And once more, it is time for the Italians’ premier weeklong World Tour stage race. The race in direct competition with France’s Paris-Nice. What is the competition? Why, of course the races partially overlap and thus both compete to have the more prestigious Startlist. Which has attracted more top General Classification (GC) riders who shall later wrestle for control of the Pink, Yellow, and Red Jerseys of the Grand Tours to come later in the Summer? Which attracts more headliner and flashy sprinters who dazzle the fans with their speedy wheels and powerful legs? But whereas Paris-Nice was founded in the 1930s, Tirreno dates back only to the 1960s, what were some ambitious Italians thinking going up against the mighty French Paris-Nice? Whether this is the exact story, let me say what must be the most logical for the daring overlap. From its creation, the weeklong Paris-Nice—remember for most of its history it was consider an early season warmup race—was ideal preparation for the long 300 km Milan-Sanremo Monument a week after it, the first massive objective of the season for many riders. Though in the 1960s Tirreno was started by a relatively small cycling club, it quickly grew in prestige as it attracted Roger De Vlaeminck, Monsieur Paris-Roubaix, one of the greatest Classics riders of all time, throughout the 1970s; and then the Italian archrivals Francesco Moser and Giuseppe Saronni always contested another battle here in their careers-long war in the 1980s. These larger-than-life characters helped put the race on the map…and provided alternative and warmer Italian training grounds before the Italian Milan-Sanremo Monument. More or less, in the late decades of the 20th Century all the big French races were bought up by the ASO Company that owns the Tour de France, while all the major Italian races were bought up by the RCS Company that owns the Giro d’Italia. Thus yes, to this day there is a Cold War between the French ASO and the Italian RCS. Each own a Grand Tour over a century-old, each own the respective newspapers that is linked with the founding of that Grand Tour, and each now own the top Classics, Monuments, and World Tour stage races in their domains. Thus perhaps now you can see the indignation that RCS and the Italians must feel when they scoff at the idea of moving Tirreno-Adraitico from its ideal Sanremo preparation spot; RCS do not want some French ASO owned Pari-Nice to be the ideal preparation race for their Milan-Sanremo.
Thus with the overlap explained and the feud exposed, which race proves better preparation for Milan-Sanremo, Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico? The answer is not completely conclusive, for the past decade the winner of Sanremo has about equally come from Paris-Nice and Tirreno. But Tirreno has pulled out a few more advantages over Paris-Nice beyond producing about an equal amount of Sanremo winners. Let us put on our geography spectacles as all cycling fans must often, and should love to, do. Tirreno-Adriatico is nicknamed “The Race Between the Two Seas.” Yes, Italy is of course a peninsula surrounded by one continuous body of water called the Mediterranean (literally “In the Middle of Lands”), and to the old Masters of Italy, the mighty Romans, it was called simply Mare Nostrum (literally “Our Sea”) for eventually they owned every land around it. But truly, truly, the Mediterranean is too big, for the Romans hunting enemy or pirate fleets, to say they were seen on the waters of the Mediterranean would mean nothing—more specific divisions must be bestowed on its regional parts. Hence, the body of water between the east coast of Italy and the islands of Corisca, Sardinia, and Sicily has become known as the Tyrrhenian Sea. Meanwhile the almost cove-sea that is formed on Italy’s west coast, from the bottom of the Heel up to floating Venice, and the coastal countries of what was once Yugoslavia form the Adriatic Sea. Hence, from the Tirreno to the Adriatico, The Race Between the Two Seas. And hence the race has a fetching Blue Leader’s Jersey symbolizing those seas. And hence the trophy that is one of the rare coveted prizes in cycling that are not a jersey, for the trophy presented to the winner of Tirreno-Adriatico is a massive golden Trident—search out pictures for yourself, this masterpiece is worth a gander. All of this necessary geography lesson not only explains the name, but also tells us the race is further South than the Northern Paris-Nice. Thus, Tirreno usually has fairer weather than its French counterpart which can be a perk to attract better competitive fields. Additionally, the RCS master-stroke of the past decade was to place Strade Bianche on the Saturday before, have Tirreno start four days later midweek, and finish midweek three or four day before Sanremo on the next weekend: this fortnight of Italian racing forms a compact racing or training block of minimal travel and attracts many big GC and Classics men to attend all three Italian races. And in addition to the location perks of the race’s Southern geography and cozy position on the calendar, the race is a more controlled affair than the French Paris-Nice.
