A star-full startlist for the race of the two seas
Tirreno-Adriatico 2021 begins on Wednesday, March 10 with a flat stage on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and in a total of 7 days it crosses Italy to finish on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, where the race will be decided in the last day’s time trial. Of the 5 stages that cyclists will find between one and the other, 3 have hilly profiles, one is flat and seems prepared for sprinters, and one is a mountain stage for climbers. This journey from sea to sea gives its name to the race and is the reason why the competition is also known as “the race of the two seas”.
The main favorite for the general classification cannot be other than Tadej Pogačar (1200), as the young Slovenian talent has started the year in good shape. He won the UAE Tour without much trouble and proved to be more than an all-rounder on Saturday at Strade Bianche, making it with the group of the best. In addition, Pogačar gets to Tirreno-Adriatico with a great team, with Rafal Majka (800) and Davide Formolo (600) at his service.
The main alternative to Pogačar for the win is Egan Bernal (1200), who seems to have put behind his back problems that led him to leave the Tour lgoes to Tirreno-Adriatico with a strong squad, with Pavel Sivakov (600), Geraint Thomas (800) and ITT specialist Filippo Ganna (800) as main names.
Other possible candidates for victory are the two men from the Deceuninck-Quick Step Julian Alaphilippe (1200) and João Almeida (800), and it remains to be seen how far they can go in the mountains the two cyclocross geniuses Wout Van Aert (1000) and Mathieu Van Der Poel (600), of whom it should be noted that he was on the UAE Tour’s best team, even when he left the race after the first stage.
Other GC contenders in the background are last year winner Simon Yates (800), Sergio Higuita (600), Marc Soler (600), Thibaut Pinot (800), Vincenzo Nibali (800) (winner of the race in 2012 and 2013), Giulio Ciccone (400), Michael Woods (800), Mikel Landa (800), Jakob Fuglsang (1200), Romain Bardet (600) or Nairo Quintana (1000).
For big group arrivals, there are several sprinters on the starting list: Caleb Ewan (1200), Fernando Gaviria (800), Davide Ballerini (600), Elia Viviani (1000), Tim Merlier (400) or even Wout Van Aert (1000) and Mathieu Van Der Poel (600) are a priori the favorites for the sprint stages. It remains to be seen Peter Sagan (1200)’s form, as he will finally reappear in Tirreno-Adriatico after tested positive for coronavirus in early February.