Rain in Tirreno, Milan crashes, Ganna and Van der Poel try but Vendrame wins the stage

The first two stages of Tirreno-Adriatico were both won by the Italian favorites. Filippo Ganna of INEOS Grenadiers won the opening time trial in Lido di Camaiore, and one day later, it was Lidl-Trek sprinter Jonathan Milan's turn to win. The other classic asset, Alberto Bettiol, was less fortunate. The XDS-Astana rider developed a fever after stage two and did not start on day three, nor did Robbe Ghys (Alpecin-Deceuninck, personal reasons) and Q36.5 rider Xabiel Mikel Azparren (concussion).

Mathieu van der Poel, on the other hand, was present. The Dutch rider for Alpecin-Deceuninck, like the rest of the peloton, appeared at the start line early in the morning to tackle the 240-kilometer stage. He did so with ambition. "It is difficult to estimate because you only know how tough it is when you are there. Normally, I should be able to survive. The breakaway is not an option because it will be too controlled. But it is always possible," van der Poel said in advance.

Van der Poel had correctly assessed the race scenario because the early breakaway was made up of two Italians from the smaller teams: Polti-VisitMalta sent Davide Bais ahead, and VF Group-Bardiani did the same with Lorenzo Conforti up front. Only for a short while because they would not make it to the TV broadcast. INEOS Grenadiers took firm control of the peloton and made it a tough day in rainy conditions.

They had to keep warm in these harsh Italian conditions. After the INEOS intermezzo, it was quiet again while the riders prepared for the day's final climb. In other words, it was a partially flat stage, which meant the riders also started to feel the cold. Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R) did not feel like putting up with this, so he launched an attack, but Lidl-Trek neutralized this attempt. This team was aiming for an intermediate sprint with Jonathan Milan.

After the intermediate sprint, De Bondt went on another adventure with Andrea Pietrobon of Polti-VisitMalta. This time, the peloton gave its blessing, although a few riders had serious problems with the cold. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) even stopped to get warm clothes, as did UAE rider Juan Ayuso. The fact that this was still possible with forty kilometers to go says something about the pace in the peloton.

INEOS tried to pick up the pace again, while in Paris-Nice, they suffered even more from bizarrely bad weather conditions. The race was suspended there, which was not the case in Tirreno-Adriatico. But even there, it was treacherous, as we saw when Johannes Staune-Mittet of Decathlon AG2R crashed. The Norwegian was able to get up fairly quickly and catch up with the peloton again just before the climb.

Moments later, several men, including Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek, lay on the ground. The Italian remained on the asphalt in pain, as did lead-out Simone Consonni, but after a few minutes to recover, he was back on his bike. The same applied to everyone else involved in the crash.

Alpecin-Deceuninck, INEOS, and Q36.5 took the lead on the last climb of 18 kilometers at 3.0 percent. Yet they also had their work cut out with De Bondt and Pietrobon, who had a lead of one and a half minutes with fifteen kilometers to go. However, they could not hold on to this lead due to the work of Van der Poel's teammates.

Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) was the first to attack, but the top riders, Van der Poel, Ganna, Pidock, and Ayuso, immediately responded to this. Richard Carapaz took over from his teammate and Groupama-FDJ representative Romain Grégoire. Van der Poel saw the danger and accelerated, after which the INEOS men set the pace to ensure that Ganna's leading position was not jeopardized.

Making a real difference on the not-so-steep stretches proved difficult, so we reached the top with a relatively large peloton. The moment the descent began, Ganna attacked. Pidcock could not hold on to his wheel, and the Italian took the lead for several seconds. Ayuso moved to the front of the peloton to close the gap, after which Uno-X took over.

With 1.3 kilometers to go, Van der Poel, Tim van Dijke, and Rick Pluimers put their pedal to the metal. These three men blasted through the last thousand meters, with Van der Poel keeping his legs going. However, Healy closed the gap to the two Dutch riders, leading to a sprint. Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R) was the fastest, ahead of Pidcock and Grégoire.