Julian: Today will not be fun. The first categorized climb is almost 20 km long, and the finishing hill has slopes of over 20 percent. Nothing for me today, just try to avoid finishing beyond the time limit.

Thomas: I need to go on the attack today, hopefully the GC guys don't start attacking on the first climb.



As expected, I made it into the breakaway. The biggest names joining me were Scarponi (Astana), Cunego, and Amador (Movistar). Very strong competition for the climbs today.



Any hopes for a stage win were dashed when Nibali attack at the foot of the first big climb. It seems Scarponi was sent into the break for a reason today. Froome and Rodriguez followed the Italian. Once again Contador was MIA.



Despite having a huge gap, Nibali and Purito were able to catch the now 3 man lead group containing myself, Amador, and Scarponi with 5 km still to climb.



Once his leader joined the front, Scarponi laid down a blistering pace that quickly dropped the Costa Rican Amador. I held on for a kms, but I dropped off with about 2 km to go until the summit.



I was picked up the second group, containing JC Peraud and Froome on the descent, and with 10 km to go, we were 55 seconds down on the leading trio.



With 1500 m to go, we had reached the wall, and I was immediately unable to follow the pace of Froome. Scarponi was still doing work at the front, and the win and jersey would likely go to Purito or Nibali.



The winner was an Astana man, but it was Scarponi! Nibali and Rodriguez marked each other, and the veteran took the opening to get the stage win! Nibali dropped Rodriguez in the final meters to take second.



In the end, I pushed hard enough to finish sixth on the day around 1 45 back of Scarponi! Very strong ride today from myself!



Julian: It was a really boring day as predicted, and we almost took it too easy, as the 35 man group I was in finished only 4 minutes inside the time limit! I hope my legs feel good for tomorrow!

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Michele Scarponi	Astana Pro Team	4h48'41
2	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 10
3	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	+ 20
4	Chris Froome	Team Sky	+ 1'37
5	Jean-Christophe Peraud	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
6	Thomas Smith	Orica GreenEdge	+ 1'47
7	Rigoberto Urán	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 2'08
8	Andrey Amador	Movistar Team	+ 2'34
9	Laurens Ten Dam	Belkin-Pro Cycling Team	+ 3'26
10	Thomas Voeckler	Team Europcar	+ 3'34
11	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
12	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	+ 4'41
13	Thibaut Pinot	FDJ.fr	+ 4'56
14	Bauke Mollema	Belkin-Pro Cycling Team	+ 5'14
15	Robert Kiserlovski	Trek Factory Racing	+ 5'21

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	19h39'28
2	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 28
3	Chris Froome	Team Sky	+ 1'00
4	Jean-Christophe Peraud	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 1'04
5	Rigoberto Urán	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 2'32
6	Laurens Ten Dam	Belkin-Pro Cycling Team	+ 3'01
7	Michele Scarponi	Astana Pro Team	+ 4'22
8	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	+ 5'20
9	Thibaut Pinot	FDJ.fr	+ 5'32
10	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 5'42

Points: Cavendish
KOM: Smith
U25: Pinot
Team: Astana

Thomas: Today's stage is the last road stage of this year's Tirreno. If I am able to take maximum points on the first KOM, I will take the KOM jersey home with me. That is my only goal for today.

Julian: Today is my kind of day, hard but not too hard, a top 5 should be achievable.



Thomas: I couldn't find any evidence of me taking the KOM, but I did take the points, and returned to the peloton after my early morning effort.



After the exciting opening, the day was very ordinary, and the break was brought back with 12 km to go. Time for Caleb and Julian to do their job!



Julian: Today I went for the wheel of Kristoff, who has been in solid form lately. Caleb made a poor choice of following the Gorilla, he was way down the pack for the sprint.



In the end our positioning was revered as Caleb went early and was just behind the leader Sagan with one km to go. Kristoff's leadout failed and I was boxed in.



Sagan takes the win today in a close finish over the late-charging Kristoff! Points jersey leader Cavendish is third with Demare fourth. Ewan and myself take fifth and sixth respectively, not a bad ride for us today.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Peter Sagan	Cannondale	4h04'14
2	Alexander Kristoff	Team Katusha	s.t.
3	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
4	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	s.t.
5	Caleb Ewan	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
6	Julian Woods	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
7	André Greipel	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
8	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	s.t.
9	Chris Froome	Team Sky	s.t.
10	Tom Boonen	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.

Julian: The last stage of Tirreno-Adriatico is a 11 km flat time trial, nothing for me here, but I'll try anyways since I have over a week until E3.

Thomas: My legs are still feeling the efforts of my breakaways, so I have no expectations for today's stage.



