Benson Bulletin: Tirreno-Adriatico stage 1, Paris-Nice stage 2 analysis 🇮🇹 🇫🇷
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Here’s today’s race analysis from Tirreno Adriatico and Paris-Nice.
Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 1 🇮🇹
As has become tradition over the past four editions of the race, the opening exchange of the race of the two seas was a short, flat time trial around the Lido di Camaiore.
Offering the opportunity to GC riders to steal an early march on their competitors and enabling teams to define leadership in the cases of any potential disputes, an opening day time trial is always a fascinating prospect. It sheds light on who we can expect to see battling it out over the coming days. With just two days of climbing on which to shine, the time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico has proven key in previous years. So how did today’s effort against the clock leave the race situation, heading into stage 2?
Ganna back on track 🎯
Having won the equivalent stage in 2022 and 2023, it was a blip on the radar of the Italian time trial champion in 2024 as he missed out on victory to UAE Team Emirates’ Juan Ayuso by just one second, as he built towards the Paris Olympic Games on the track.
It’s back on track, figuratively rather than literally speaking, for Ganna in 2025, however, as the Ineos Grenadiers rider reprised his rivalry with Ayuso and the clock today in Camaiore, and vanquished both. Two seconds down on Ayuso at the intermediate split, Ganna employed his trademark negative split to accelerate his way through the second half of his effort, eventually finishing 23 seconds ahead of the Spaniard, and taking his first victory since the Tour of Austria in 2024.
Speaking after the race, Ganna said: “I’m really happy. I think I did a really good TT. I’m really motivated for this week and for the next month to arrive. We're training a lot, and finally, I start to feel well also on the bike. We’ll see in the next days what can happen. For sure, the legs have a good feel.”
GC winners and losers
Just as he did in 2024, Juan Ayuso used the opening time trial to put himself in pole position for his team and his overall ambition of winning the race by putting in the strongest performance of the GC contenders. Though he gave away 23 seconds to Ganna, Ayuso made himself the man to beat and clarified the leadership situation for UAE Team Emirates-XRG. Adam Yates found himself over a minute off the pace, down in 40th position - perhaps a disappointing result for the man from Bury.
Another rider who the other top teams will need to take seriously is Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious). Winner of the GC at the Tour of Luxembourg last September, Tiberi established himself as a top contender with a strong ride to finish in fourth place on the stage. Just two places and five seconds behind him, Israel Premier Tech’s Derek Gee will also hope to feature as the week goes on, and Arkéa-B&B Hotels’ Kévin Vauquelin used his skill in the exercise to finish in a solid tenth spot.