Tirreno-Adriatico 2024: The most important facts in brief
- Date: 4-10 March, 7 stages
- Distance~ 1100 kilometres
- StartLido di Camaiore, GoalSan Benedetto del Tronto
- ProfileThree mountain stages, including two mountain finishes, two hilly stages, one of them with an uphill finish, one individual time trial, one flat stage
- UCI category: World Tour
- Premiere1966, 59th edition
- All information about the route and TV broadcast
In the absence of last year's winner Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), who are competing at Paris-Nice this year, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), who finished third in 2023, is the man to beat, so to speak. There are plenty of candidates, one in particular.
The TOUR favourites by stars
* Andreas Leknessund, Isaac del Toro, Cian Uijtdebroeks, Ben Healy, Thymen Arensman
** Thomas Pidcock, Enric Mas, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Jai Hindley
*** Simon Yates, Richard Carapaz, Daniel Felipe Martinez
**** Ben O'Connor, Juan Ayuso
***** Jonas Vingegaard
Vingegaard once again the measure of all things
If a cyclist is not at the start of Paris-Nice, he rides Tirreno-Adriatico. And with the exception of Tadej Pogacar, this rule of thumb applies again this year. Accordingly, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) is also at the start in Italy and therefore almost automatically the top favourite.
The Dane, who competed in France last year and finished third there, has already put the fear of God into the competition again in his season debut. At the Spanish tour O Gran Camino (2.1), the Tour winner won three out of four stages and all special classifications. Only in the opening time trial, which was not relevant for the overall classification due to the weather, did the 27-year-old merely roll along.
O'Connor and Ayuso with success stories
Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) are also travelling in good form. O'Connor has already won the Tour of Murcia and the mountain finish on Jebel Jais at the UAE Tourwhich he finished in second place overall. The Australian was particularly strong on the climbs.
Due to the results he has already achieved in the early stages of the season, he and Ayuso are therefore regarded as Vingegaard's main challengers. The young Spaniard has also already won a race, securing the Faun-Ardeche Classic (1.Pro). The following day he came second in the Faun Drome Classic (1.Pro) and finished third in the Trofeo Laigueglia (1.Pro). His only tour in the programme more or less fell through, as only the time trial could be held at the Ruta del Sol (2nd Pro) due to farmers' protests. Here, too, he finished second. Ayuso is ready.
Yates cancels, youngster del Toro moves up
Following Adam Yates' cancellation at relatively short notice due to a concussion he suffered after a crash at the UAE Tour, Ayuso has been ordered to rest and take a break from training. Even if Isaac del Toro replaces the Briton. The 20-year-old had a very good start in his first race as a neo-pro. with a stage win and 3rd place overall in the Tour Down Under (2.UWT) has made a big impression. If the young Mexican manages another top result, it would not be a huge surprise, but an exclamation mark nonetheless.
However, Tirreno-Adriatico 2024 will not be without a Yates. Adam's twin brother Simon will start as captain of Jayco-AlUla. Down Under, there was still some room for improvement for the 31-year-old, but he was able to win the AlUla Tour (2.1) in Saudi Arabia, even though the competition there was not quite as prestigious.
Bora-Hansgrohe with several options and EF Education EasyPost
Bora-Hansgrohe's group of cyclists are likely to have similar ambitions to the Brits. Daniel Felipe Martinez and Jai Hindley are at the start. Martinez proved to be in better form at the Tour of the Algarve (2.Pro) in second place behind Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) than Hindley with 5th place at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana (2.Pro). Which of the two will take the captain's role at Tirreno-Adriatico will ultimately depend on the form of the day. Lennard Kämna, who finished fourth last year, is also a potential third candidate at the start. However, the rider from Bremen struggled with health problems at the start of the season and is more likely to be on the hunt for stages.
EF Education EasyPost also has more than one iron in the fire, but is likely to rely primarily on Richard Carapaz for the overall classification. However, Ben Healy's fourth place in the Algarve also proves that he can ride for the overall classification in smaller tours, especially if the mountains are not too long and a time trial is also part of the programme.
Surprise candidates Leknessund, Mas, Arensman and Co.
Thomas Pidcock, Thymen Arensman (both Ineos Grenadiers), Enric Mas (Movistar) and Geoghegan Hart are also likely to be in the race for the front positions. For Mas it is the season premiere, Geoghegan Hart was not yet in top form at his debut for his new team in Portugal. Pidock recently finished eighth in the Omloop Het Niewusblad (1st UWT) and Arensman was fifth in the Algarve.
Cian Uijtdebroeks was able to do the same in his Visma debut alongside Vingegaard at O Gran Camino. As a helper, he rode to 5th place in the overall standings, and the Belgian will probably be hoping for a similar result at Tirreno-Adriatico. This also applies to Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), who has not yet been able to reach the same level of performance in his two tours so far this season. A surprise cannot be ruled out for the Norwegian, as was the case with his great performance at the Giro d'Italia last year, which led him to pink and ultimately to 8th place.
