Favorites time trial stage 1 Tirreno-Adriatico 2026 | Red carpet for Ganna, but stage 2 also opens opportunities for Van Aert and Van der Poel

It will be full gas from the very first day. As has become tradition, the race against the clock starts on Italy’s west coast, in the seaside town of Lido di Camaiore. Located around 20 kilometres from Pisa and roughly 100 kilometres from Florence, the riders will have to cover 11.5 kilometres. The route is identical to last year’s opening time trial and is completely flat. The stage starts on the Viale Cristoforo Colombo, from where it is largely a matter of riding flat out in a straight line.

Once the riders reach the intermediate point, after 4.5 kilometres, they make a 180-degree turn. From there, it is a matter of powering all the way back towards the start before continuing a little further on to the finish line. This is a course built for the real power specialists. The official Tirreno–Adriatico route page confirms the stage starts and finishes in Lido di Camaiore.

Times
Start: 12:40 PM
Finish: 3:45 PM (last rider)

There is unlikely to be much discussion about the weather. With temperatures around 15 degrees Celsius and barely any wind, conditions should be just about perfect on Monday.

There is one rider who clearly stands above the rest when it comes to the expected winner: Filippo Ganna of INEOS Grenadiers. The powerhouse from Verbania has made a habit in recent years of ending Tirreno–Adriatico’s opening day in the blue jersey, and once again he starts this edition as the man to beat. Ganna is also prominently featured by IDL Procycling as one of the sport’s leading time trial specialists.

Among the other contenders, we find a mix of pure time trialists and general classification riders. In the first category, names such as Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step), Max Walscheid (Lidl-Trek) and Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers) immediately stand out.

Riders such as Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG), Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) could also already make some small but meaningful gains here.

And then there are the riders who know that, with a strong time trial on day one, they could put themselves in position to take the race lead on stage 2, the gravel stage to San Gimignano. First and foremost, that brings us to Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), but also Jan Christen (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale). IDL Procycling’s broader Tirreno–Adriatico preview and its recent Van Aert coverage both underline that stage 2 could suit that kind of rider profile very well.

Top favorite: Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers)
Outsiders: Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step), Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG), Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers) and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe)
Long shots: Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step), Max Walscheid (Lidl-Trek), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech)