Tirreno-Adriatico 11-17 March 2015 *SPOILERS*

[The Couch]

With about 80 riders finished their prologue
Oss is leading
Sagan (despite a near-fall) 2nd at 2s
EBH, Terpstra and Castroviejo at 4s

Betancur continuing his weird riding, this time he is again going for the I don't really care and is standing 2nd last

EDIT: just when I wanted to hit send, Brandle takes 1st place 2s ahead of Oss

 

[Flying_Monkey]

And Malori beats Cancellara to the first stage. It was such a short, fast TT that it saw some of the sprinters doing much better than one would normally expect - Cav in 30th, for example, 37 places ahead of Contador!

 

[400bhp]

Malori could be a good bet for the worlds at the back end of the year.

 

[tug benson]

viviani falls in the sprint...Looks like something went wrong with cavs bike and he clipped viviani

 

[tug benson]

not sure if cavs chain snapped and it thrown him on to viviani

 

[raindog]

Looks like Cav dropped a gear or something - what a mess
he was well placed - real shame

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Nasty, but couldn't be helped despite what some of the Internet's stupidest cycling fans are saying...

 

[raindog]

It was a dropped chain....
"Mark Cavendish’s Ettix-Quickstep team has said it will move quickly to investigate what caused the Manxman's chain to drop and so spark a crash at the end of Tirreno-Adriatico in Cascina. It seems that Tom Boonen suffered a similar problem in a sprint at the Tour of Qatar."

 

[Strathlubnaig]

He shifted sideways so fast and sudden it had to be a mechanical, lucky he stayed up himself.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Viviana seems ok, no broken bones, should be on the start line tomorrow

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Yep, from the front angle as soon as Cav shot out, the crash took place. Really hectic last few kilometres though and MTN look stronger than anyone suspected.

Cav rode in one one pedal but looked like a chain slip to me.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I thought that Van Avermaet was sure to lose another straight-up sprint there, but he held on very strongly. Sagan doesn't seem like quite the invincible force he once looked to be becoming.

 

[rich p]

I thought that Van Avermaet was sure to lose another straight-up sprint there, but he held on very strongly. Sagan doesn't seem like quite the invincible force he once looked to be becoming.

He does seem to manage to find someone to beat him lately. He may be destine to be just a serial green jersey winner but I hope he can win something bigger and better.

 

[iLB]

Peter Sadgan. San Remo? He's due a bit of a break.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Sagan burst onto the scene, and it's hard to keep that "new kid" promise going; I am quite delighted to see him not making it look as if it's easy. Hope for the future? (Excluding the other nobbers who still dope of course...)