The 2012 Tirreno-Adriatico drew many of the sport’s biggest names to this 47th edition of the ‘Race of the Two Seas’.
Among those to make an impression were Team Sky’s Mark Cavendish and Edvald Boasson Hagen, and Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek).
BMC Racing endured a disappointing start to their European campaign, despite sending both of its team leaders. Defending champion, Cadel Evans, finished outside of the top 30, nearly 13 minutes behind overall winner, Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), while last year’s world number one, Philippe Gilbert, withdrew ahead of stage six with illness.
In fact, withdrawals were almost the defining aspect of the race. Gilbert was joined in the sick bay by Team Sky’s Boasson Hagen, Cavendish, Bernie Eisel, and CJ Sutton, as well as leader after stage one, Matt Goss (GreenEDGE). Perhaps Tirreno-Adriatico is suffering from its unofficial role as a warm up for Milan-San Remo.
On a more positive note, a place on the final podium sealed an impressive comeback for Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek) who raced for the first time since crashing out of last year’s Tour De France.
Here are some of the key moments.
Vincenzo Nibali moved from third to first on GC with ninth place in the closing time trial
Defending champion, Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) made a low key return to Tirreno-Adriatico
Vincenzo Nibali’s stage-winning breakaway on stage five came at the expense of an elite chasing group
Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek) capped a successful comeback by taking the leader’s blue jersey on stage four
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) took the win on stage three after being told he would contest the sprint with just 10km to go
Mark Cavendish continued a highly successful start to his career with Team Sky by winning stage two of the 2012 Tirreno-Adriatico
GreenEDGE produced an emphatic performance in the team time trial on stage one to win by 17 seconds
