The race for the first blue jersey at this year's Tirreno-Adriatico comes with the typical opening stage individual time trial along the coast in Lido di Camaiore. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) is the heavy pre-race favourite having won the exact time trial for the past two years.
Cyclingnews will be covering all the action in our live report and on the ground in Italy, but below are the start times for the opening stage, so you can know when to expect the major favourites to roll off the ramp.
It will be the first chance for Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) to get his GC bid underway in the Race of the Two Seas and it's an early start for the Dane as the third rider off the start ramp at 12:37 local time (CET). Weather will play a part with Visma-Lease a Bike clearly believing the early window is best for their leader.
First off the ramp will be Alex Tolio (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè) two minutes before Vingegaard, with Ganna getting started much later at 15:24.
Other GC hopes such as Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) will set off for their 10km at 13:36 with Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) following Ganna off the ramp at 15:25. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) will set off at 13:21.
Challenging the Italian ITT national champion for the stage win could be Vingegaard, although the flat effort doesn't suit the Dane as much on paper. More likely to come close will be teammate Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) and three-time U23 ITT world champion Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates), who start at 14:59 and 12:46 respectively.
“I don’t see myself winning the time trial, I think there are bigger favourites like Filippo Ganna. I just hope to do a good TT and see if I win or lose time,” Vingegaard said ahead of the race.
