The forecasts were fulfilled at the start of Tirreno-Adriatico 2023, with an intractable Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) who gave his rivals no option in the time trial with which the race started, while his teammate, the American Magnus Sheffiels entered third and classified as the best performance by a cyclist from our continent in the prestigious event.
The segment, of just over 11 kilometers, was marked by rainy weather, a lot of wind and even hail, which mainly harmed those who started in the early stages and only gave a little more respite to those last to take the exit in the tip of the race.
The Frenchman Bruno Armirail, with a time of 13’25”, set the best time of this first stage of Tirreno-Adriatico for many minutes, even without being able to be surpassed by a Wout Van Aaert who started the competition unusually early and decided not to risk due to the weather conditions, as he declared after crossing the finish line 17 seconds behind the Frenchman.
Also clearly affected by the weather was Thomas Pidcock, who even worsened the Belgian’s performance, specifically, 12” more than Van Aert. A good example of the hardness of the day were the first words of his teammate Michal Kwiatkwoski, who was close to evicting Armirail from the hot seat. With a completely shaken face, he only managed to say: “I have rarely run a time trial in such harsh conditions”.
A few minutes later, a hailstorm would intensify and after it, the rain began to stop and the wind to abate. An opportunity that the American from INEOS Grenadiers Magnus Sheffield took advantage of to get a great time out of his hat that lowered the Frenchman’s time by no less than 26”. A mark that allowed him to dream of stage victory, especially when cyclists were arriving and none came close to his record.
Among them, the main favourites, with Jai Hindley giving up 20 seconds, Adam Yates 25 or Roglic 18. A good performance by Enric Mas who, without being a specialist by any means, gave up just 11 seconds compared to Primoz Roglic. The other Spaniard called to be the protagonist of this Tirreno-Adriatico 2023, Mikel Landa, in his line in this discipline, lost 26 seconds compared to the time of the Slovenian.
He broke the minutes of monotony while waiting for the departure of the great favorite to win the stage, the arrival of the German from Bora-Hansgrohe Lennard Kamna, who managed to snatch first place from Sheffield, lowering his mark by three seconds.
However, no time counted against the push of the giant from INEOS Grenadiers, Filippo Ganna, who from the first meters set a relentless pace, with the addition of better weather conditions. Already at interval 10 it was the improvement marked by the Italian, sweeping Kamna’s time by 28 seconds at the finish line, at a stratospheric average of 55.3 km/h.
All the options open in the general for the coming stages and, most important of all, without victims in the form of a fall.
Classification Stage 1
1.- Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) 12’28”
2.- Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) +28”
3.- Magnus Sheffiels (INEOS Grenadiers) +31”
4.- Michael Hepburn (Jayco-alUla) +33”
5.- Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +34”