Tirreno-Adriatico to honour Michele Scarponi 

Stage five will finish in his hometown of Filottrano, with a host of Top Sprinters and previous winners including 

The Tirreno-Adriatico "The Race of the Two Seas" takes place in Italy from March 7-13, 2018. The 53rd edition of the Tirreno-Adriatico pays tribute to Michel Scarponi, who was killed last year, hit by a car while he was training.

The organization confirmed that the Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar), double winner and defending champion (2015 and 2017), and the Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), another double winner (2012 and 2013), will be particiapating. A whole host of top Sprinters have also been confirmed including World Champion Peter Sagan.

The race will start from Lido di Camaiore with a 21.5-kilometer individual time trial, and seven stages later the riders will finish with a final time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto, last year Colombian Nairo Quintana won the race.

Stage Two sees the peloton head south to Follonica. With the exception of the first kilometers of the second stage of Tirreno will be flat and favorable for a sprint finish. The riders will complte three laps of a finishing a circuit of 8.3 kilometers. The long straights of the circuit will favour the Sprinter teams and Sprinters like Peter Sagan.

Stage Three heads east inland to Trevi, a long stage at 243 kms with 4 notable climbs, finishing on the last one,. The last kilometers of race will be played out in the form of two uphill laps in Trevi. The stage will suit the Punchers who have enough power to escape the peloton, with slopes of up to 15%. 

Stage Four to Sarnano Sassotetto is a 219 km that will see the peloton tackle a difficult undulation stage that gets tougher after the first 100kms, with three 600 metre climbs back to back before the final summit finish, ther are three mountain prizes on the San Ginesio, Gualdo and Penna San Giovanni climbs. The final climb will be on a long climb of 14.3 kilometers with gradient of up to 12%.

Stage Five visits the hometown of Michele Scarponi The 5th stage  is called "Wall Stage", due to the successive difficulty of the climbs, the finale of the day will be played in int the form of two laps of a of 16.1 kilometers circuit . It will be punctuated by the Muro du Filottrano (15%) followed by a small descent and a less difficult final slope.

Stage Six returns to the quiet roads of Tirreno with a 153 kilometer stage with an expected sprint in Fano. The final circuit is 12.8 kilometers long and completely flat, and the final sprint is on a long wide road wide perfect for sprint teams to bring in their sprinters to the front.

The final Seventh Stage again features a new individual time trial of 10.05 kilometers, which will suit time trial specialists and could decide the overall classification.

Peter Sagan has won seven stages and ehe world champion could overtake Alessandro Petacchi, Moreno Argentin and Giuseppe Saronni, with eight wins and close in on Oscar Freire with 11 wins and Roger de Vlaeminck with 15 wins.

Expected to ride this year's Tirreno-Adriatico are abio Aru (UAE Team Emirates), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana), Mark Cavendish and Louis Meintjes (Dimension Data), Philippe Gilbert and Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors), Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas (Team Sky), Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC).

The 2018 Tirreno-Adriatico  should make for a thrilling race with a lot of top Sprinters, Puncheurs and Rouleurs avalable to animate the race.

Froome and Dumoulin could go head to head early on in the season which should be a great measure of their form and time trialling ability ahead of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France.

The Stages

March 7 1st: Lido di Camaiore. 21.5 km (CRE) 
8 March. 2nd: Camaiore - Follonica 167 km
9 March. 3rd: Follonica - Trevi 234 km
10 March. 4th: Trevi - Sarsano / Sasso Tetto 219 km 
11 March. 5th: Castelraimondo - Filottrano 178 km
12 March. 6th: Numana - Fano 153 km
13 March. 7th: San Benedetto del Tronto 10.5 km (CRI)