps could well be maintained. Vasil Kiryienka (IAM), Luke Durbridge (BMC) and Linus Gerdemann (BMC) were leading the peloton as they crossed the river and the road started to turn upwards.
There were no attacks in the climb and the early break was quickly reeled back in given that David Lopez (Euskaltel) and Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel) had taken the lead of the group. They were dragging Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) behind, clearly looking for the stage win. The pace of the climb meant that the group was starting to lose plenty of riders. This also meant that all of the favorites for the GC moved up the field and we could see very important riders like Chris Froome (UAE), Robert Gesink (Ag2r), Ruben Plaza (BMC) and Andrew Talansky (HTC) right behind the Euskaltel riders.
The control that Euskaltel was exerting was not as easy in the last part of the climb and Emanuele Sella (Movistar) took advantage of the steep incline to attack. The Italian quickly opened a small gap of 15 seconds over the group only a few hundred meters before the top of the climb, with 3 kilometers to go. Robert Gesink was trying to follow that attack but he clearly did not have the legs. Meanwhile, we could see Alexander Kristoff doing a very good climb but Euskaltel could not push much more without leaving him behind. They still had a few kilometers inside Pomarance to chase.
The chase was on in the group of the leader, which only had around 35 riders at that point. However, Emanuele Sella crossed the flame rouge with 21 seconds over them and was getting close to securing the win in the stage. The riders in the chasing group had started their sprint, with Mark Renshaw leading ahead of Robert Gesink and Alexander Kristoff behind. There was a mix of sprinters and GC men in the fight as we could see Juanjo Cobo (HTC), Jure Kocjan (BMC) and Laurens Ten Dam (Sunweb) behind. The gaps would not be big at the end of the stage but there would be many riders losing time today.
Emanuele Sella wins in Pomarance! The Italian could not be caught and he delivered a very good win in a very tricky stage. Sella seems to have a liking for the Tirreno - Adriatico because he has performed very well through the years in the Italian race. That is the 4th stage win for Movistar in the season, a really good start of the season for the team given that they had all sorts of problems last year. The gap to the chasing group was 16 seconds at the finish line, not enough to put him too close in the GC because Movistar had lost more than 40 seconds yesterday.
The sprint of the group was won by Mark Renshaw, ahead of Alexander Kristoff. They were among the few sprinters that made it in that group of only 32 riders. The top 5 of the stage was completed by Juanjo Cobo and Robert Gesink. The stage was not that hard but some of the favorites were caught behind in the climb, riders like Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery) and Levi Leipheimer (Trek) were pre-race favorites but they will have difficulties getting a good position in the GC. The American is almost 3 minutes down, which is too much time to recover considering the stages remaining.
Stage 3: Castelnuovo Val di Cecina - Montalto di Castro
The third stage of the Tirreno - Adriatico will be the first one that is flat enough that the sprinters will most likely force a mass sprint finish. The riders will continue the trip south along the Tyrrhenian Sea and the finish line will be placed in Montalto di Castro. Nevertheless, the stage is not flat at all. The start could be quite difficult to control and there are two gentle but long climbs towards the second part of the stage. Only the first of those, the climb to Scansano, is categorised for the KoM points. The final kilometer is also partially uphill so the type of rider that has an edge could be one that handles the hills.
The early part of the stage was difficult to control but the break of the day was not too big and did not have much trouble opening a gap. The 4 riders were Tom Dumoulin (Cannondale), Bryan Coquard (Dimension Data), Alexandr Kolobnev (Vacansoleil) and Lars Peter Nordhaug (Ag2r). The first intermediate sprint of the day was placed in Massa Marittima, a town halfway through the descent towards the lowlands close to the coast. With 141 kilometers remaining, they had opened a gap of 3 minutes over the main bunch. Lotto was leading the group but the pace was quite easy. In the sprint of the group, Mark Cavendish (IAM) was slightly faster than Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel).
The only categorized climb today was Scansano, a very gentle but very long climb as the riders will be going uphill for much more than 10 kilometers. Lotto was setting a decent pace in the climb, which might have caused some of the sprinters to be very uncomfortable for a long time. Andreas Kloden (Lotto) and Sergio Henao (Lotto) were working hard at the front. That pace meant that the gap to the early break never went beyond 4 minutes and with 64 kilometers to go they had plenty of time to catch them back. Meanwhile, in the break it was Tom Dumoulin who took the maximum points in the KoM classification.
