[Underneath text was written before the start of the Tirreno and has not been updated]
The Tirreno-Adriatico opens with a flat time trial and chances are that Jonas Vingegaard will want to put down a marker straight away. His main goal this season is, obviously, to win the Tour de France for the third consecutive year. He kicked off his season with a powerful performance on O Gran Camiño, which he won minutes ahead of Lenny Martinez and Egan Bernal. Also, he pocketed all stages.
After the ITT on day one the Tirreno continues with a chance for fast men before stage 3 looks enticing for either attackers or sprinters with a strongmen skillset. It’s probably back to the fast men in stage 4, while stage 5 could be GC material. The route goes either up or down during the entire day before a 12 kilometres climb at 6.2% precedes a downhill a rolling run-in to a punchy last kilometre.
Obviously, the Queen Stage is the most important test in terms of the GC. Stage 6 finishes at the Monte Petrano, a 10.1 kilometres climb with an average gradient of 8.1%.
The rider who leads the GC at the Monte Petrano is going to win the Tirreno-Adriatico, as the last stage is flat.
Favourites 2024 Tirreno-Adriatico
*** Jonas Vingegaard, Juan Ayuso
** Tao Geoghegan Hart, Daniel Felipe Martínez, Romain Bardet
* Tom Pidcock, Jai Hindley, Enric Mas, Thymen Arensman, Ben O’Connor