Dates 12–18 March 2014 Distance 1,034.6 km (642.9 mi) | Stages 7 Winning time 25h 28' 45" | |
Winner Alberto Contador (Spain) Second Nairo Quintana (Colombia) | ||
The 2014 Tirreno–Adriatico was the 49th edition of the Tirreno–Adriatico cycling stage race, often known as the Race of the Two Seas. It started on 12 March in Donoratico and ended on 18 March in San Benedetto del Tronto, and consisted of seven stages, including a team time trial to begin the race and an individual time trial to conclude it. It was the third race of the 2014 UCI World Tour season.
Contents
The race was won by Spain's Alberto Contador of Tinkoff–Saxo, who took the lead after winning his second successive stage on the fifth stage – following on from a win in the race's queen stage to Cittareale – and held the lead until the finish in San Benedetto del Tronto, to become the first Spanish rider to win the race since Óscar Freire in 2005. Contador won the general classification by two minutes and five seconds over runner-up Nairo Quintana of the Movistar Team, while Contador's team-mate Roman Kreuziger completed the podium, nine seconds behind Quintana and two minutes and fourteen seconds down on Contador.
In the race's other classifications, Cannondale's Peter Sagan was the winner of the red jersey for the points classification, amassing the highest number of points during stages at intermediate sprints and stage finishes, and Marco Canola was the winner of the mountains classification for the Bardiani–CSF team. Quintana also won the white jersey for the young rider classification, as he was the highest placed rider born in 1989 or later, while the Ag2r–La Mondiale squad won the team classification, placing riders Jean-Christophe Péraud and Domenico Pozzovivo inside the top ten overall.
The final time trial was almost irrelevant from the winner's point of view as Alberto Contador had more than two minutes in hand on next best placed rider Nairo Quintana of the Movistar Team. There were some changes further down the GC as a result of the time trial though as Jean-Christophe Péraud moved above Julián Arredondo in to 4th place and Michele Scarponi moved up to the top ten as a result of a strong ride.
Teams
As Tirreno–Adriatico is a UCI World Tour event, all 18 UCI ProTeams are invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Four other squads were given wildcard places to the race, completing the 22-team peloton.
The 22 teams that are scheduled to compete in the race are: