Belgian Wout van Aert upset Australian Caleb Ewan to win the opening stage of Tirreno-Adriatico today. Photo: Cor Vos
Belgian Wout van Aert upset Australian Caleb Ewan to win the opening stage of Tirreno-Adriatico today.
The Jumbo-Visma star was tucked on the wheel of Colombian Fernando Gaviria in the run-in to the line and timed his kick to perfection.
Ewan came from a long way back but ran out of road as Gaviria held on for third place.
“The final straight was really long, so today it was all about the right timing. I had high speed and so when I saw the 200m sign and maybe a bit before, I thought not to wait and I launched my sprint. I had the speed to maintain it to the finish. I’m really happy,” Van Aert said.
Pressed on his GC aspirations, Van Aert added, “For sure I think today and at Strade Bianche we saw a strong [Jumbo-Visma] team.
“We’re in high spirits and big motivation for this week. Starting with a win is perfect for the GC. We’ll see what the next stages bring but we’ve already achieved one goal today.”
It was a good day all-round for the Jumbo-Visma team as leader Primoz Roglic won stage four of Paris-Nice.
Thursday’s stage two will see the riders cover 226km from Camaiore to Chiusdino.
Tirreno-Adriatico stage one results:
1, Wout van Aert, BEL, Jumbo-Visma 3:36:17
2, Caleb Ewan, AUS, Lotto Soudal
3, Fernando Gaviria, COL, UAE Team Emirates
4, Andrea Vendrame, ITA, AG2R Citroen
5, Luka Mezgec, SLO, Team BikeExchange
6, Tim Merlier, BEL, Alpecin-Fenix
7, Alvaro Hodeg, COL, Deceuninck-QuickStep
8, Davide Ballerini, ITA, Deceuninck-QuickStep
9, Ivan Garcia Cortina, ESP, Movistar Team
10, Hugo Hofstetter, FRA, Israel Start-Up Nation
