Share

Racing News

Tirreno-Adriatico 2013: stage one – gallery

The rain in Donoratico failed to dampen the effort or celebrations of Omega Pharma-QuickStep. 

The Belgian squad trounced their opposition on the opening stage team time trial of the 2013 Tirreno-Adriatico, completing the 16.9km stage from San Vincenzo to Donoratico, some 19 seconds faster than their nearest rivals.

By happy coincedence, or careful strategy at OPQS HQ, Mark Cavendish, registered as the team’s first rider, claimed the leader’s jersey. Given the profile of stages two and three, he may wear it for half the race.

Cavendish was characteristically gracious, volunteering world time trial champion, Tony Martin, as the difference between his squad and their competitors.

Tomorrow, with the sprinters expected to go wheel-to-wheel on the run in to Indicatore, he will hope to be the defnining factor.

Here are some superb pictures of today’s action from official UCI WorldTour photographer, Stefano Sirrotti.

Discuss in the forum

Mark Cavendish described Tony Martin as the difference between OPQS and their rivals. The German world time trial champion leads here

The diminutive Manxman (number 131) can be seen gaining plenty of shelter from his team-mates, who went ‘full gas’, despite the treacherous conditions

Cavendish is no stranger to the podium. After winning the Tour of Qatar in February, and the Eneco Tour last year, he’s also no stranger to leader’s jerseys

Cadel Evans did the lion’s share of the work for BMC Racing: an early indication of returning form for the Australian?

Vincenzo Nibali (number one) appears to be shouting encouragement to his troops. The crash of Dmitriy Gruzdev blunted the challenge of the defending champion’s Astana team

Newsletter Terms & Conditions

Please enter your email so we can keep you updated with news, features and the latest offers. If you are not interested you can unsubscribe at any time. We will never sell your data and you'll only get messages from us and our partners whose products and services we think you'll enjoy.

Read our full Privacy Policy as well as Terms & Conditions.

production