The break was very persistent in the pace as they were a relatively strong group. However, Bryan Coquard had been a long time without relaying and with 9 kilometers to go they were almost about to get caught. The gap was only 25 seconds at that point. We could see riders like Linus Gerdemann (BMC), Brent Bookwalter (BMC) and Vasil Kiryienka (IAM) leading the group but Euskaltel was also contributing riders to the chase. The sprinters were also starting to get into position as it looked like the mass sprint would be the way to go in Montalto di Castro.
The break was caught as expected and the teams of the sprinters started to prepare for the mass sprint. Euskaltel was leading the way on the right-hand side of the road. They had Mauro Finetto (Euskaltel) as the last lead out man for Alexander Kristoff. IAM would have Gregory Rast (IAM) working for Mark Cavendish, while Ben Swift (Vacansoleil) was right behind the British. A third train was starting to be formed as Jure Kocjan (BMC) was protecting Mark Renshaw (BMC). The Slovenian is a proven sprinter and a very good help for Renshaw in this start of the season. The World Champion, Simone Ponzi (LottoNL) was positioned right behind Renshaw, while we could see other sprinters like Tyler Farrar (Discovery), Andre Greipel (HTC) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek) close to the front.
Mauro Finetto was leading the way with a bit more than 1 kilometer to go but he almost left Alexander Kristoff behind and the Norwegian had to do an effort to take the wheel of his teammate again. The same happened to BMC as Mark Renshaw had an issue and it looked like Jure Kocjan would have to ride for himself as the Australian had dropped around 15 places and looked out of contention. Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) was trying to surprise the peloton with a sprint from very far out but it was quite unlikely that he would succeed. On the center of the road, Mark Cavendish was still following the wheel of his teammate but Simone Ponzi was already gaining terrain on him.
Mauro Finetto was still leading the sprint with 600 meters to go as Alexander Kristoff seemed to be struggling with the incline that the last kilometer had. Jure Kocjan and Simone Ponzi were the best positioned riders but the sprint was a very close one and the slight uphill meant that the positions could change considerably in the last meters of the stage. Michael Matthews (Cannondale) was also trying to join the fight for the stage, while a surprising Sacha Modolo (Cofidis) was also close to the front. It was not strange to see that the pure sprinters were struggling with today's final kilometer.
Simone Ponzi wins in Montalto di Castro! The Italian is starting his season in the Tirreno - Adriatico and clearly the World Champion jersey is not a weight on his shoulders. He only needed 3 racing days to win again this season. Ponzi would not win a sprint if it is flat but as soon as there are difficulties in the race he is one of the favorites. Alexander Kristoff started his sprint quite late and he run out of space to win the stage. Michael Matthews was third, with Jure Kocjan and Mark Cavendish completing the top 5.
The final result of the stage makes it clear that today's sprint favored the sprinters that are strong in the uphills. Their only other option in this Tirreno - Adriatico will probably be in the penultimate stage as the next stages have plenty of hills and mountains. In terms of the GC there were no changes and the leader's jersey is still on the shoulders of Cadel Evans (Lotto). Tomorrow's stage finishing in Foligno should be a good test for the favorites in the GC but it is unlikely that any solo attacks makes it to the finish line.
The fourth stage of the Tirreno - Adriatico is not one that will allow anyone to win the race but some riders could well get discarded from the fight for the final podium in the GC. The stage is very bumpy and has a difficult finishing kilometers with the climbs to the Valico della Somma, Montefalco twice and Trevi. The stage will still probably be decided in a sprint of a small group given that the top of the last climb is 15 kilometers from the finish line. Monteflaco is quite hard but it should be quite difficult to completely break the pack.
Given the profile of the stage, it was expected that there would be a battle to form the break of the day. However, only 4 riders went away and it was quite early in the stage. The members of the break were Adriano Malori (Astana), Andriy Grivko (Sunweb), Anthony Roux (Cofidis) and Romain Feillu (Bora). They reached the first intermediate sprint, in Giove, with a gap of 5' 30'' over the main bunch. The sprint was at the top of a climb which could have been categorized. Malori was the first to cross it. Meanwhile, the pace at the main group was not too hard and there were many teams contributing riders to setting a pace at the front.
