Lots of rain during Tirreno`s opener
10/03/2010 | 18:07
Just like in France the weather conditions in Italy were bad. The riders in the opener of the 45th Tirreno-Adriatico had to suffer from a lot of rain and cold. Still Grabovski set up an early solo breakaway, dominating the whole 1st stage of the Italian stage race. The peloton gave Grabovski a nice advantage, but in the final kilometres of the stage he was caught however. Some riders tried to launch a new attack, but nobody forced a big gap till a group of 4 riders escaped.
With 6 kilometres to go they tried their luck. The peloton wasn`t far behind, but didn`t manage to close the gap completely in the last kilometre. The four escapees stayed in the front, with Gerdemann as winner of the first stage. The German rider is also the first leader of this race.
Belgian champion Tom Boonen tested his legs in the peloton. He drove to the front of the peloton, dropped back to the back and then drove to the front again. Boonen repeated that several times, but didn`t make it in the front during the final part of the race. Dries Devenyns was the best rider of Team Quick Step in a 42nd place.
Result stage 1
1. Linus Gerdemann (Ger)
2. Pablo Lastras (Esp)
3. Matti Breschel (Den)
42. Dries Devenyns (Bel)
81. Francesco Reda (Ita)
101. Matteo Tosatto (Ita)
108. Tom Boonen (Bel)
124. Marco Velo (Ita) 1.01
125. Stijn Devolder (Bel)
134. Maarten Wynants (Bel)
147. Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) 2.10