It was inevitable, really. Jonas Vingegaard was not the only GC contender at Tirreno-Adriatico, but even so, he seemed to be in a race of his own with his rivals apparently content to settle for second place.
With the two-time Tour de France champion putting Juan Ayuso, Jai Hindley et al. in their places, the drama could be found elsewhere – in the sprint stages, believe it or not. Sure, at least two of them were conventional bunch gallops, but a mix of democratic form, unfavourable conditions, a technical olde worlde finale and the defiant ambition of Uno-X Mobility made the flat finishes the high points of the race.
- Juan Ayuso’s surprise stage 1 victory over Filippo Ganna in the traditional Lido di Camaiore ITT was somewhat overshadowed by the launch of a frankly bewildering new time-trial helmet from Giro. Among the Visma-Lease A Bike riders wearing – or inhabiting – the new lid was outright GC favourite Jonas Vingegaard who was the top finisher for his team, but at 22 seconds down in ninth, his first outing under the new helmet was a little underwhelming.
- Jasper Philipsen had sturdy competition in Italy, but was still expected to dominate the sprints that made up a likely four out of seven stages. The Belgian got off to a powerful start with victory ahead of compatriot Tim Merlier on stage 2, but the weather turned stage 3’s already tricky finale into a treacherous one, and the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider was one of the first to go down in the run-in, with Phil Bauhaus emerging Victorious from the reduced bunch.
- Stage 4 marked the last chance for sprinters before the race reached the Adriatic coast, and this time it was Jonathan Milan who rewarded his new Lidl-Trek teammates with a powerful punch to the line ahead of Philipsen, Corbin Strong and Biniam Girmay. However, they did leave it alarmingly late to catch lone survivor Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) who was caught so close to the line that he still took seventh on the stage. Milan’s fourth top-10 finish in as many days put the Italian into the race lead before the first visit to mountainous terrain.
- With Ayuso just four seconds off the lead after relinquishing the jersey the night before, and a number of strong riders around Vingegaard in the GC standings, there was at least a slight glimmer of hope for a race in the mountains – his supposed underperformance in the time trial offering a seed of doubt – but the Dane was quick to stamp his authority on stage 5 via the hors-catégorie San Giacomo climb (11.9km at 6.2%).
- Vingegaard had almost a minute’s lead over Ayuso going into the final weekend, with third-place Jai Hindley 1:20 in arrears, but with a tough summit finish on Monte Petrano (HC: 10.2km at 7.9%), the other GC contenders seemed to resign themselves to racing for the minor placings behind the two-time Tour champion. Bora-Hansgrohe and UAE Team Emirates were determined to put the race leader under pressure, but with Ayuso forced to chase earlier than anticipated after an unfortunately timed bike change 30km from the finish, his punch didn’t pack as much as it might have. Hindley launched the first acceleration just inside 7 km to go – catching last-remaining breaker Richard Carapaz in the process – but Vingegaard was quick to react, and when the Dane made his own move, all Hindley and Ayuso could do was to limit losses and seal the podium.
- Stage 7 was the grand finale for the sprinters with Philipsen, Bauhaus and Milan all targeting a second win of the week, but their party was almost spoiled by the brave efforts of Uno-X Mobility. The Norwegian team had the numbers for Alexander Kristoff in the last few kilometres, and when Søren Wærenskjold snuck off the front in the finishing straight, they left it to Lidl-Trek to handle proceedings. In fact, Milan found himself on the front when the 23-year-old Norwegian got away, but he had the patience to wait for Simone Consonni to conduct a perfect lead-out for his compatriot. Kristoff came up fast, but the Italian charged down the middle of the road to take the win and the ciclamino jersey.
Brief stage-by-stage results:
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates)
- Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
- Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious)
- Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek)
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)
- Jonas Vingegaard
- Jonathan Milan
Quote of the race
Brief analysis
- In contrast to Paris-Nice where pre-race favourites Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel have had their hands full, Vingegaard effectively put the Italian GC race to sleep with his stinging injection of pace on the lower slopes of stage 5’s HC climb. He was soon out of sight and, it seemed, out of mind, as his rivals resigned themselves to the minor placings. On stage 6, the only summit finish of the race, Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease A Bike team appeared content to watch the others fight over the scraps, tiring themselves out, before the race leader launched his definitive counter move 6 km from the top. Ayuso and Hindley tried and failed to follow.
- I’m usually wary of overdoing the hyperbole for neo pros and up-and-comers at such an early stage, but we’d probably be talking about Isaac Del Toro even if he hadn’t won the second stage of his first WorldTour race in his debut pro season. The young Mexican has continued to shine since winning stage 2 of the Tour Down Under, and this week he’s looked like an old hand as domestique for UAE teammate Juan Ayuso, while also finding results for himself with seventh and fourth in the mountain stages. Framed as either gathering experience or in his potential as future GC star, Del Toro’s Tirreno-Adriatico has been a roaring success, and UAE Team Emirates will be delighted with their investment.
- With the usual it’s-early-in-the-season caveats, this week has been representative of the lack of domination in the ‘republic of sprinters’ so far this year. Tirreno in particular looks like a good microcosm of this, with four flat finishes finding three distinct victors. While Bauhaus’s victory on the selective stage 3 finale was notable in the company he had, the repeated performances of Milan and his new teammates at Lidl-Trek have been arguably more impressive for their consistency and confidence throughout.
- At the opposite extreme, Mark Cavendish had a race to forget, grovelling through the early sprint stages before finishing outside the time limit on stage 5 alongside lead-out rider Michael Mørkøv. This comes a few weeks after he logged a DNS on stage 6 of the UAE Tour citing illness. The Brit was able to start the season with a win in Colombia, his first since the 2023 Giro d’Italia, but it’s been far from plain sailing since then, and with every passing race the pressure mounts for Astana-Qazaqstan which has put almost all its eggs in the #35 basket with the Manx Missile.
- Coming up against former world champion and two-time Tirreno TT winner Filippo Ganna, not to mention Vingegaard who’s also top-notch against the clock on his day, Ayuso’s stage 1 victory was at least a little bit, though not completely, surprising. The 21-year-old proved last year that he’s one of the very best time trialists in the GC category, and can battle with the best in the discipline over terrain that would be considered favourable for the Spanish climber (he won the ITTs at both the Tours de Suisse and Romandie against top-notch rivals including Evenepoel, Bissegger, Van Aert … Now, after the 10-kilometre out-and-back route along the pan-flat Tyrrhenian waterfront, he has proven that he’s not only suited to hilly time trials. Ayuso is the real deal, meaning he climbs ever closer to the upper echelons of modern GC riders. And Ganna? He has been pretty busy of late, starting 2024 with a little track and plenty of road racing – including sixth in the Volta ao Algarve ITT – on the way to the Giro d’Italia, after which he’ll build towards the Olympics where he will attempt to defend Italy's team pursuit title.
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