Alberto Contador is ready to return to competition after his excellent stage win in the Volta ao Algarve and will spearhead Tinkoff-Saxo in Tirreno-Adriatico which starts tomorrow. The Spaniard has made it clear that the race is his most important spring target and he has a formidable roster to support him.

Wednesday, 12th of March, it’s time for this year’s Italian stage race classic, Tirreno-Adriatico where Tinkoff-Saxo put up a powerful line-up containing Alberto Contador, Daniele Bennati, Manuele Boaro, Matteo Tosatto, Nicolas Roche, Michael Mørkøv, Roman Kreuziger and Sergio Paulinho.
 
The race is launched with a team time trial over 18.5 kilometers just to get the muscles warmed up before the sprinters are blessed with two rather flat road stages. But when the sprinters have had their fun, stage 4 is a delicious snack for the climbers taking on 244 kilometers with an uphill finish to Cittareale. The race will be concluded with a flat individual time trial over 9.1 kilometers to settle the general classification.
 
“The course is rather classical," sports director Philippe Mauduit says. "It’s launched with a team time trial, which will be crucial for the outcome of the final GC. But we have a strong and highly motivated group of riders on the start line and we’re aiming for the podium and preferably the top spot.

"Alberto is our leader and hopefully, he’ll be among the best after the opening stage and after a few flat stages for the sprinters, we’ll battle against riders like Rigoberto Uran  and Michael Kwiatkowski in the mountains and in the deciding individual time trial over 9 kilometers."

You can read our preview of the race here.