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The route of the 2024 Tirreno-Adriatico has been announced by RCS Sport, with seven days of racing combining several sprints and hilly days as well as an opening 10km time trial and a summit finish atop Monte Petrano.
The race follows largely the same formula as the past two editions, kicking off with a short, flat time trial in Lido di Camaiore on Italy’s western coast in Tuscany before winding eastwards towards a penultimate day mountain stage and then the final sprint day in the city of San Benedetto del Tronto in Marche.
Monte Petrano is undoubtedly the highlight of the week of racing, rounding out the 180km stage 6 and appearing on a race route for the first time since the 2009 Giro d’Italia, where Carlos Sastre took the win ahead of Denis Menchov and Danilo Di Luca.
The stage, which is up and down all day before the challenging 10.1m, 8.1% ascent, should be the spot which decides the general classification of the 59th edition of the race. Tour de France rivals Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard are set to face off on the summit finish.
The opening day on March 4 features the same seaside time trial used in the past two years, with Filippo Ganna set to take aim at his third win in a row on the out-and-back course in Lido di Camaiore.
The short TT is the opener to 1,115km of racing across central Italy, with a sprint stage to come the following day as the peloton takes on 198km from Camaiore to Follonica and a flat finish.
Stage 3 is the longest of the race at 220km and a rising finish in Gualdo Taldino. The 4% gradient of the finishing straight will put off some sprinters, though expect another large group coming to the line.
Giulianova hosts the fourth stage, another long one at 207km and a day which also features the high point of the week, the early climb of the 1,521-metre Valico di Castelluccio. The remainder of the stage is less challenging, however, it…
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