Today the course for the 2015 edition of Tirreno-Adriatico was announced and it will follow a very traditional format. As in recent years, it will be bookended by time trials and it will feature stages for sprinters, puncheurs and a big summit finish on the Terminillo climb.

In 2015 the Tirreno-Adriatico, one of the most important Italian and international sport events, will celebrate its 50th running in March 2015.
 
The best riders in the international peloton have always ridden and won it. The list of winners of Tirreno-Adriatico general classifications includes amongst others: Dino Zandegù, the first winner in 1966, Bitossi, De Vlaeminck (6 editions won consecutively), Saronni, Moser, Rominger, Fondriest, Sørensen, Olano, Bettini, Freire, Cancellara, Scarponi, Garzelli, Evans and more recently Nibali (2012, 2013) and Contador, winner of last year race in front of Quintana.
 
The 2015 Tirreno-Adriatico, also known as the “Race of the Two Seas”, is expected to be raced by many of cycling’s biggest stars: including two of the 2014 Grand Tour winners, Vincenzo Nibali and Alberto Contador as well as Christopher Froome, the winner of UCI WorldTour 2014 ranking Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodriguez.
 
The race, which is organized by RCS Sport/La Gazzetta dello Sport, will run from Wednesday 11th until Tuesday 17th March. It will start from Camaiore’s renowned Lido, in the Italian Versilia region, with a 22.7km Team Time Trial.
 
The second stage, starting from Camaiore and finishing in Cascina (153km), is fundamentally flat and will see the fastest wheels in the peloton as protagonists.
 
Cascina will be the starting location of the third stage and, as per last year, will end up in Arezzo after 203km, on the same climb that saw Peter Sagan win in front of the 2014 Road World Champion Michał Kwiatkowski.
 
Saturday 14th will see a deceptively challenging fourth stage, held predominantly between the Umbrian and Le Marche regions. The stage will start from Indicatore (Arezzo) with four King of the Mountain climbs: Foce dello Scopetone, Poggio San Romualdo, Monte San Vicino and the final Crispiero climb just before the short descent towards Castelraimondo (218km).
 
The Queen stage will be held on Sunday 15th, starting from Esanatoglia and finishing at the 1,675m of Monte Terminillo (194km) with two KOM in the initial and central (Passo Sallegri and Le Arette climbs).
 
The penultimate stage, which is ideal for sprinters, will bring the peloton from Rieti to Porto Sant’Elpidio (210km).
 
The 50th edition of the “Race of the Two Seas” will end again in San Benedetto del Tronto, with a final-day, 10km Individual Time Trial crowning the winner of Tirreno-Adriatico.
 
The jerseys worn by the leader of each race classification and their sponsors were presented during the Tirreno-Adriatico press conference.

Jerseys have been designed by Maglificio Santini that, in honour of the 50th year of the race, created a special logo that will represent this particular edition.

BLUE JERSEY – BANCA MEDIOLANUM, General Classification leader’s jersey
RED JERSEY – ACQUA FIUGGI, Points Classification leader’s jersey
WHITE JERSEY – SELLE ITALIA, Young Rider General Classification leader’s jersey
GREEN JERSEY – SPRANDI, King of the Mountain Classification leader’s jersey 

Speakers at the presentation were the Italian National Elite Road Cycling Team General Manager, Davide Cassani; Tinkoff-Saxo rider, Daniele Bennati; the Mayor of Camaiore, Alessandro Del Dotto; RCS Sport’s Head of Cycling, Mauro Vegni; Member of Camaiore Council in charge of Sport, Francesco Santini; and the Tirreno-Adriatico Race Director, Stefano Allocchio. Amongst the guests at the presentation were the winner of the race’s inaugural 1966 edition, Dino Zandegù, and Francesco Moser, who won Tirreno-Adriatico twice in 1980 and in 1981.
 
“The course presented today is ideal for an important race such as Tirreno-Adriatico," Cassani said. "I really like it, the best riders today aspire to win the Tirreno-Adriatico, which is no longer the race in preparation of Milan-San Remo, as in the past.”
 
“During the race my role will be to protect my captains, Contador and Sagan," Bennati said. "This is a really compelling course, and the stage ending at the top of Monte Terminillo is perfect for Contador. Tinkoff-Saxo will be at the start with a very high level formation that alongside Sagan, Contador and myself also includes Basso, Rogers and Tosatto too.”
 
“Tirreno-Adriatico is one of the races that made the history of this sport and that will keep on making it," Veigni said. "This is shown by the repeated participation of the best riders in the world and continuous interest of big brands in sponsoring the event; every year more and more councils ask us about being part of the course too. The images of our country, thanks to our partnership with Rai which produces the images of our races impeccably, will be broadcasted in 2015 in over 150 different countries in the 5 continents.”
 
“For 2015 we created a course that, as in previous editions, will test every type of rider," Allochio said. "Participation will be extraordinary as usual. Contador, Nibali, Froome, Valverde, Rodriguez, just to give you some names, have all programmed to take part at the race already and I’m certain the spectacle will be guaranteed.”