The first categorized climb of the day was the Valico della Somma, which was tackled already in the second half of the stage. Vasil Kiryienka (IAM), Simon Spilak (Euskaltel) and Diego Ulissi (UAE) were leading the peloton. There were quite a few UAE riders close to the front of the group but it was quite unlikely to think that Chris Froome (UAE) would attack today as he enjoys the high-mountains better. The gap to the break had started to come down and it was 4' 45'' at the top of the climb. Meanwhile, Jerome Coppel (Quickstep) had suffered a crash and had to make a good effort to get back in the group.
Simon Gerrans (Trek), Thibaut Pinot (Dimension Data) and Tom Dumoulin (Cannondale) had attacked in the last part of the climb to the Valico della Somma. They were trying to bridge the gap to the break but at the first climb to Montefalco they were still 2 minutes behind the head of the race. IAM and BMC were setting the pace in the main group and many riders started to struggle in the climb as it has ramps as steep as 12.5%. The teams of the sprinters could not push that much in the climbs and the gap had barely come down to 4' 25''. Nevertheless, they still had 57 kilometers to the finish line in Foligno.
The riders from the early break knew they had to push on because the teams of the sprinters could not carry a high speed in the climbs and that could give them a lifeline in the fight for the stage. The penultimate climb was Trevi, which top was 30 kilometers to the finish line. The attempt by the counter-attackers was not successful and they were reeled in by the peloton. The gap between the groups was 2' 25'', so still close enough for the peloton to catch up with the break if they push on. Linus Gerdemann (BMC) was the rider pulling the peloton upwards at the climb.
The scenario changed completely in the last climb of the day, the second to Montefalco. David Lopez (Euskaltel) took the lead of the race and put a very hard pace at the front. Adriano Malori was first at the climb but he was followed by the Spaniard, Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) and Simon Spilak. The Euskaltel men were clearly trying to eliminate as many riders as possible and they went through the top with a gap of 20 seconds over the group of the leader. Ruben Plaza (BMC) was setting the pace in that group. We could see sprinters like Tyler Farrar (Discovery) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek) completely left behind by the main group.
The Euskaltel riders were quickly reeled back in and they probably were not thinking of doing the last 15 kilometers alone. However, they had left a very slim main group of only 60 riders or so. With 6 kilometers to go, Robert Gesink (Ag2r) and Emanuele Sella (Movistar) tried to avoid the expected sprint for the stage win. They opened a gap of 25 seconds over a group where Euskaltel riders were not getting much help. Among the other good sprinters that would have probably had a chance in Foligno, Andre Greipel (HTC) and Ben Swift (Vacansoleil) had also lost contact.
Robert Gesink and Emanuele Sella could not resist the push of the peloton and were caught at around the 3 kilometers mark. Meanwhile, Jure Kocjan (BMC) was leading Mark Renshaw (BMC) towards the last kilometer of the stage and the only rider that was attached to their wheel was Simone Ponzi (LottoNL). Mauro Finetto (Euskaltel) was trying to get Alexander Kristoff back in the mix. They had lost the momentum but seemed to be recovering. Among the other sprinters, we could see Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) close to the front but not many others had survived the hills.
Mark Renshaw was clearly leading the way with 600 meters to go and in search of yet another stage win this season. However, he was dragging Simone Ponzi behind and the Italian already proved yesterday that he is in very good shape in this Tirreno - Adriatico. The only other rider that could challenge for the win was Alexander Kristoff as he was getting past Jure Kocjan and there was a gap behind them that was impossible to close. Among those behind we could see Jose Joaquin Rojas and Emanuele Sella but none of the Movistar riders looked strong enough to battle for it.
Mark Renshaw wins in Foligno! A stage race could not finish this season without a win for Mark Renshaw, who has already collected 8 wins in the season and has won in 4 different countries. The Australian struggled to keep Simone Ponzi behind in the last few meters of the stage but could hold on to the win. The final sprint was also a proof that Ponzi came to the Tirreno - Adriatico in a very good shape, although he had been expected not to lose time in Pomarance. The third place went to Alexander Kristoff, followed by Davide Rebellin (Astana) and Emanuele Sella.
