The 2013 Tirreno–Adriatico was the 48th edition of the Tirreno–Adriatico cycling stage race, often known as the Race of the Two Seas. It started on 6 March in San Vincenzo and ended on 12 March in San Benedetto del Tronto and consisted of seven stages, including a race-commencing team time trial and a race-concluding individual time trial. It was the third race of the 2013 UCI World Tour season.
The race was won for the second consecutive year by Italy's Vincenzo Nibali of the team – becoming the first rider to do so since Tony Rominger in 1989 and 1990 – who took the race lead on the penultimate stage, and held the lead to the end of the race, the following day in San Benedetto del Tronto. Nibali won the general classification by 23 seconds over runner-up Chris Froome (), who won the race's queen stage – the fourth stage – at a summit finish at Prati di Tivo. 's Alberto Contador completed the podium, 29 seconds behind Froome and 52 seconds down on Nibali. Contador was also the winner of the points classification, taking home the red jersey for amassing the highest number of points during stages at intermediate sprints and stage finishes.
In the race's other classifications, 's Michał Kwiatkowski was the winner of the white jersey for the young rider classification as he was the highest placed rider born in 1988 or later, finishing in fourth place overall, having led the general classification for one stage. 's Damiano Cunego won the green jersey as winner of the mountains classification, while the were winners of the teams classification.
Teams As Tirreno–Adriatico was a UCI World Tour event, all UCI ProTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Originally, eighteen ProTeams were invited to the race, with four other squads given wildcard places, and as such, would have formed the event's 22-team peloton. Originally admitted to the event as a wildcard, subsequently regained their ProTour status after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The 22 teams that competed in the race were:
Among the 176-rider start list were five previous winners of the race, including the most recent three riders to win. 's Filippo Pozzato (winner in 2003), and 2008 winner Fabian Cancellara of , were both using the race as a tune-up for the spring Classic races. Stefano Garzelli (2010), Cadel Evans (2011), and Vincenzo Nibali (2012) were all leaders of their respective squads , and .
Race overview
StageDateCourseDistanceTypeWinner 1 6 March San Vincenzo to Donoratico Team time trial 2 7 March San Vincenzo to Indicatore Flat stage 3 8 March Indicatore to Narni Scalo Flat stage 4 9 March Narni to Prati di Tivo Mountain stage 5 10 March Ortona to Chieti Mountain stage 6 11 March Porto Sant'Elpidio to Porto Sant'Elpidio Intermediate stage 7 12 March San Benedetto del Tronto Individual time trial
Stages
Stage 1 6 March 2013 — San Vincenzo to Donoratico, team time trial (TTT)
The opening stage team time trial was contested over the same parcours that the 2012 edition of the race started with. On that occasion it was the team that won by seventeen seconds from their closest rivals, completing the course in a time of 18' 41". The 2013 running of the team time trial was never going to trouble that sort of time due to the weather conditions beside the Mediterranean Sea, as rain caused treacherous conditions for the teams. were the first team over the start line in San Vincenzo, and set the early benchmark with a time of 20' 19", but only held the top spot for a short period, as the defending winners went beneath twenty minutes for the course by recording a time of 19' 48". After Joaquim Rodríguez and failed to impress on the course, took the lead, going thirteen seconds quicker than the time set by . After a fifteenth-place finish on the stage in 2012, improved vastly with their performance, getting to within seven seconds of the time of the – with the team describing their performance as a confidence boost – but both would be usurped by the pre-stage favourites .
With proficient time trial riders Tony Martin, Michał Kwiatkowski and Niki Terpstra among their ranks, the squad were fastest by three seconds at the midway point of the stage, which was later extended to eleven seconds by the time they reached Donoratico, stopping the clock with an eventual stage-winning time of 19' 24". As Mark Cavendish was the first of the team's riders to cross the line, he was entitled to wear the race's first azzurra jersey, but attributed the acclaim to Martin, who he believed had done most of the work during the stage. Kwiatkowski was also part of the train at the finish – as well as Terpstra and Zdeněk Štybar – and thus was the best placed rider under the age of 25, and was entitled to wear the first white jersey. Along with the and , were the only other team to get within twenty seconds of the winning time. Of the overall contenders, defending champion Vincenzo Nibali and his squad were best positioned in fifth place, trailing by exactly twenty seconds. Chris Froome's outfit gave up five seconds to Nibali in a time of 19' 49", while , with Alberto Contador amongst their ranks, recorded a time of 19' 56", twelve seconds behind Nibali.
Stage 1 Result TeamTime 1 2 + 11" 3 + 16" 4 + 19" 5 + 20" 6 + 24" 7 + 25" 8 + 29" 9 + 35" 10 + 36"General Classification after Stage 1 RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 0" 3 + 0" 4 + 0" 5 + 0" 6 + 11" 7 + 11" 8 + 11" 9 + 11" 10 + 11"
Stage 2 7 March 2013 — San Vincenzo to Indicatore,
With an itinerary of , the first mass-start stage of Tirreno–Adriatico was also the longest stage of the 2013 edition of the race. However, this did not stop the stage being set up for the sprinters' benefit. There were two categorised climbs in the first half of the stage, at the Massa Marittima and the Cantoniera Montebello respectively, but after descending from the latter climb, the rest of the parcours was relatively flat before entering Indicatore for the first time. From then on, five laps of a finishing circuit were to be completed, with bonus time on offer at intermediate sprint points on the second and fourth passes of the finish line. However, like the previous day's team time trial, rain was expected to factor into the riding conditions, especially for the finish, which included a railway overpass around from the line.
