Tirreno Adriatico 2015 – Stage 7 Preview
By David Hunter
San Benedetto del Tronto 10km
The race ends with a 10km ITT, along the Adriatico.
The TT has ended the race since 2011. Fabian Cancellara won it for the first two years, then it was Tony Martin, with Adriano Malori taking it in 2014. This year, it seems another shoot-out between Cancellara and Malori.
In the 5.4km prologue, there was only 1 second separating the two men and I would expect the gap over 10km to be around 5 seconds. This is going to be close.
I think we will see a couple of riders able to challenge them: Uran, Bodnar, Cummings and Brandle.
These riders have big engines and have previous in this length of TT. Remember, Cummings was 2nd to Taylor Phinney in the 2014 Dubai TT. He likes non-technical routes and this is about as non-technical as you could possibly get! He felt good today and is looking to move up into the top 5 overall.
Uran needs a big time if he is to stand any chance of winning the title. He’s left himself an awful lot to do and it looks like he’ll probably fall around 20 seconds short, but he should be second.
Quintana knows that a decent time, is all that’s required. He will have the splits of Malori and unless he suffers some misfortune, the title is his.
The GC battle for third place is interesting. Mollema, Pinot, Contador, Pozzovivio and Cummings will all be looking to finish on the podium. It’s time to see if all the work Mollema has been doing on his TT bike is going to pay off.
A big time from Uran, could put Malori and Cancellara under pressure but they have to be the big favourites for the win. Splitting them is going to be very difficult. Malori is out first at 14:44 and then Fabian at 14:55. Cancellara will know the time he has to beat, which can be a big advantage.
Other riders who will be gunning for the top 10 are: Durbridge, Oss and Hepburn.
Turbo Durbo is in good form and should go better than his 10th place in 2014. He’ll be disappointed not to challenge for the top 5.
Prediction Time
Cancellara to win by under 3 seconds.
GC to finish Quintana, Uran, Mollema.
David Hunter
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