Julian: The best early time was set by Damien Howson, our teammate finished with a time of 13 24.



The first man to best him was BMC's Taylor Phinney, who finished with a time of 13 09, a time that lasted for a very long time.



I rode hard, and finished a few minutes after Phinney with a time of 13 38, a very decent ride from me today.



Thomas: I feel bad for Phinney, because Cancellara is in amazing form right now, and the Swiss champion rode the 11 km course in a time of 12 43, shattering the times of the previous finishers.



It was a rough day, I was tired and I just wasn't "feeling it" today. I crossed the line with only a slightly better time than Julian, stopping the clock at 13 34.



The race for the GC was on as Nibali had a good time trial, finishing with a time of 13 26, it would be though for Rodriguez to not lose 28 seconds to Nibali.



However, Joaquim Rodriguez also had a good day on the TT bike, limiting his losses to 26 seconds to the Shark of Messina. Congrats to Purito on the win!

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Fabian Cancellara	Trek Factory Racing	12'43
2	Bradley Wiggins	Team Sky	+ 10
3	Geraint Thomas	Team Sky	+ 18
4	Vasil Kiryienka	Team Sky	+ 19
5	Rigoberto Urán	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 21
6	Thibaut Pinot	FDJ.fr	+ 25
7	Taylor Phinney	BMC Racing Team	+ 26
8	Chris Froome	Team Sky	s.t.
9	Cadel Evans	BMC Racing Team	+ 30
10	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	23h57'34
2	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 2
3	Chris Froome	Team Sky	+ 17
4	Jean-Christophe Peraud	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 36
5	Rigoberto Urán	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 1'44
6	Laurens Ten Dam	Belkin-Pro Cycling Team	+ 2'58
7	Michele Scarponi	Astana Pro Team	+ 4'15
8	Thibaut Pinot	FDJ.fr	+ 4'48
9	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	+ 4'49
10	Alberto Contador	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 5'03

Points: Cavendish



How about that for a first WT race! I will always treasure this jersey, although it would be great to trade it for a yellow one!

U25: Pinot
Team: Astana

Thomas: I'm honestly not sure if I'm excited for the 297 km ride known as the first monument of the season, Milan-San-Remo. All the big names are here: Sagan, Cavendish, Cancellara, Kittel, and Gilbert are the big favorites today. Our chances rest upon Michael Matthews and Caleb Ewan, who we will work for today. I just hope to do a good job of positioning them.



Two brave men ventured into the early break about 50 km into the race. They were: Gianni Bellini of Neri, and Alex Howes of Garmin. With such a small early move, the peloton were not concerned with the break, and allowed them a large margin in the early portions of the stage.



The majority of the work on the front was done by Giant, Katusha, and Cannondale, and with just under 50 km to go, the two escapees were brought back into the peloton.



The pace greatly dropped once the catch was made, so Chaves put in an attack to try and up the pace, hoping to drop the pure sprinters and eliminate some competition for Bling and Ewan.



Esteban rode hard, and by the time the peloton reached the foot of the Poggio, Greipel, Ciolek, and Boonen were out the back of the around 65 man peloton. I was near empty, and I brought Ewan to the front and wished him luck before slowing down and riding to the finish.



Matthews had great legs, and when the pace dropped after a Sagan attack was hauled back by Katusha, he accelerated out of the bunch, and there was no initial reaction from the other teams!



The big teams of Giant and Katusha reacted too late, and OGE takes the first monument of the season, and their second Milan-San-Remo as a team. What a great day to be an Orica rider. Cavendish easily took the bunch sprint for second ahead of Kristoff.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Michael Matthews	Orica GreenEdge	6h42'29
2	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 29
3	Alexander Kristoff	Team Katusha	s.t.
4	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	s.t.
5	Tyler Farrar	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
6	Gerald Ciolek	MTN - Qhubeka	s.t.
7	Giacomo Nizzolo	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
8	Theo Bos	Belkin-Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
9	Juan José Lobato	Movistar Team	s.t.
10	Caleb Ewan	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
11	Niki Terpstra	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
12	Michael Hepburn	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
13	Ben Swift	Team Sky	s.t.
14	Nacer Bouhanni	FDJ.fr	s.t.
15	Philippe Gilbert	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
16	Danny van Poppel	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
17	Zdenek Stybar	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
18	Matteo Pelucchi	IAM Cycling	s.t.
19	Greg van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
20	Jürgen Roelandts	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
21	Ian Stannard	Team Sky	s.t.
22	Sebastian Langeveld	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
23	Marcel Kittel	Team Giant - Shimano	s.t.
24	Salvatore Puccio	Team Sky	s.t.
25	Rui Costa	Lampre - Merida	s.t.