PREVIEW | Tirreno-Adriatico 2024 stage 1 - Filippo Ganna main favourite for starting time-trial, but can Jonas Vingegaard surprise?

Stage 1 of Tirreno-Adriatico is a 10-kilometer time-trial that opens up the race as usual. We preview a day with several interesting contenders such as Magnus Sheffield and Mikkel Bjerg, who can challenge Filippo Ganna. Can Jonas Vingegaard get in the way of the purists however?

The race starts off, as usual, with an individual time-trial. By the Tirreno sea once again, the riders find 10 kilometers against the clock in the town of Lido di Camaiore.

A completely pan-flat time-trial with very few technical features. Mostly an out-and-back time-trial right by the coast, where the wind may have some influence in the time-trial.

Some gaps will be opened in the first day of the race when it comes to the overall classification, whilst a specialist will also take the first leader's jersey.

Some western breeze. Not too bad of of a gust however, the riders will find a slight crosswind both out and back - but not with enough strength to really make a difference.

Filippo Ganna - It is true that at the Volta ao Algarve his form, and time-trial, were not the best. But last year he had the same run-up and also did not win in Portugal, and went on to crush this time-trial. This is a time-trial that suits him like almost no other, with long pan-flat straights and short distance. He will be the main favourite in my opinion, and that's a high expectation taking into consideration who he will race against.

Mikkel Bjerg - One such rider is Mikkel Bjerg, who has recently won a very similar time-trial at the UAE Tour. Form and time-trialing legs are there, the UAE rider has won the time-trial at the Criterium du Dauphiné last year and so winning at this level wouldn't even be a surprise.

Jonas Vingegaard - Vingegaard tapered through the time-trial at Gran Camiño, so we do not really know his form against the clock currently. Truth be told, this day fits others riders much more than him; but never discard a rider like this and the technical superiority that Visma can achieve in the time-trials even against the next best teams.

Magnus Sheffield can be very dangerous and is another contender for victory. In the Algarve he was the closest competitor to Remco Evenepoel and clearly carries good form into the race. There, Isaac Del Toro rode to fourth place on the day, and like Vingegaard I would not be surprised to see a mega performance despite being a lightweight.

Some GC riders can perform quite well here and will try to take advantage of the day such as Daniel Martínez, Juan Ayuso, Ben O'Connor or Kévin Vauquelin.

Other figures that could be in contention would be Nelson Oliveira, Kasper Asgreen, Soren Waerenskjold, Thymen Arensman, Josef Cerny, Jannik Steimle, Michal Kwiatkowski, Ethan Vernon and Lawson Craddock.

*** Filippo Ganna, Mikkel Bjerg
** Jonas Vingegaard, Magnus Sheffield
* Juan Ayuso, Nelson Oliveira, Kasper Asgreen, Soren Waerenskjold, Ben O'Connor, Daniel Martínez, Isaac Del Toro

Pick: Filippo Ganna