A trio of riders – 's Garikoitz Bravo, rider Cesare Benedetti and Kevin Hulsmans of – made the early breakaway from the field, and managed to extend their advantage to the main field to around nine minutes at one point during the stage, before eventually stabilising at the seven-minute mark for the majority of the stage. Bravo and Benedetti each led over one of the day's two climbs, with a tie between the two on points in the mountains classification, with the day's general classification standings ultimately being the tie-breaker; ultimately, it was Bravo that finished highest, and thus he took the race's first green jersey. He would drop back from the lead trio first, thus leaving Benedetti and Hulsmans to continue on, at the head of the race. Race leader Mark Cavendish, the winner in Indicatore in 2012, was able to gain a second at the first intermediate sprint, to establish a virtual one-second lead on the road.
Cavendish added a further two seconds at the second intermediate sprint point – won by 's Maciej Bodnar – while his team-mate Michał Kwiatkowski was also able to gain a second at the sprint, in effect, boosting his own lead in the young rider classification. On the penultimate lap, 's Sep Vanmarcke tried to establish a solo move in the heavy rain that had been falling for most of the stage, but was caught by the main field after several kilometres off the front. moved to the front of the peloton on the final lap, hoping to set up Peter Sagan for the sprint finish. led the sprint out in the closing metres for André Greipel, but first Sagan and then 's Matthew Goss both came past him, with Goss ultimately taking the stage win on the line – his first win of the season – ahead of 's Manuel Belletti and Gerald Ciolek, riding for World Tour débutants . Cavendish maintained the leader's jersey after finishing fifth in the sprint – criticising his team's lead-out in the process – while Greipel and Sagan finished seventh and ninth respectively.
Stage 2 Result RiderTeamTime 1 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General Classification after Stage 2 RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 2" 3 + 3" 4 + 3" 5 + 3" 6 + 14" 7 + 14" 8 + 14" 9 + 14" 10 + 14"
Stage 3 8 March 2013 — Indicatore to Narni Scalo,
For the second stage running, the stage was set up for sprinters, with only one categorised climb during the parcours. The climb itself – situated in the town of Todi – was short and steep, averaging 12.2% over of climbing. The remaining of the stage after the climb, were undulating around Narni and Narni Scalo. After a circuit towards the finish, the riders completed a final loop of before reaching the finish. For the second day running, rider Cesare Benedetti and mountains classification leader Garikoitz Bravo of the team both made it into the day's breakaway, where again they were joined by a member of the team, with Francesco Failli completing the lead trio. The trio quickly established an advantage over the main field, which they extended to around nine minutes before the climb at Todi, where Benedetti was able to take the green jersey from Bravo.
Benedetti was able to do so, as he led over the top of the climb ahead of Failli and Bravo. At this point, Bravo departed the breakaway and returned to the main field. Benedetti and Failli continued apace out front, while the peloton slowly brought the peloton back, in order to not catch the leaders too quickly and create opportunities for riders to attack before the finish in Narni Scalo. were mainstays at the front of the group, hoping to set up a sprint for Peter Sagan. As wet conditions hit the race once again, several mini-attacks occurred on the run-in to the finish, with 's Lars Boom heading onto the final circuit with a small lead over the peloton. His attack was brought back before the end, as were solo attacks by Failli's team-mate Matteo Rabottini and 's Sergey Lagutin – the latter's attempt ending inside the final kilometre – setting up the final sprint. Matthew Goss, in the red jersey for points classification leader, for launched his sprint first, but Gerald Ciolek () came past him on the outside, before fading. Sagan and race leader Mark Cavendish () also came past him, with the former winning on the line, beating Cavendish for the first time in a head-to-head sprint. Cavendish extended his overall lead with bonus seconds on offer for second place, while taking the points lead from Goss.
Stage 3 Result RiderTeamTime 1 2 s.t. 3 s.t. 4 s.t. 5 s.t. 6 s.t. 7 s.t. 8 s.t. 9 s.t. 10 s.t.General Classification after Stage 3 RiderTeamTime 1 2 + 7" 3 + 9" 4 + 9" 5 + 9" 6 + 18" 7 + 20" 8 + 20" 9 + 20" 10 + 20"
Stage 4 9 March 2013 — Narni to Prati di Tivo,
The queen stage of the 2013 Tirreno–Adriatico, the fourth stage saw the summit finish at Prati di Tivo for the second consecutive year, where Vincenzo Nibali soloed away to a sixteen-second victory after attacking with left to climb, en route to winning the race overall in the final individual time trial stage. From the start in Narni, the parcours steadily rose, with three categorised climbs as part of the itinerary; the Forca di Arrone and the Capannelle Pass were both ascented but were not major tests to the riders, as both had average gradients of lower than 5%, but this was the preparation to the climb to Prati di Tivo. The long climb reached a gradient of 12% at its lower slopes, but the gradient averaged 7.1% for the duration. There was also the second of the day's intermediate sprints during the climb, at Pietracamela, coming with just under remaining.