Tirreno-Adriatico 2019 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE – Team Time Trial]

March 13, 2019

Tirreno-Adriatico 2019 – Stage 1 TTT – Lido di Camaiore – Lido di Camaiore : 21,5 km

While this year’s Paris-Nice has attracted the bulk of the Grand Tour contenders and the world’s best sprinters, Tirreno-Adriatico instead appeals to the Classics specialists and puncheurs, who will use the succession of hilly stages through central Italy to prepare for Milan-San Remo. As well as a litany of climbs that mimic the challenges of La Classicissima’s Cipressa and Poggio, the route includes the steep muri around Recanati, but the 2019 ‘Race of the Two Seas’ breaks with recent tradition and will not feature a mountaintop finish in the Apennines. Last year’s winner, Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky), has decided to forgo defending his title and has instead plumped for this week’s significantly hillier Paris-Nice. Tirreno has attracted the likes of Kwiatkowski’s teammate and 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas, as well as likely Giro d’Italia contender Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma). Both riders will relish the opening team time trial and the concluding individual time trial, but there’s nothing ever really tough enough over the race’s seven days to suggest they’ll be able to gain much of an advantage over the rest.

Mitchelton-Scott put in a pitch-perfect ride to claim victory in the opening team time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico. Despite having to avert their course due to a spectator running into the road, the Australian team stopped the clock at 22:25 to beat Jumbo-Visma by seven seconds.

Michael Hepburn was the first of the five Mitchelton-Scott riders over the line and will wear the leader’s jersey, while Adam Yates finished safely in the group to give him a solid advantage over his general classification rivals.

“I didn’t expect to be in this position when I woke up this morning. We obviously had a great squad here for the opening stage,” said Hepburn. “We were not targeting just the stage but also supporting Adam Yates on GC. Today we also got luck on our side. We’re pleased with this result. Tirreno-Adriatico is one of my favourite races of the year. But I don’t deserve the jersey any more than anyone else in the squad. I’m just really happy for the whole team.”

Jumbo-Visma came into the day with confidence after their victory in the team time trial at the UAE Tour last month. With Primoz Roglic, Jos van Emden and Tony Martin in their seven-man line-up, the boys in yellow smashed the previous best time of Deceuninck-QuickStep by a massive 30 seconds. They had a tense wait as teams crossed the line, but with one team remaining Team Sunweb was their closest threat at 15 seconds.

Mitchelton-Scott were the last team to leave the start ramp and it was clear that they were on song as they went six seconds clear at the intermediate check. Brent Bookwalter and Chris Juul-Jensen dropped off after doing big turns, but the team still had one more than the minimum of four as they entered the final kilometre.

The team looked certain of usurping Jumbo-Visma, but it almost came tumbling down as they rounded a corner to find a spectator running across the road with her dog. Thankfully, all of the riders were able to avoid the spectator and hardly missed a beat as they pushed on towards the line. Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) shook his head as Mitchelton-Scott came around the final corner, knowing that he and his teammates would not be paying a visit to the podium – at least for today.

How it happened

Tirreno-Adriatico started in the same manner it has done in recent years with a team time trial around Lido di Camaiore. The out and back route would ordinarily not pose too many issues for the riders but the rain that coated the roads would.

AG2R La Mondiale were the first of the 23 teams to start their effort on the 21.5km course, but with no big contender, their aim was just to get around with no major difficulties. EF Education First, the fifth team to go, set the early benchmark with a time of 23:21 and finishing with a full complement of seven riders.

Aside from the rain, the early part of the team time trial was marked by another incident with a pedestrian. Bora-Hansgrohe were well into their ride when a spectator crossed the road, walking into the path of their train. Most of the team were able to avoid the man, but Rafal Majka and Oscar Gatto collided with him. Both Majka and Gatto were able to complete the course but were battered and bruised as they crossed the line. The spectator was taken to hospital where it is reported that their condition is ‘not worrying’.

EF Education First would enjoy around 20 minutes in the hot seat before they were bettered by Deceuninck-QuickStep. However, the Belgian team fractured slightly as they drove for the line with their fourth rider losing touch and crossing a few seconds after his teammates.

The rain cleared up as the stage continued, giving the later teams a full dry run through Lido di Camaiore. QuickStep could do nothing as they watched Jumbo-Visma make the most of the changing conditions to smash their time by some 30 seconds. Team Sky came home immediately after Jumbo-Visma but could only manage a time 40 seconds shy, giving Geraint Thomas plenty of work to do over the coming days.

