Weekend Preview: Strade Bianche, Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico

Laying out the upcoming days of racing, from Saturday's Strade Bianche, Sunday's Paris-Nice & Monday's Tirreno-Adriatico

Strade Bianche (Saturday, March 8th)

The combination of thrilling racing over the white gravel roads of Tuscany and gorgeous scenery returns tomorrow (Saturday) and will feature an intriguing showdown between 2022 and 2024 winner, and the best rider in the sport currently, Tadej Pogačar, against a series of extremely strong and technically capable riders like Tom Pidcock (2023 winner), former teammate Marc Hirschi, and Lidl-Trek’s breakout young rider Mathias Vacek.

• Expect the race to deliver striking scenery, copious amounts of climbing via short, steep hills, and a finish up a brutally steep 1.75km climb into the picturesque Piazza del Campo in Siena that almost always serves up a thrilling finale.

2025 Course Profile (grey sections are gravel)

• The race, which is kind of a younger, more hip version of a traditional Spring Classic, has become a cornerstone of the spring calendar in just 19 years. The route, which has grown slightly over the years to 213 kilometers in 2025, sees the race scraping the lower end of Monument distances.

  • It might not be evident to the casual observer, but the 250km+ distances of Monuments significantly reduce the number of potential winners and separate the elite physical specimens of the sport from the rest.

  • Outside of the distance, one of the main differences between Strade and the Monuments is the television coverage, which only starts with roughly 100 kilometers remaining. This means viewers miss the opening three or so hours of action, a part of the course that often significantly reduces the size of the front group.

Premium subscribers will receive a Three Quick Thoughts Strade Bianche race breakdown over the weekend before Monday’s Key Takeaways

Projected Winner: Tadej Pogačar
Select Contenders: Mathias Vacek, Tom Pidcock, Marc Hirschi, Lennert Van Eetvelt

Where/When to Watch:
Where: Max (USA + Europe), FloBikes (Canada)
When: Saturday, March 8th: Women: 5:30am - 7:30am / Men: 8:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. EST (estimate)

Paris-Nice (Sunday, March 9th-Sunday, March 16th)

Paris-Nice, the notoriously difficult spring stage race from the cold and windswept landscape of Northern France to the Cote d'Azur starts this coming Sunday, and will see Jonas Vingegaard start his second race of the 2025 season, as he and his teammate Matteo Jorgenson, the defending champion, attempt to fend off UAE’s duo of João Almeida and Pavel Sivakov.

• This Visma/UAE head-to-head battle will be interesting to watch, especially since both squads feature many riders that will be major players at this summer’s Tour de France.

• Due to Jonas Vingegaard being the second-best stage racer in the world, I obviously wouldn’t be shocked if he took the overall win, but, with Matteo Jorgenson looking incredibly strong at the opening Classics weekend and Vingegaard looking slightly undercooked on the climbs at Volta ao Algarve, I expect him to emerge as the team’s best option for the overall win throughout the course of the week.

2025 Course Breakdown

Projected Winner: Matteo Jorgenson
Select Contenders: Jonas Vingegaard, Mattias Skjelmose, João Almeida, Pavel Sivakov

Where/When to Watch:
Where: Peacock (USA + Europe), FloBikes (Canada)
When: Sunday, March 9th - Sunday, March 16th, 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. EST (estimate)

Tirreno-Adriatico (Monday, March 10th-Sunday, March 16th)

The seven-stage race sees the riders who want to avoid the wind, cold, and hard racing of Paris-Nice navigate the annual traverse from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic Sea through central Italy. While it overlaps with Paris-Nice, the race’s (likely) better weather and relaxed racing style should present a nice counterbalance to the chaotic, and frankly, slightly unpleasant brutalist racing aesthetic that marks the opening stages of its French competitor.

2025 Course Breakdown

Projected Overall Winner: Juan Ayuso
Select Contenders: Adam Yates, Simon Yates, Mikel Landa

Where/When to Watch:
Where: Max (USA + Europe), FloBikes (Canada)
When: Monday, March 10th - Sunday, March 16th, 7:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. EST (estimate),

How & Where Americans Can Watch the Pro Cycling Calendar in 2025

New BTP Podcast: Andrew Vontz and I discuss our key takeaways from the start of Classics season, what we think is going on with Visma-LAB and Wout van Aert's underperformance, and whether Mathieu van der Poel and Alpecin will steamroll through the classics. We also provide some background on the recent developments and rumors from the One Cycling project.

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