Italy 06 Mar – 12 Mar 2023 Class 2.UWT – Stages – UCI WorldTour
Website www.tirrenoadriatico.it Email stefano.allocchio@rcs.it
The Sarnano Sassotetto stage at Tirreno-Adriatico 2023 will surely be remembered as one of the most atypical uphill finishes in recent years. The main protagonist was infact a very strong headwind which characterised not only the final climb, shortened by a couple of kilometres due to the impossibility of reaching the summit, but the entire stage. The riders, as always, tried boldly, even struggling to stay in the saddle sometimes, but they were pushed back, so much so that 17 riders made it to the top to sprint for the stage.
What was supposed to be the most selective stage turned out to be relatively similar to yesterday’s one in Tortoreto. One thing for sure, we are still pretty far from knowing who the winner of this Tirreno-Adriatico will be. Although they knew that the wind would blow them all the way back, a good number of riders decided to give it a shot: Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) tried first, and his attack even seemed to be decisive for a while, only to be caught with 600 metres to go, then Enric Mas (Movistar), Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) and, last but definitely not least, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma). The Slovenian once again waited until his rivals had given it all and then, with his always perfect timing, went on to claim both stage win and Maglia Azzurra, thanks to the 10-second bonus gived to the winner. He’s today’s wind dominator.
