It was Tirreno-Nice-Adriatico-Paris week and it was eventful to say the least. We had snowball fights, pee-soaked bibs, irregular sprinting, a Welsh dragon chasing Baby Blackbird into Nice, trident wielding, Nibali baiting – and the virtual equivalent of a Trump rally on Twitter because of stage cancellations. Is it any wonder I came down with a migraine?
Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) seized the chance of a lifetime to claim the coolest trophy in bike racing: the Tirreno-Adriatico trident. The Belgian backed up a triumphant stage 1 team time trial with a cunning win on stage 6 to take the maglia azzurra, then produced a gutsy final time trial to defend it by just one second (!) from Tinkoff’s Peter Sagan. The last stage also saw Tirreno’s best young rider Bob Jungels (Etixx-Quick Step) leap from 4th to claim the third step on the podium.
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