Traditionally, the GP Costa degli Etruschi has opened the Italian season, with the race usually coming down to a big bunch sprint in the city of Donoratico. After testing a new course in last year's autumn version, the race is back in its February slot but this time there will be little room for the sprinters to shine.

For several years, the start of the Italian season had a rather predictable outcome. In early February, all the Italian teams gathered for their first big rendezvous at the GP Costa degli Etruschi, held around the city of Donoratico on the Mediterranean coast, and every year it ended up in a big bunch sprint that was usually won by Alessandro Petacchi.

Ale-Jet dominated the race by taking 6 consecutive wins from 2005 to 2010 until his string was finally broken in 2011 when illness forced him to miss the race, opening the door for Elia Viviani to win the traditional bunch sprint. One year later, Petacchi was finally beaten in Donoratico when Viviani beat his older compatriot who could only manage 17th.

In 2013, things were different in Italy. Financial woes forced the organizers to initially cancel their race and for the first time in years, there was no bunch sprint in Donoratico to open the season. Luckily, the organizers managed to secure enough funding to hold the race later in the year, with the race taking an unusual September slot on the calendar.

Held one week before the World Championships, the organizers chose to turn it into the perfect preparation event by changing the course to make it more along the lines of the hilly one that was planned for the race in Florence. The nature of the race completely changed when Michele Scarponi rode solo to the finish, putting 4 seconds into a 6-rider group that was led across the line by Diego Ulissi and Filippo Pozzato in a Lampre clean-sweep of the podium.

The organizers were pleased with the new format of the race and while they will not repeat the very hilly 2013 course, they will again use the difficult finale that created the action last September. On that occasion, it was the two ascents of the Torre Segalari climb that created the spectacle and the riders will again have to conquer the hill twice when the Italian season kicks off tomorrow.

Otherwise, the race will be mostly flat as there will only be one climb on the opening run in the area south of Donoratico. The riders till then do three laps on a lumpy 24.3km circuit and two laps on a flat 10.3km circuit.

The finale kicks off when the riders start their two laps on the final 19.3km circuit that contains the feared ascent. The first 8km are predominantly flat but then it is time to tackle the 2.9km ascent which has an average gradient of 5%. After the final passage, 9.1km remain and they consist of a descent and 5.7 mostly flat kilometres.

The days when a pure sprinter will prevail in Donoratico are certainly gone but the final climb is not so hard that it will necessarily prevent some kind of sprint finish. We could easily see a smaller group get to the finish to contest the win in a final dash to the line, opening the door for some of the classics guys to open the Italian season with a win.

The race has mostly attracted Italian teams, with the only two ProTeams being Lampre-Merida and Cannondale. The three Italian pro continental teams Bardiani, YellowFluo and Androni  will all be on the start line as will Colombia. The rest of the peloton is made up of continental teams Vini Fantini, Marchiol, Dukla Praha, Utensilnord, Itera-Katusha, Meridina Kamen, Vega, Radenska, Gourmetfein, Amore & Vita, Aero Zero, MG Kvis, and Team Idea as well as the Italian national team which is made up of young riders.

Enrico Battaglin would love to start Bardiani's season with a victory and he has all the characteristics to shine on this course. His level of form is unknown but if he has had a decent winter training, he will be the man to beat. The team has Sonny Colbrelli as a solid back-up plan.

Should it all end in a sprint from a small group, he will be up against a motivated YellowFluo team that will be eager to prove themselves worthy of their wildcard invitation. The team's new signing Simone Ponzi as well as returning rider Mauro Finetto are both well-suited to this kind of course.

The rider to fly the flag for Lampre-Merida in their title defence is Manuele Mori who can both climb and sprint while Cannondale can count on young sensation Davide Villella in his first race as a real professional. Davide Mucelli will be on hand for Meridiana Kamen who have Patrik Sinkewitz to put up a show on the climb. Colombia will have fast finisher Jeffry Romero on hand as well as climbers Fabio Duarte, Robinson Chalapud, and Jarlinson Pantano.

Andrea Pasqualon will be a dark horse for the new Aero Zero team while Androni Giocattoli will offer Johnny Hoogerland his first chance to show off his new jersey. With Gianfranco Zilioli and Diego Rosa also in attendance, the team has plenty of firepower for the climbs but the race is likely to be too hard for sprinter Manuel Belletti.

The race has attracted strong climbers like Ivan Basso, Mattia Cattaneo, Kristijan Durasek, Jan Polanc, Yonathan Monsalve, Matteo Rabottini, Sinkewitz, Duarte, Chalapud, Pantano, Francesco Bongiorno, Edoardo Zardini, Hoogerland, Rosa and Zilioli but for those riders it will mainly be about getting in the early racing kilometres.

We will have a report tomorrow afternoon as well as reactions from the main protagonists later in the evening and on Monday.

Italian TV channel RAI Sport 2 will broadcast a 45 minute summary of the race at 21.00 CET.