Tirreno-Adriatico 2014, Stage 1 March 12 **contains unmasked spoilers**

dastardly00

The 2014 edition of Tirreno-Adriatico is choc-full of top riders, and with a team time-trial, individual time-trial, sprint finishes and plenty of mountains to come, we're pretty much going to see a mini-Giro d'Italia! Official website can be found here.

So who's here? ... (deep breath) ... Richie Porte and Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), Cadel Evans and Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Alberto Contador and Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo), Ivan Basso (Cannondale), Michele Scarponi (Astana), Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp), Robert Gesink and Bauke Mollema (Belkin), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr), Chris Horner (Lampre-Merida), Michal Kwiatkowski, Rigoberto Uran, Tony Martin, and Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing), Peter Sagan (Cannondale), Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano), and Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol). Full start list here.

Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo), Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) and Sam Bennett (NetApp-Endura) are also in the race. With Bertie and Kreuziger riding, Nico will probably be confined to domestique duties, but he will get some good practice in for the upcoming Giro. In fact this is his first appearance in Tirreno-Adriatico as he normally takes part in Paris-Nice. T-A will be Dan's first race of the year, and he will be helping Andrew Talansky throughout (Interview with Cyclingnews here). In contrast, Sam Bennett has rode both the Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman, and won the one-day race Clasica de Almeria. It should be great to see him sprinting against the likes of Cav etc.

Who's not here: Froome (injury); Nibbles (Paris-Nice); Valverde; and Purito.

Stages:

1. Wednesday 12th: Donoratico - San Vincenzo 16.9km (TTT)
2. Thursday 13th: San Vincenzo - Cascina 173km
3. Friday 14th: Cascina - Arezzo 206km
4. Saturday 15th: Indicatore (Arezzo) - Cittareale (Selva Rotonda) 237km
5. Sunday 16th: Amatrice - Guardiagrele (190km)
6. Monday 17th: Bucchianico - Porto Sant'Elpidio 187km
7. Tuesday 18th: San Benedetto del Tronto (ITT) 9.2km

dastardly00

Stage 1: Wednesday 12th, Donoratico - San Vincenzo 16.9km (TTT)

World TTT champions Omega Pharma-Quick Step are the favourites, but Movistar, Orica-GreenEdge, Team Sky, Tinkoff-Saxo, BMC, Cannondale and Trek Factory Racing should all be close to the top.

Start times:
1 MTN - QHUBEKA 13:40
2 IAM CYCLING 13:43
3 ASTANA PRO TEAM 13:46
4 BARDIANI CSF 13:49
5 BMC RACING TEAM 13:52
6 TEAM EUROPCAR 13:55
7 LAMPRE - MERIDA 13:58
8 CANNONDALE 14:01
9 ORICA GREENEDGE 14:04
10 TEAM GIANT - SHIMANO 14:07
11 AG2R LA MONDIALE 14:10
12 GARMIN SHARP 14:13
13 TEAM SKY 14:16
14 TREK FACTORY RACING 14:19
15 TEAM NETAPP - ENDURA 14:22
16 TINKOFF SAXO 14:25
17 TEAM KATUSHA 14:28
18 BELKIN-PRO CYCLING TEAM 14:31
19 MOVISTAR TEAM 14:34
20 FDJ.FR 14:37
21 OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP 14:40
22 LOTTO BELISOL 14:43

Live coverage on Eurosport1 at 1.30pm

Darkglasses

Great stuff dastardly. Mountain stages are on Saturday and Sunday. Thursday, Friday and Monday are pretty much pan-flat for the sprinters.

MPFG

Great preview Dastardly ....I was thinking of doing something when nothing was happening but couldn't compete with your contribution

Fascinating race this as big test for sprinters and GC guys

Think Kittle will come out on top of sprinters and think Sam will be up there , possible stage podium(s) ( but said recently that he s still 4 kilos over ideal weight- wonder how that will effect him)


For GC think Contador will be up for this ...(pity no Froome)
Kwiatkowski looks a good bet given his form

Also fascinating to see how C Horner ( who as the current Vuelta winner isn't in any of the top rider publicity photos !!) goes

I think Dan Martin will be a contender on the climbs. I know its his first race but he looks in great shape
Good tough race for NIco to ride himself into form

Dr. Bre

interesting to see what the weather will be like! i remember last year froome looked like he had it won but on a wet stage Nibali attacked him and overtook him to claim the title.

letape

It should be a fascinating GC contest. Not only do we have the top favourites - Contador, Evans, Quintana, Porte, Uran and Kwiatkowski but there are also Scarponi, Basso, Martin, Talansky, Pinot and Nico who should also be competitive. These riders weren't even invited to the press conference for the GC contenders.

The weekend stages will be great to watch.

pprendeville

Well noted re Horner. Craig Lewis must be pretty peed off watching this guy. I'm interested in seeing how Bertie and Quintana do. Bertie has some ultra domestiques in there but as was said, Roche is probably still racing to get for after his operation. Is that ridiculously steep climb in it again this year in which Sagan credited his biceps for the win last year? Let's hope for nicer weather there this year for all riders co concerned.

dastardly00

All the teams have now started.
Orica have the fastest time so far, 15 seconds faster than Cannondale, and 16 seconds faster than Sky!

7 teams still to finish.

dastardly00

Tinkoff-Saxo only 13 seconds slower than Orica at the finish!

happytramp

Great result for Saxo. Best tt team with a GC contender for the tour? Hopefully they will use that to create some more chaos in the crosswinds like last year.


Edit : I'm not really counting Valverde or Uran (might be a mistake)

happytramp

Dreadful for Garmin. I blame the helmets.

dastardly00

Super performance from OPQS, they are simply the best.
Cav crossed the line first, so he's the leader of GC.

Darkglasses

They are an absolute train. Saxoff Tinko finished 4th, 24 seconds back.

Full times here - http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Tirreno_Adriatico_2014_Stage_1_San_Vincenzo

MPFG

I thought Nico looked pretty strong in the finishing straight for TS

Pity Garmin were not really up for it...not a problem for Dan really as not going for GC but would want to step up for the Giro if he is going to have a GC chance

Michael Kwai*** in a very good place for GC

Mark Cavandish gets the jersey ...can't see why ....Tony Martin did all the work and he should get it IMO...Cavandish can try and win sprint tomorrow and get it then

MPFG

Sports Insiders on Eurosport at 8PM with Tinkov/Saxo