2013 Tirreno-Adriatico, March 6-12

Tirreno-Adriatico, the "Race of the Two Seas", will be held over seven days from March 6th to 12th. This short stage race wlll test everything covered in the cycling manual: long sprints, short sprints, climbs, team time trials and individual time trials. Last year's winner Vincenzo Nibali will face competition from Chris Froome (2nd at Tour de France last year), Alberto Contador, and Cadel Evans (who won in 2010) for the GC victory. Moser, Cunego, Cavendish, Sagan, Rodriguez, Goss and will add to the excitement of the racing.

The route for this year is very similar to that of 2012, with the finish at San Benedetto and a short (9 km) individual time trial. There will be tough stages at Prati di Tivo (the only finish on a steep climb, 7.1% avergae, 12% max) and Chieti (where riders have to scale the Passo Lanciano late on in the stage and a 19% finish into Chieti), then Porto Sant'Elpidio and a gruelling ride around the hills of the Marche region. The stages:
Wed 06/03/2013 16,9 km San Vincenzo - Donoratico (TTT)
Thurs 07/03/2013 232 km San Vincenzo - Indicatore (Arezzo)
Fri 08/03/2013 190 km Indicatore (Arezzo) - Narni Scalo
Sat 9/03/2013 173 km Narni - Prati di Tivo
Sun 10/03/2013 230 km Ortona - Chieti
Mon 11/03/2013 209 km Porto Sant'Elpidio - Porto Sant'Elpidio
Tues12/03/2013 9,2 km San Benedetto del Tronto (ITT)

There will be 22 teams taking part, made up of 8 riders each: they'll include the 18 teams of the World Tour (with the Italian Cannondale Pro Cycling and Lampre-Merida teams) plus Katusha, Fantini-Selle Italia, NetApp and MTN Qhubeka, a new team from South Africa.

Damiano Cunego, "I am looking forwad to participating in this great race. It's a full race: there are time trials, there are hills, there really is everything. I'll try to be better prepared, assisted in my preparation by Michele Bartoli."

Moreno Moser, "This year much is expected of me, last year I went to the races without weight on my shoulders. I'll artrive at Tirreno-Adriatico'll with few races in the legs but I will try to give everything. The Trirreno-Adriatico is one of the most important races in Italy along with the Giro d'Italia, Milan-San Remo and Il Lombardia."

Tirreno-Adriatico is a traditional run-up to Milan-Sanremo which is held the following weekend. Although Milan-Sanremo has usually been held on Saturdays it has now been moved to Sundays (read the three reasons here). Paris-Nice is another short stage race used in preparation for Milan-Sanremo, the dates are March 3rd to 10th.

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