The result of the stage proves that even if catalogued as flat, the stage was not good for the pure sprinters. The result behind the top 3 is plagued with puncheurs and climbers and the number of riders at the front group was only 50. The pace set by David Lopez in the climb to Montefalco surely meant that the size of the group was a lot smaller than in a different condition. As expected, there was not much of a battle among the favorites for the GC, given that they will have the more serious test tomorrow finishing in Monte San Vicino.
Tamijo wrote:
How bad was the Quickstep loss on stage 1 - no sign of them in the rankings
Forgot to say that their option for the GC was Jerome Coppel but he crashed in the last stage and he lost 8 minutes at the finish line. They don't have anyone close in the GC so they better try to take a stage...
Chris Froome was in a good season the last time we talked about him. 2015 turned out to be quite a particular year in his career as he targeted a few of the classics and managed to get a top 10 in two of the monuments. A 6th in the sprint in Liege was followed by a 4th at the end of the year in Lombardia. He would never get any kind of result like that in a monument. 2015 was also the year that he finished in the top 5 of the Tour de France and he has not managed to repeat the feat any time since then. However, even if it was a very solid year in general it was lacking in wins and podiums.
The following year was much of the same, although he managed to get a 2nd place in the European ITT Championship and he climbed on the podium of the Tour de Romandie. However, he still lacked the key successes that he was expecting and he slipped down the order in the World Tour rankings to the 24th position. Froome had never been a rider that had it easy to get wins, his only 2 wins in professional cycling happening back in 2012, when he won the Tour de Suisse. That led him to look for a change and abandoned Team Sky to join the Lampre - Merida team.
His decision could hardly be better and his performance took a step forward. The Italian team had been struggling after spending a year as a Pro Conti squad and looked for a rider to help them settle back. They could not be hoping that Froome would win the Criterium du Dauphine and get a 2nd place in the Tour de Romandie. He capped it with stage wins in Romandie and also in the Volta a Catalunya. Considering where he was coming from it was a very good result and clearly showed that his niche were the most prestigious stage races but not the Grand Tours, where he struggled to get a 7th in Spain.
This season will be one of looking for new targets for the 32-year-old. The British has marked the Tour de France in his calendar and is ready to mount a battle to grab the win or at least a podium. Meanwhile, he has not done much so far but has a very good position in the Tirreno - Adriatico to try to collect a good result. Lampre changed to UAE Team Emirates but they logically respected the 2 years remaining in his contract. It would be unwise to try to get rid of one of the riders that could let them fight for a Tour de France win.
The fifth stage of the Tirreno - Adriatico is clearly the most important with regards to the GC. The riders will have to face a proper mountain stage with the finish line at the top of the Monte San Vicino, which is 11.3 kilometers long and averages 7.3% gradient. Therefore, any rider that is not a climber will have little options in the stage and probably in the GC. Additionally, the difficulties are not limited to the last climb and there will be as many as another 4 categorised climbs, with the climb to Frontignano being a very good test mid-stage.
The stage started at the bottom of the first categorised climb of the day: the Valico del Soglio. A break was already well established at the top as they already had a gap of 4' 15'' over the main bunch. The group of 6 included riders like Simon Spilak (Euskaltel), Diego Ulissi (UAE), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha), Ian Stannard (Sunweb) and Brent Bookwalter (BMC). The British was the first at the top of the climb but none of the riders seemed too interested in the point. Meanwhile, many teams were putting riders at the front of the bunch but no one was really pushing.
It was not on the plans of HTC to make the race easy. The climb to Frontignano might have been in the middle part of the stage but Stefan Schumacher (HTC) set a high pace and the peloton started to get thinner. We could see the important riders close to the front, such as Rohan Dennis (Lotto), Cadel Evans (Lotto) and David Lopez (Euskaltel). Meanwhile, the gap to the break was starting to diminish but with 99 kilometers to go they still held a lead of 6' 30'' over the main bunch. They had a lot to fight if they wanted the stage win.
The top of the climb to Le Arette was placed only 15 kilometers from the top of Frontignano, which left very little flat in between. Simon Spilak was the first rider at the top of the climb but their gap was still decreasing. It was around 5' 40'' at the top. The work that HTC kept doing at the peloton was still hurting them. Meanwhile, among the riders that had lost contact with the main bunch we could see Jerome Coppel (Quickstep). The French crashed yesterday and was clearly hurt. If things don't improve soon we may see him abandoning the race quite soon.
