With Richie Porte taking out the race to the sun and Chris Froome wearing the blue leader’s jersey in Italy, what have we learnt from Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico?
1. Team Sky looks in ominous form before the Giro and Le Tour
The British super squad has virtually stepped on the throats of its rival teams with a steel-capped Sidi in both major races this week.
While its ‘A’ team was pounding Chris Froome’s rivals into Italian hillsides, its ‘B’ side was hammering a similar beat in France for Richie Porte.
Combine these squads together in a Grand Tour, and it’s pretty clear that Sky has the sort of firepower that should scare the rest of the World Tour witless.
Meanwhile, Sir Bradley Wiggins trains out of sight in Tenerife, quietly sharpening his blade before the Volta a Catalunya. His form hasn’t been great so far this season, but if he doesn’t manage to win the Giro, it doesn’t look like it’ll be from lack of support.
A combination of smart recruitment, disciplined focus on the general classification, and training perfectly tuned to that goal, appears to be paying off handsomely for Sky.
Of course, as I write this, there are still two stages of Tirreno-Adriatico remaining, and it’s possible that Froome might cough up the race lead. Still, the memory of Sky’s menacing assaults on stages four and five should leave no doubt that the team means business, and has the strength and depth to impose its will on races like no other recent team.
2. Richie Porte can be a genuine GC rider, if he gets the chance
Ever since Porte announced himself in the 2010 Giro d’Italia with a few days in the maglia rosa, victory in the best young rider category, and a seventh-place overall finish, we’ve known he has serious potential.
Since then, his roles as domestique for Alberto Contador, and then Bradley Wiggins, have stifled his opportunities to race for his own glory, so it’s a great relief to his many fans to see him grabbing the opportunity to lead Sky in Paris-Nice and making the absolute most of it.
Porte’s victory was emphatic, claiming the leader’s yellow jersey with a brilliant summit victory at Montagne de Lure, and backing it up with another stage victory in the final stage’s uphill time trial.
It was a performance of great confidence and authority. This is exactly how a Grand Tour contender should win races.
The quietly-spoken and unassuming Porte says he is happy to support Wiggins and Froome for now, but I think we’re all hoping he gets a shot at glory sooner rather than later.
3. Cadel Evans has a lot of work ahead of him
Just when we were starting to think Cadel’s form was returning, a couple of bad days at Tirreno-Adriatico in stages four and five showed he still has a long way to go before he can be considered a serious Tour de France contender again.
Indeed, on stage five he slumped to 51st place, some 7:44 behind stage winner Joaquim Rodriguez.
Evans was sanguine about his performance, in a statement published on the BMC team website he acknowledged that his form was not where he would prefer it to be:
“I came here a long way from the level of the best guys here, so to be competitive on GC is beyond my capabilities right now. So my mentality has to adapt to that. But I’ll stay calm at the moment and look at the situation as it is and look forward to the upcoming races.”
He’s right not to panic this far out from the Tour de France, and he has looked strong at various stages, but over the duration of the race it’s clear Cadel has some ground to make up to compete with Froome, Alberto Contador, Rodriguez and Vincenzo Nibali.
On the positive side, he could be riding like Andy Schleck.
4. Perhaps it’s not just the Cav and Greipel show
With most of the world’s top sprinters present at Tirreno-Adriatico, we had a chance to continue the battle between Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel.
But what has happened to the big two? In the two sprint stages so far, neither of them has saluted.
Stage two was won by Matt Goss.
Stage three was all about Peter Sagan.
As I write, the sprinters have one more chance in the lumpy stage six but what a shock it would be if Cav and Andre both came away empty-handed. I’m cool with that.
5. It’s going be a gripping battle between Contador, Froome, Rodriguez and Nibali
As I sat watching Tirreno-Adriatico this week, I was constantly reminded of the 2012 Vuelta, and the enthralling battle between Contador, Froome, Rodriguez and Valverde.
While the last was missing this week, Vincenzo Nibali was an able substitute.
Froome’s counter-punch at Contador and Nibali in stage four and Rodriguez’ daring raid at the steepest section of stage five were absolute highlights. These riders are relatively evenly matched, each with his own strengths.
They are all exciting climbers, willing to attack aggressively when the time comes.
That makes for a great spectacle, and Tirreno-Adriatico has produced some absolutely brilliant racing between the top contenders, with attacks and counter-attacks flying thick and fast despite (indeed at times because of) the Sky stranglehold on the race.
If there’s more of this style of racing in the Giro, Tour and Vuelta, we’ve got plenty to look forward to.
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