Cobbles will be the order of the day once Classics season truly begins, but we were treated to an early indication of what might happen in Belgium and northern France on stage three of Tirenno-Adriatico.
The cobbles lining the uphill finish are nothing like as sever as those awaiting the peloton in Flanders and on the road to Roubaix, but they still required a degree of mastery – and it was a Classics master who did just that.
Peter Sagan has ambitiously targeted a clean sweep of the four cobbled Classics this season, and the sprint with which he won stage three proved he is certainly coming nicely into form.
Meanwhile, another in-form rider – Michal Kwiatkowski – moved into the overall lead with second place.
Relive the stage through the lens of UCI WorldTour photographer Stefano Sirotti in the full-screen gallery below.
