On March 9th, a team time trial will kick off the second European UCI World Tour stage race, Tirreno-Adriatico. An 8-man squad of CCC Sprandi Polkowice will line up at the start with two Italians, who will have a chance to compete on their home soil.

"It’s a big honor that we get the opportunity to compete in the most prestigious stage races, such as Tour de Pologne, Giro d’Italia, Volta a Catalunya and Tour de Suisse. Now we can add Tirreno-Adriatico to that list," Piotr Wadecki, sporting director of CCC Sprandi Polkowice, says. "After the Giro, Il Lombardia and Milan-San Remo it’s another Italian World Tour event that we’ve been invited to.

"Our riders are extremely motivated to perform well in Italy. Davide Rebellin and Simone Ponzi want to showcase their skills in front of their countrymen and will try to go for a stage win. Victor de la Parte will be our man for the general classification. There is one stage with mountain top finish and an individual time trial on the menu and that should suit him."

The roster will be rounded out by Łukasz Owsian, Jarosław Marycz, Nikolay Mihaylov, Leszek Pluciński and Adrian Honkisz, who is a late replacement for Maciej Paterski. The 29-year old sustained a knee injury in Strade Bianche and had to skip the Italian stage event. It’s still hard to predict how long his break from the bike will be.

It will be the first time for the Polkowice-based squad to participate in this event, but two Italians on the “orange team” have been competing in it in their careers. Davide Rebellin has great memories from Tirreno-Adriatico, as he won it in 2001 and was 4th and 2nd on two other occasions. Simone Ponzi has taken part once, in 2012.

Line-up of CCC Sprandi Polkowice for Tirreno-Adriatico (March 9-15, 2.UWT): 

Davide Rebellin, Simone Ponzi, Adrian Honkisz, Victor de la Parte, Łukasz Owsian, Jarosław Marycz, Nikolay Mihaylov, Leszek Pluciński.