For the second year in a row Vincenzo Nibali has won the seven-stage Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race, this year defeating a very tough field of international cycling stars.
While many powerful riders contested the Paris-Nice as usual, this year many of the best ProTour riders decided they preferred the Tirreno-Adriatico to start their seasons. Sky’s Chris Froome, Saxo-Tinkoff’s Alberto Contador, and RadioShack’s Chris Horner were among the entrants, along with sprint-meisters mark Cavendish of Omega Pharma-Quickstep and Lotto-Belisol’s André Greipel.
Facing this deep field, Nibali, who switched from Liquigas-Cannondale to Astana in the off-season, showed that he was even stronger this year than last.
“I’m really, really happy with this Tirreno. It’s something really important to win and of course it’s my first win of the season, Nibali told Eurosport.com. ”This one is perhaps more important than my win than last year because of the riders like Rodriguez, Froome and Contador who came. It’s been a fantastic Tirreno.”
Terrible weather made the long stages even more of a trial for the riders; cold rain lashed the course almost every day, leaving muscles stiff and roads wet. Nibali lost four team mates just in Stage Six, which started dry and then was hit hard by cold rain.
The Astana rider didn’t show any weakness. He worked his way up through the General Classification to take the race lead in the penultimate stage, while all his challengers ran out of gas.
Nibali secured his win with a 12th-place finish in the final 9.2-km time trial. Now the Italian rider will focus on the Giro d'Italia in May, the race he really wants to win.
The Stages
Tony Martin led Omega Pharma-Quickstep to a win in the opening stage, a Team Time Trial, with Mark Cavendish crossing the line first to win the race leader’s blue jersey.
Stage Two was the first of two sprint stages. Everyone was eager to see a face-off between Omega’s Mark Cavendish and Lotto’s André Greipel, but it never happened. No team could establish control in the closing kilometers, and the sprint was pure chaos. Orica-GreenEdge rider Matthew Goss finished first, with Cavendish fighting through the crowds to finish fifth and Greipel, seventh.
Cannondale’s Peter Sagan surprised everyone by beating both Cavendish and Greipel in the sprint at the end of Stage Three. The second half of the 190-km stage was quite hilly, which might have favored Sagan but Cavendish in particular has showed his climbing ability in past races. Maybe it is too early in the season for the former world champion to be on form—or maybe 23-year-old phenomenon Peter Sagan has gained that much speed.
Stage Four marked the start of the climbing stages with as long mountaintop finish, and here Sky’s Chris Froome—and his Sky team mates—showed their strength. Saxo-Tinkoff’s Alberto Contador made it clear that he wanted to win in his first Tirreno-Adriatico, attacking repeatedly in the final three kilometers, but he didn’t have the legs to make it stick. Vincenzo Nibali launched his own bid in the final two kilometers, and attacked again with 900 meters to go.
Froome let all that play out, content to let team mates Rigoberto Uran and Sergio Henao pull him up the hill, until Nibali’s last attack, when Froome made his move. The Sky leader caught Nibali in 200 meters and motored on to take the stage win. Omega’s Michal Kwiatkowski, only 22, showed his promise by finishing fourth and taking the race lead.
