The Race - The Italian equivalent of Paris-Nice, acting as the essential Giro D’Italia warmup and also a fine preparation for those looking to take the spring classics as well. The race has a long history, having first started in 1967.
Last Year - Nairo Quintana’s dominant win upon the Terminillo climb, where he managed to distance the peloton and then Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates with two attacks in the last five kilometres, was enough to earn him overall victory although he may not have if Geraint Thomas’s wheels had not burst on the opening team time trial stage.
The Route - Is very much balanced like the modern tours – with time trialling just as important as climbing, if not even more so given we have just a week. There’s a 21.5km team time trial that opens the race with a big effect on the GC very likely and the closing time trial – a fixture in the race now which is 10.05km and pan flat.
The Queen Stage to Sasso Tetto has a climb of 14.2kms at 5.5% but stages 3 and 5 have exceptionally sharp finishes with the last 300m to Trevi hitting 20% and the last kilometre to Fillotirano ending at 5%, so there are two potential opportunities there to make time.
There are also two sprint stages, the second and sixth on the route.
Stage 1: Lido di Camaiore (TTT), 21.5km - For the third year in a row, we start with a team time trial around the seafront of Lido di Camiore. This is a simple course which is solely for the powerhouses – there are just four corners. Weather is important and already the battle for the overall is already on.
Stage 2: Camaiore > Follonica, 169km - A journey straight down the Tuscan coast and a route almost exclusively reserved for the sprinters to duke it out ahead of Milan San-Remo at the weekend. This will be fiercely contested as it is one of only two chances for the sprinters to have a stage finish.
Stage 3: Follonica > Trevi 239km - This is a classics style stage that is sure to have a big effect on the overall result. There are hardly any flat roads during the day and this begins right from the start in Follonica, where the race will head through the province of Grosseto towards Roccastastrada for the day’s first climb. The riders will then head towards the Passo Lume Del Spento, and push on south east across what can only be described as very rolling territory towards the finish in Trevi, where the last kilometre hits double digits regularly including a high of 20%.
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Stage 4: Foligno > Sassotetto, 219km - Look at the profile and it might seem that this is all about the final climb to Sassotetto, which is a long, long effort 14.2kms at 5.5%. However, there is a lot of climbing through the day – especially after the first 60 kilometres. There are as many as eight notable rises before the finish and many are sharp enough to split the peloton.
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Stage 5: Castelraimondo > Filottrano, 178km - This is rather closeted coastal loop with a flat first 50 meters before the race turns right to head inland, towards the coast. There is a sharp climb at Montelupone on ‘normal’ roads –to get to the seafront through Porto Recanati, and then there are flat roads for 430km before a rolling terrain through to the rest of the day.
The finish is once again potentially spectacular, with the Muro di Filottrano taken three times. The finish does not see them take it from the hardest route but it does touch 10% with the last kilometre being 5.2%.
Stage 6: Numana > Fano, 153km - This is one for the sprinters, who will have done very well to make it through to the penultimate day.
Stage 7: San Benedetto del Tronto, 10km - An out and back time trial that is just pan flat and for the powerhouses.
The Contenders - This field is stacked with talent, but all-round skill and a strong team are the order of the day, especially for the opening team time trial.
Team Sky need a lift and in Geraint Thomas they have the ideal candidate. The Welshman has become an elite one-week racer (although yet to make it through a Grand Tour unscathed) and he might well have won this race last year if his tyres had held up during the opening team time trial, when he lost 1:42 that day and any real chance of the overall. That said, he took stage 2 last year and was second on the climb to Termnillo, and he goes extremely well in Italy. Thomas took the time trial on his way to finishing second there Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta, with only his team-mate Michal Kwiatkowski strong enough to beat him, and he starts as the favourite.
We will learn a lot more about where Chris Froome is here. His comeback in Andalucia was fine considering that he was there to help Wout Poels but now we’ll see him tested a lot more; Last year, to prepare for his double tilt, he worked slowly into form, with his best result being a fourth place in the Dauphine, so he may still be tuning up.
Lotto Jumbo’s Primoz Roglic had a breakout year in 2017, which included a Tour de France stage win, although his Tour and been disappointing given that he’d impressed so much through the early parts of the season. He is deadly against the clock – indeed only Tom Dumoulin managed to beat him at the Worlds last year – although Lotto-Jumbo might not be as strong as others in the longer team time trial.
That will be less of an issue for Sunweb, where Tom Dumoulin is going to lead the team in a much-anticipated battle with Chris Froome. On his return to racing at Abu Dhabi, he suffered two mechanicals at the worst of times - the first in the time trial which cost him 31 seconds, and the second coming on Jebel Hafeet – but assuming better luck he should be seriously involved. Sunweb took the World Team Time trial last year and four of those six riders will start tomorrow whilst the sharp finishes shouldn’t hurt his chances. Wilco Kelderman will be in support but is a podium contender too if in top form – he can time trial well himself but is a very able climber.
The 30kms of time trialling, either with a team or alone, makes this hard for pure out and out climbers. Romain Bardet (AG2R) has ways struggled against the clock but he is in fine form as his excellent second at Strade Bianche showed and we can look forward to seeing him a lot this week especially when there are extreme percentages.
Mikel Landa was arguably the world’s best climber at points last season and his opening race with Movistar went well with a sixth-place finish in Andalucía a nice way to start the season. He will be eyeing up the queen stage with eager anticipation and perhaps making a claim on stages 3 and 5, but this overall looks too flat for him.
Rigoberto Uran’s great performances were a huge part of saving EF Education First last year and it is good for them that he was showing up well in the first Colombia Oro y Paz. He can time trial, but this might be too flat for him, although he’ll be looking for stage wins.
