2013 Tirreno-Adriatico, Starts Tomorrow

Tirreno-Adriatico, the "Race of the Two Seas", begins tomorrow and will be held over seven days until March 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 Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome (1st and 2nd at Tour de France last year), Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans (winner of 2010 T-A), Vincenzo Nibali, and Moreno Moser who won the Strade Bianche on Saturday. 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 19 teams of the World Tour (with the Italian Cannondale Pro Cycling and Lampre-Merida teams) plus Fantini-Selle Italia, NetApp and MTN Qhubeka, a new team from South Africa.

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, it started on Sunday and will finish March 10th.

Past winners:
2012 NIBALI Vincenzo
2011 CADEL EVANS
2010 STEFANO Garzelli
2009 SCARPONI Michele
2008 CANCELLARA Fabian
2007 KLODEN Andreas
2006 DEKKER Thomas
2005 FREIRE GOMEZ Oscar
2004 BETTINI Paolo
2003 POZZATO Filippo
2002 DEKKER Erik
2001 REBELLIN Davide
2000 OLANO MANZANO Abraham
1999 BARTOLI Michele
1998 JAERMANN Rolf
1997 PETITO Roberto
1996 CASAGRANDE Francesco
1995 COLAGÈ Stefano
1994 FURLAN Giorgio
1993 FONDRIEST Maurizio
1992 SORENSEN Rolf
1991 DIAZ ZABALA Pedro
1990 ROMINGER Tony
1989 ROMINGER Tony
1988 MAECHLER Erich
1987 SORENSEN Rolf
1986 RABOTTINI Luciano
1985 ZOETEMELK Joop
1984 PRIM Tommy
1983 VISENTINI Roberto
1982 SARONNI Giuseppe
1981 MOSER Francesco
1980 MOSER Francesco
1979 KNUDSEN Knud
1978 SARONNI Giuseppe
1977 DE VLAEMINCK Roger
1976 DE VLAEMINCK Roger
1975 DE VLAEMINCK Roger
1974 DE VLAEMINCK Roger
1973 DE VLAEMINCK Roger
1972 DE VLAEMINCK Roger
1971 ZILIOLI Italo
1970 HOUBRECHTS Tony
1969 CHIAPPANO Carlo
1968 MICHELOTTO Claudio
1967 BITOSSI Franco
1966 ZANDEGU’ Dino


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