The provisional list of starters for the Italian WorldTour stage race (March 11-17) reads like a who's who of Grand Tour talent, which the organiser is quite rightly billing as an 'unprecedented line-up'.
In addition to defending champion Contador, Froome, Nibali and Quintana, the start list also boasts Daniel Martin (Cannondale-Garmin), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep).
Alberto Contador's win on stage five of last year's Tirreno-Adriatico ultimately netted him the overall victory
(Image credit: Graham Watson)
The calibre of riders isn't restricted to overall contenders either, with sprint rivals Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep), Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin), Elia Viviani (Sky) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) also slated to ride the race. Cavendish wore the race leader's jersey after the opening TTT was won by his Omega Pharma-QuickStep team, and then later won stage six.
The seven-day race opens with a 22.7-kilometre team time trial in Lido di Camaiore before - as the race's name suggests - working its traditional path east to the Adriatic coast at San Benedetto del Tronto for a decisive 10-kilometre individual test against the clock. Before then, the riders will lock horns on the Monte Terminillo for stage five's gruelling summit finish.
Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.
