Tirreno–Adriatico - Stage 1

Kicking off Tirreno–Adriatico at the usual beach town but without the usual TTT had a much different feel. The town was packed, the beaches were bumping, and the warm sun was beaming. Nothing like the March damp spring when this place feels like a ghost town.

Personally, I didn’t miss the TTT and the mega stress of starting a race with one during this unprecedented year. I haven’t had the usual time on the TT bike because we are all a little more pegged than usual with Covid protocols and hitting the details there.

Since the season restarted, I’ve done eight days of racing. In that time, today was the first time we reached the finish as a bunch. Aside from a high-speed crash in the final few kilometers, we were fortunate enough to have a pleasantly uneventful stage.

The circuit was mixed with pitifully paved, pot-holed filled roads, which kept us on our toes and provided ample time to wake the body up.

It was good to link back up with Simon and the rest of the guys, most of which will be doing the Giro. We will have plenty of chances to get honed in with a series of 200+km stages coming up, each progressively more demanding than the previous.

Images: Getty Images