Team Sunweb were the penultimate team to depart and with Tom Dumoulin in their ranks, they were one of the favourites for victory. However, they could only manage third at the intermediate time check and that is where they would finish, with just four riders, after everyone had completed their runs. Mitchelton-Scott enjoyed a set off five minutes behind them and would enjoy a near-faultless run until the incident with a spectator inside the final kilometre. Thankfully, it did not impact on the result as they crossed the line to take the victory.

Results :
1 Mitchelton-Scott 0:22:25
2 Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:07
3 Team Sunweb 0:00:22
4 Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:37
5 Team Sky 0:00:47
6 Lotto Soudal 0:00:54
7 EF Education First 0:00:56
8 Groupama-FDJ 0:00:58
9 Israel Cycling Academy 0:01:05
10 Bahrain-Merida 0:01:10
11 CCC Team 0:01:12
12 Trek-Segafredo
13 Astana Pro Team 0:01:13
14 UAE Team Emirates 0:01:19
15 Movistar Team 0:01:32
16 Dimension Data 0:01:34
17 Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:38
18 Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:01:40
19 Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:54
20 Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:57
21 AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:01
22 Neri Sottoli Selle Italia KTM NSK 0:02:10
23 Bardiani CSF 0:02:41

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:22:25
2 Brent Bookwalter (USA) Mitchelton-Scott
3 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
4 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
5 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:03
6 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:07
7 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
8 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
9 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma
10 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
11 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:00:22
12 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb
13 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
14 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
15 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:37
16 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
17 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
18 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
19 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Deceuninck-QuickStep
20 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb 0:00:41
21 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
22 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:47
23 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
24 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Sky
25 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team Sky
26 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
27 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:54
28 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
29 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal
30 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
31 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education First 0:00:56
32 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
33 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First
34 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Education First
35 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) EF Education First
36 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First
37 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Education First
38 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:58
39 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
40 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
41 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
42 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:02
43 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:01:05
44 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
45 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
46 Conor Dunne (Irl) Israel Cycling Academy
47 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy
48 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
49 Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:07
50 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:10
51 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
52 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
53 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
54 Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bel) CCC Team 0:01:12
55 Michael Schär (Swi) CCC Team
56 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
57 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC Team
58 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:13
59 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
60 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
61 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
62 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
63 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
64 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
65 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
66 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
67 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) CCC Team 0:01:14
68 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:19
69 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
70 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
71 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
72 Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates
73 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
74 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:24
75 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:32
76 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
77 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team
78 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team
79 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
80 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
81 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:01:34
82 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data
83 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Dimension Data
84 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Dimension Data
85 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:38
86 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
87 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
88 Ian Boswell (USA) Katusha-Alpecin
89 Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
90 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
91 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
92 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:01:40
93 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
94 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
95 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
96 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:01:52
97 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:53
98 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:54
99 Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
100 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
101 Kenneth Vanbilsen (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
102 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
103 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
104 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:57
105 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
106 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
107 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
108 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
109 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:02:01
110 Nico Denz (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale
111 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
112 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
113 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
114 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
115 Nikolai Cherkasov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:02:02
116 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Cycling Academy 0:02:04
117 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
118 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:10
119 Simone Velasco (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
120 Dayer Quintana (Col) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
121 Luca Pacioni (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
122 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
123 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
124 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
125 Davide Gabburo (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM 0:02:11
126 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data 0:02:16
127 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
128 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Dimension Data
129 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:02:22
130 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) CCC Team
131 Mirco Maestri (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:02:41
132 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF
133 Michael Bresciani (Ita) Bardiani CSF
134 Marco Maronese (Ita) Bardiani CSF
135 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF
136 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:49
137 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:51
138 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:53
139 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
140 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Lotto Soudal
141 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) CCC Team
142 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:03:10
143 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:15
144 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:03:24
145 Stepan Kuriyanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:03:29
146 Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:03:32
147 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky 0:03:34
148 Paul Martens (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:03:41
149 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:03:50
150 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:59
151 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:04:17
152 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
153 Tom Bohli (Swi) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:29
154 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:04:34
155 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
156 Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:05:23
157 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:05:35
158 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
159 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:05:37
160 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
161 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:06:44