The 2021 edition evokes a spontaneous smile from every cycling enthusiast. Tirreno-Adriatico was perhaps the best race (week) of last season.
Wout van Aert went to Italy to test himself as the classification man for a one-week stage race and came in with a bang: Van Aert won the bunch sprint on day 1.
What ensued next was a wrestling match between the G4 – Van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Julian Alaphilippe and Tadej Pogacar – for you to say the least.
Every tenor got his share. The world champion floored his competitors in a titanic duel, Van der Poel had a good laugh on day 3, Pogacar captured the leader’s jersey a day later after a steep final kim.
And on day 5? That Sunday 14 March was a haunting day. In the pouring rain, Van der Poel shook a beastly solo of 50 kilometers from his thighs.
That day is etched in the memory of every cycling fanatic, but the protagonists themselves would not soon forget that 5th stage.
They had robbed their bodies without realizing it and almost everyone would sooner or later pay a price for those efforts.
In that heroic wall ride, Pogacar had almost secured his overall victory. He did not give up his jersey in San Benedetto del Tronto, where Van Aert had more horsepower than Stefan Küng and Filippo Ganna in the final time trial.
(click again on last year’s stages under the final classification to read a report and view images)
In 2022, the organization has more or less changed the gun.
It is especially noteworthy that Tirreno-Adriatico already starts on Monday and not Wednesday. The recovery period after the Strade Bianche is therefore limited to just one day.
The Italian race normally always ends with an individual time trial, the work against the clock is the opening dance this year. It is a flat time trial of just under 14 kilometers.
The sprinters are (in principle) rewarded on days 2 and 3, in the 4th stage the punchers and wall lizards get their money’s worth. After a day with more than 3,000 vertical meters we end up at a bend of just under 4 kilometers.
Friday we can enjoy the traditional “Tappa dei Muri”. The final is spiced by walls with double gradients.
It’s the tricky warm-up for Saturday’s queen stage. On the penultimate day, the peloton has to overcome the Monte Carpegna twice in the final. That was the training col of the late Marco Pantani. There is no uphill finish: the finish is after a descent.
San Benedetto del Tronto will receive the peloton again on the final day, but we will not finish with a time trial, but with a last sprinter’s ride.
Anyway, it will be another week that will crawl into your clothes: 3 stages go over 200 kilometers and we clock in more than 14,000 altimeters, a record for the Tirreno.
Wout van Aert opts for Paris-Nice this year, Mathieu van der Poel is still not ready for competition.
Julian Alaphilippe and Tadej Pogacar therefore remain from last year’s G4. Alaphilippe did not come out of the Strade unscathed, the Slovenian won his regular (sponsor) appointment in the Emirates, the Strade Bianche and is also a top favorite in Italy.
Who can put sticks in the wheels? Our Belgian glasses initially spot Remco Evenepoel. After his 2nd place in Valencia and overall victory in the Algarve, he is now boxing in a higher category.
The competition will come from Jonas Vingegaard, Thibaut Pinot, Romain Bardet, Jakob Fuglsang, Enric Mas, Wilco Kelderman, Rigoberto Uran, Giulio Ciccone, Miguel Angel Lopez, Richard Carapaz, Richie Porte, Domenico Pozzovivo and Damiano Caruso.
In the bunch sprints we get to see shows of strength between Mark Cavendish, Pascal Ackermann, Arnaud Démare, Alberto Dainese, Caleb Ewan, Jordi Meeus, Elia Viviani, Peter Sagan, Alexander Kristoff, Michael Matthews, Phil Bauhaus, Nacer Bouhanni and Tim Merlier.
Spice up the field: Kasper Asgreen, Greg Van Avermaet, Benoît Cosnefroy, Brent Van Moer, Tim Wellens, Mark Padoon, Gianni Moscon and Matej Mohoric.
We follow every day from start to finish with text report. You will also get interviews with the protagonists from Italy.
During the weekend broadcasts on Radio 1 there will be extra attention for the Italian spectacle and Tirreno-Adriatico will also be discussed in Het Journaal.