The penultimate climb of the day was Montelago, which should have been left for HTC to continue increasing the pace in the peloton. However, Mauro Santambrogio (Sky) attacked and he dragged Michele Scarponi (Astana), Peter Stetina (Cannondale) and Thibaut Pinot (Dimension Data) with him. That was a very dangerous group and they managed to open a gap. They were only 45 seconds behind the early break at the top of the climb, while Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) was trying to bridge the gap and went through the top 1' 25'' behind. The peloton was being led by Jose Serpa (Lotto) and their deficit was 3' 15''. It was a relatively big gap but they were 46 kilometers from the finish line.
The terrain after the descent of Montelago was quite favorable to the chasers and Lotto and HTC managed to close the gap. Riders like Tony Martin (Lotto) were of great help to Cadel Evans. However, the small uncategorised climb before the Monte San Vicino was another place that many riders used to put the leader in trouble. Laurens Ten Dam (Sunweb) launched the hardest attack and he was first at the top of the hill, with 20 kilometers to go. The early break had been caught back at that point. He was followed by Peter Stetina, Michele Scarponi and Bauke Mollema among others. However, the bunch was only 45 seconds behind with Chris Horner (HTC) and Andrew Talansky (HTC) working at the front.
The peloton won the battle against the riders that were trying to open a gap and by the time they hit the start of the climb to Monte San Vicino there was no one ahead of the group of the leader. However, the peace did not last long and Peter Stetina attacked straight away. With 10 kilometers to go he had opened a small gap and it was triggering the response from others like Bauke Mollema, Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel), Domenico Pozzovivo (Trek) and Michele Scarponi. It even looked like Cadel Evans would respond himself as well. It was surprising that the rider moving forward for Euskaltel was Dupont and not David Lopez.
Many riders tried to open a gap but the only one that managed to do it was Michele Scarponi. The Italian started the season with a crash that made him abandon the Paris - Nice but that seems to be forgotten already. There was a 10-men group that had formed behind him but no one wanted to work and they were swallowed by the bigger group behind. That also made the gap for Scarponi to grow to 45 seconds, which was very significant considering they had 6 kilometers to go and the Italian was looking very strong. Jose Serpa was driving the chase once more.
Michele Scarponi was still ahead with 3 kilometers to go but Juanjo Cobo (HTC) attacked and cut his gap quite considerably. It was around 30 seconds after the attack and it had gone up to a minute earlier in the climb. This is the attack that HTC had been preparing the whole day and so far, it was quite successful. A group of 17 was following the Spaniard with Domenico Pozzovivo trying to react to that attack. This group, which contained the leader, was 45 seconds behind Scarponi. Meanwhile, Chris Froome (UAE) had reacted to many attacks but never went into the attack himself. He seems happy with cutting his losses today.
The group of the leader made it to the last kilometer and it was still relatively big. As many as 11 riders held on to the pace that was set by Chris Froome as they went through the flame rouge. He was followed by Laurens Ten Dam, Cadel Evans and Domenico Pozzovivo. However, they were still 30 seconds behind the leader on the road, Michele Scarponi, who had already won in the Monte San Vicino last year. Juanjo Cobo was still in an intermediate position, 15 seconds behind the Italian. It looked like the gaps in the finish line would not be too big and the race would be undecided yet.
Michele Scarponi wins in Monte San Vicino! It looks like the Italian is developing a liking for the mountain-top finish as he already won last year at this stage. However, it was not enough to put them in a podium position, which is what happened last year as well. The leader's jersey will go to Juanjo Cobo, who was 2nd in the stage, 19 seconds behind the Italian. HTC did a very good job for him and even if he did not win the stage, he took over the lead in the GC, which they are probably satisfied with. A group of 3 riders came home 34 seconds behind Scarponi, including Chris Froome, Cadel Evans and Laurens Ten Dam.
A few other riders lost close to 1 minute at the finish line so the GC is very tight. Cobo has 16 seconds on Evans, while Froome is 3rd, 27 seconds behind the Spaniard. That will probably make Cobo the favorite to take the win in the race but the two riders behind him are quite good against the clock so in the end the final classification could be very tight. It is also worth noting the good performance by HTC. Apart from the leader, the have Andrew Talansky 5th and Chris Horner 6th in the GC. Their TTT was very good but their climbing was also outstanding.
, but now lets go o ne better at Tirreno 
