Friday, March 21, 2008

Tirreno-Adriatico Review

2008 Tirreno-Adriatico (Italy)
March 12-18, NE


Overall GC Winner:
Fabian Cancellara (CSC)
Mountains Classification: Lloyd Mondory (ag2r - La Mondiale)
Points Classification: Oscar Freire (Rabobank)
Best Young Rider:
Thomas Lovkvist (High Road)
Stage Winners:
Stage 1 - Oscar Freire (Rabobank)
Stage 2 - Raffaele Illiano (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni)
Stage 3 - Joaquím Rodríguez (Caisse d'Epargne)
Stage 4 - Alessandro Petacchi (Milram)
Stage 5 - Fabian Cancellara (CSC)
Stage 6 - Oscar Freire (Rabobank)
Stage 7 - Francesco Chicchi (Liquigas)
Notable Events/Controversies: Besides Ricardo Ricco getting mad after a mechanical incident on Stage 2 and (literally) throwing his bike across the finish line, not much.
Good race for: Italians and Spaniards (they won 6 stages).
Bad race for: Breakaways.
Pros: Excellent weather and some good sprints.
Cons: It was a bit predictable, overall. Then again Tirreno is a sprinters' race, so that does tend to happen.
We'll Remember it for: Two words: the Montelupone.
What to change for 2009: Stick in a few more big climbs (long, not just steep like the Montelupone) to create GC shakeups besides the TT.
Overall rating: 7/10; I'm being a bit charitable because I like Tirreno and Petacchi got a stage win, but the Montelupone stage was pretty crazy.

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