The road to defend his Tour de France title starts with Tirreno-Adriatico. BMC Racing Team’s Cadel Evans hopes his first stage race of the season provides a good gauge of his progress.
Stage 5 Is Pivotal
“My first goal is to see how my fitness is,” Evans said. “I’ve worked reasonably well toward it. To repeat last year’s result here would be an ultimate gauge of my fitness. But we’ll first test my fitness and then see the result.” Tirreno-Adriatico was one of two stage races the former world road champion won on the way to his Tour de France victory. Evans said the Stage 5 summit finish at Prati di Tivo will be a key moment in the seven-day race that begins Wednesday. “It makes it a real climber’s race because it’s a long climb, maybe 15 kilometers,” Evans said. “That’s going to change the race from last year a lot and be one of the most important days for the general classification.” Evans and BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Fabio Baldato agree that a formidable squad has been assembled, particularly for Stage 1’s 16.9 km team time trial. “We’ll see day-by-day how things go, but we have riders for all stages and we can even go with some attacks,” Baldato said. “The finish climb on Stage 5 might just be one for Marco Pinotti.”
MC Racing Team Tirreno-Adriatico Roster (March 7-13):
Alessandro Ballan (ITA), Cadel Evans (AUS), Philippe Gilbert (BEL), George Hincapie (USA), Marco Pinotti (ITA), Manuel Quinziato (ITA), Michael Schär (SUI), Greg Van Avermaet (BEL).
