‘Like madmen’ into key point 6.8 kilometres from the finish: is this gravel stage pushing it for Van Aert and Van der Poel?

Whether a gravel stage belongs in a race such as Tirreno-Adriatico — at this point in the season, before the Classics and the Grand Tours — will once again divide opinion. Some will hate it, others will love it. What is certain is that everyone is fighting with more or less equal weapons, and every rider and team knew this stage was coming before they started this Tirreno.

The stage starts in Camaiore, slightly inland from the centre of Monday’s time trial. From there, the riders head south, passing Pisa. They will not actually see the coast, although they are never far away from it. At San Pietro in Palazzi, the route turns back inland, where the terrain becomes hillier.

That means this 206-kilometre stage will largely come down to the final 70 kilometres. In that phase, the riders pass through Pomarance (8.4 km at 3.5%), Castelnuovo Val di Cecina (2.0 km at 7.4%) and several uncategorised rises in between the agriturismos that define this region.

With 25 kilometres to go, after the peloton has passed Casole d’Elsa, a flatter section begins. That lasts until 10 kilometres from the line, when the riders reach the hamlet of Bibbiano. This is one of the places sports directors will have circled in red in their road books, because it marks the run-in to the day’s decisive point.

That point comes at 6.8 kilometres from the finish, when the riders leave the provincial road and have to make an almost right-angled left-hand turn onto the 5.2-kilometre gravel sector towards San Gimignano. Both Tirreno-Adriatico’s official road book and the VeloViewer recon material used by team staff flag this as the key point of the day.

Anyone out of position there is almost guaranteed to lose time. From virtually a standing start, the riders immediately face 2 kilometres of climbing at an average of 5.8 percent, with the hardest part coming right at the beginning. The gradient kicks above 10 percent in several places, which could already be enough for even the punchier Classics riders to start running into trouble.

The gravel becomes a little awkward in the second half of the sector, before the riders return to smoother paved roads with 1.5 kilometres to go. Or rather: smoother roads only until they approach the medieval finish town.

Because while the road continues uphill at 7 to 8 percent inside the final kilometre, the route heads back onto broad cobbles in the old town of San Gimignano before finishing in Piazza Duomo, after a stage that may prove even harder than it first appears.

On paper, you might still be tempted to look at the stronger climbing sprinters, but in practice it may not play out that way. Aike Visbeek of Lotto-Intermarché is mainly hoping his rider Arnaud De Lie can stay in contention for as long as possible, though he is not immediately counting on a result from the Belgian. The same applies to Paul Magnier of Soudal Quick-Step, who usually does not mind an uphill drag to the finish either.

So who should we expect? Wout van Aert of Visma | Lease a Bike had already gone to inspect the stage on the day before Strade Bianche, and according to sports director Arthur van Dongen, the Belgian definitely has Tuesday’s finish marked down. At the same time, the team is also thinking about the general classification ambitions of Strade Bianche eighth-place finisher Matteo Jorgenson.

“It’s a beautiful stage, but it will be tough at the end with that gravel. I’m looking forward to it,” Van Aert said. He had already gone to inspect the section on the day before Strade Bianche. “Back then it was very loose. I don’t know if they’re still going to do anything about it, but I think they added fresh gravel there relatively recently. It looked quite demanding.”

That also means Van Aert is not fully convinced the stage will automatically suit him and the other explosive Classics riders. “That doesn’t necessarily have to be the case, but it is a stage I marked out. That gravel section is really uphill, and after that it doesn’t really descend towards the finish, with a tricky final kilometre as well. Because the stage before it is easier, I do hope we can be in the mix. But it suits Isaac del Toro and riders like him as well.”

Jorgenson, who punctured at a crucial moment before Monte Sante Marie on the way to Siena and spent one of his key bullets there, could also profit from this stage. The same goes for Isaac del Toro and Jan Christen, UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s lively duo, and for other punchy climbers.

Thymen Arensman, meanwhile, is not exactly a fan of the concept, as he explained after the time trial to media including IDLProCycling.com. “I really like gravel, and I would also have liked to ride Strade Bianche, but now it’s just one gravel sector in the finale. Add in a few sharp corners and, in my opinion, that’s a bit like asking for problems.” “For a first road stage, I don’t think that’s ideal. If you do gravel, make it properly hard and create bigger gaps. As it is, we’re all going to head into it like madmen.”

On the other hand, for riders such as Antonio Tiberi of Bahrain Victorious and Primož Roglič of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, the priority is likely to be damage limitation, as both men already made clear at Sunday’s pre-race press conference.

Another rider who should absolutely be in the picture is Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Premier Tech. The Dutchman started this Tirreno-Adriatico with the ambition of winning at least one stage, after coming up short in that regard in both 2023 and 2025. Will he add a major San Gimignano victory to his Tirreno tally?