Tirreno – Adriatico 2017 – Stage 1 Preview

By David Hunter

Lido di Camaiore – Lido di Camaiore 22.7km TTT

The race begins with the customary TTT. With only 4 corners, this is a day for the powerhouses of the peloton.

This stage is a regular and some of these riders know the route very well. It is hugely important for those with GC aspirations. A bad day for the team and it’s all over for their GC bid.

Weather

A nice day, with a gentle breeze coming from the sea. The conditions will remain constant throughout, giving everyone the same opportunity of success.

Contenders

BMC – the former world champions arrive fresh from winning the TTT in Valenciana. They bring with them an incredibly strong squad, featuring some TT horsepower. They start as favourite, and want to take another TTT win, which will also put Van Garderen into a good position on GC. They won this stage last year, with most of their current squad. The only changes see Dennis and Kung replace Phinney and De Marchi. Those changes should make them even stronger.

QuickStep – just like BMC, they arrive with a squad made for this stage. In Terpstra and Boonen they have plenty of experience and they’ll hope to push BMC all the way. Etixx have Jungels for the GC, he’ll be hoping to make some early time on the pure climbers. They lost this stage to BMC by just 2 seconds in 2016, but they’ve made 3 changes, replacing Tony Martin, Brambilla and Lampaert with Boonen, Trentin and Keisse. Not having Tony Martin is a huge loss.

Team Sky – I wouldn’t say they have a classical TTT squad, but it still looks strong. Sky have riders with good current form, they will expect a strong performance. Thomas, Kwiatkowski and Kiryienka will shoulder a lot of the work and I think they could surprise the big 2. They do have Mikel Landa, a rider that will slow them down, but they might be able to hide him.

FDJ – they managed to surprise most and finish 3rd here in 2016, just 9 seconds behind BMC. They have significantly improved in this discipline and would hope for a better result than they achieved in Valenciana. From 2016 they have replaced Geniez and Le Bon with Ludvigsson and Roy, changes that should make them better. Pinot is hoping for a good result, to aid his hopes of winning the overall title.

Bahrain Merida – Nibali arrives with his new team, one that should be looking to finish in the top 5 in the TTT. With Agnoli, Boaro, Moreno, Navardauskas and Siutsou he has a lot of strong riders. This stage will be crucial for Nibali, he will not want to lose time to Quintana.

Orica Scott – with a team here to support Caleb Ewan, they have a good chance of doing well in the TT. They have Kluge and Mezgec, but also the TT power of Durbridge and Hepburn. It’s been a while since Orica were winning TTTs, but they’ll hope to challenge for the podium and put Adam Yates into a strong overall position.

Trek Segafredo – Mollema will be praying that Matthias Brandle has a good day. The team have some strong men in it, but they lack TT power. Brandle is going to be hugely important and he’s started the season in good form. He was very impressive in Ruta del Sol, pacing the peloton for large parts of each stage.

Team Sunweb – how much work will Dumoulin do himself? He has such a huge engine, some of his teammates will struggle to go fast enough for him. Sunweb will hope for a top 5 result, especially as Dumoulin wants to challenge for the title.

Movistar – this could be the most important stage for Nairo Quintana. You would expect him to do well on the Terminillo, this is the day he is vulnerable. Movistar were a disappointing 10th in this stage last year, but they have responded by sending stronger riders. The main addition is Castroviejo, fresh from his win in the Algarve TT, Movistar will need some huge pulls from him. Quintana will want to finish within 15 seconds of his main rivals.

Prediction Time

BMC look much stronger than the other teams. I expect them to win by more than 5 seconds.

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