For better and worse, the seven-day Tirreno-Adriatico has a constricting and traditional route and lay out. It truly is better for the riders, mild weather can be bet on for all the days except one, two at most. The pattern of the race is not so dynamic, and that actually provides better racing conditions for all the men with an eye or two on Sanremo only a few days after this race’s completion—the racing can be a healthy hard but it will not leave them wrecked for the Monument to come. This unfortunately is where the race proves worse for the fans. Were I rider who wished to perform well at both Strade and Sanremo, you can certainly bet I would be attending Tirreno-Adriatico over Paris-Nice for all the already stated reasons. But as a fan, the Tirreno route usually seems to be too controlled, never dynamic enough, and more is to be desired—especially compared to the wild and spectacular finishes that have been seen at Paris-Nice. As stated, this race starts on the coast of the Tirreno, the starting latitude varies year to year but it is always north of Rome. In the past the first stage was either a flat short Team Time Trial or an extremely flat sprint—along the coast of course is the best hope of finding entirely sea-level roads. One of the second or third stages is usually also a flat sprinter’s affair, whereas the other stage usually finishes into one of the many hilltop villages that provide the Classics men with an interesting little couple of kilometer climb finishing test. On the weekend that abnormally comes on Stages 4 and 5 of this race, the top GC men get to come to the fore. Usually, one of the stages is rather hilly—hilly enough to shell out the sprinters and even most of the Classics men who are big of build and have difficulty keeping up over a climb longer than a handful of kilometers. The other weekend stage is usually a proper mountain stage in the Apennines of Italy. The Apennines are the mountain range that form the spine of the Italian boot; they are not as beloved as the ranges far in the North of the country, but these are the major mountains that are crossed in this race, and are usually the only range hopefully not snowed in at this time of year. Yes, usually the Queen stage in the Apennines would be worthy of the title of a proper Giro mountain stage, but in March the stage is often under threat of cancellation due to inclement weather. Across the Apennines, the race sniffs the Adriatic Sea and beholds its coast. It is usually another flat sprint or hilltop finish for the penultimate stage. And the final stage has become a traditional 10km Individual Time Trial around the coastal town of San Benedetto del Tronto.
Perhaps you are asking: “From what you just described, this race has everything. Truly it must take a well-rounded GC rider to win the race Overall. Why do you say as a fan you love the Paris-Nice more than the Tirreno-Adriatico?” Yes what I have described is a truly balanced race, but it’s flaw is that its stages are too predictable—too cookie-cutter perfect. As soon as the profiles are perused, one can tell: this stage will be for the sprinters, this stage for the Classics men that can do a steep little finishing climb, this day will be the only big GC appointment, one of these two or three time-trialing masters will take the final stage. There is never a day where crosswinds rip up the scripted large bunch sprint finish to come, there is never a day where a breakaway specialist pulls off the day long coup, there is only ever one big GC day to decide the race and the only possible rebuttal is the final day Time Trial. Perhaps it is because everyone at Tirreno is so overtly fixated on Sanremo to come, the riders and even the organizers want the race to play out in a predictable way. But for the fan, that is never what we want to see. Unpredictability, multi-dimensional, and dynamic racing is what I always love to see: this is what Paris-Nice achieves more often than not as it is plagued by bad weather and crosswinds in the North, and multiple decisive GC mountain days in the South. This is not to say Tirreno-Adriatico is not worth a watch, it surely is to see how the best sprinters and GC men and even Time Trialists are stacking up to their competitors—usually in a more controlled setting where there are less circumstances beyond the racers’ control to excuse a bad performance, and additionally there are usually on average one or two very exciting days. But compared to Paris-Nice, you often know what you are going to get; alas! there is never any hope this race will ever be turned on its head. It is best that way for the riders, but alas! not for the fans. But let it be excused, because a few days after the conventional Tirreno-Adriatico wraps up, all those riders suit up for Milan-Sanremo which always proves to be one of the most unpredictable races on the calendar; and for many of the riders, Tirreno-Adriatico provided the final tune-up for them to be pinging on top form for that thrilling Monument to come.
Cycling Odysseys 