First day online, after the initial time trial that crowned Filippo Ganna, in this edition of the Tirreno-Adriatico. The planned script was fulfilled, with a prototypical flat stage: early escape, neutralization near the finish line and sprint outcome. And for these types of finals, the Carrera de los Dos Mares can boast of having a list of sprinters of the highest substance that guarantee a show. That’s how it went. The names of the top four finishers speak for themselves: Biniam Girmay, Fernando Gaviria, Jasper Philipsen and… Fabio Jakobsen. The Dutchman, with some stratospheric final metres, cut the deficit with which he started in the sprint due to poor positioning and narrowly beat the Belgian from Alpecin and the Colombian from Movistar to clinch the victory. The general, without changes, with Ganna leading.
The stage was not the most demanding, but yes one of the longest in this edition. However, throughout its 210 km, One of the few difficulties that could jeopardize a flip was the long ascent to Castellina Marittima, with its 12.3 km at an average of 2.9%. Almost at the start, a breakaway was formed, with an Italian majority, of five riders: Mirco Maestri (AEOLUS), Davide Bais (AEOLUS), alessandro iacchi (Corratec), Stefano Gandín (Corratec) and Roland Thalman (Tudor). Their advantage was controlled at all times by a squad led by Soudal Quick-Step and Jayco, who thought of fighting for the victory with Jakobsen and Dylan Groenewegen, respectively.
The peloton temporized the pace so as not to gobble up the last survivors of the escape too soon, so they stretched the gum, despite having them in sight, until 20 km remained to the finish line. There were no desperate attempts on the last slopes of the route, within a two-lap circuit that ended in the town of Follonica. Already heading towards the very long finish line, the Intermarché had Girmay well placed, but when Alpecin launched, the Eritrean was boxed in. At that moment the figure of Gaviria emerged, with great power. It seemed that he would win more than enough, but Jakobsen, with a Philipsen that slipped in between, appeared in the last meters to finish off a sensational comeback over the same finish line. The congratulations to the Dutchman by the Colombian, who had a long sprint, there was no doubt. This Wednesday, a new opportunity for sprinters.