Tirreno-Adriatico

The 57th edition of Tirreno-Adriatico pulled down the curtain Sunday afternoon with a bunch sprint on the Adriatic seafront, in San Benedetto del Tronto, traditionally the host of an individual time trial on the final day. Under blue skies, the peloton easily controlled the small three-man breakaway, bringing it back before setting up the mass gallop.

The win went to Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) after a messy sprint, while Tadej Pogacar sealed the general classification, where Remco Evenepoel finished just 17 seconds from the top 10 at his first attempt in the Italian race. The young Belgian, who sits on three wins – including the Volta ao Algarve – after a strong start to the season, talked about this experience and of the tough stage 6, at the end of which he slipped to 11th place.

“I enjoyed being here for the first time. Saturday didn’t go as I had hoped, but I didn’t give up and tried to limit the losses. It was a disappointment, but I learned a lot and it will serve as a valuable experience. To race for the victory or the podium I needed more power on the climb. It has been quite a hard week, maybe it’s some the fatigue in the legs that came up on the queen stage, I don’t know, but what I do know is that I missed something.”

“I think I improved a lot in moving myself in the bunch, on the downhill, everything went quite well there, but it just happened that Saturday I didn’t have the legs to push what I should normally be able to push. But it was a nice experience, I came here to feel the level, to discover this race and to explore everything. On this level you can’t have a bad day as this means you’re not able to be up there with the best guys, but as I said, I will learn from this and come back stronger”, said Remco after concluding his first outing at the “Race of the Two Seas”.

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images