As in recent years, a race against the clock in Lido di Camaiore opened the 60th edition of Tirreno-Adriatico on Monday. On an 11.5-kilometre, pan-flat course, Filippo Ganna claimed a large victory, while Romain Grégoire took twenty-third place on the day, fifty-two seconds behind the Italian. David Gaudu lost 1’15 for his proper return to racing.
In Lido di Camaiore, the time trial remains, but the direction changes. In this 2025 edition, the riders took the opposite way to last year. “It was still a very straightforward course with a return trip along the seaside,” explained David Han. “We had 11.5 kilometres totally flat with only a small bridge on the way there and back. It was a route for pure specialists. The wind also had almost no impact between those who started at the beginning and those who started at the end.” Clément Russo was the first Groupama-FDJ rider to tackle the circuit, and he completed it in a very decent time of 13’18, which allowed him to stay in the provisional top 10 of the stage for a while. David Gaudu and Romain Grégoire, the two leaders of the team, were expected around 3pm on the starting ramp. The Breton first set a time of 13’32, showing great consistency. “Let’s say that it’s not so bad for someone who crashed twice on the Strade Bianche two days ago, and even three times in the last ten days,” he said. “The legs weren’t so bad. Then, the time is what it is. I hadn’t raced for 3-4 weeks, and I needed to get going again. I would have preferred to do it on the Strade but that’s how it is. It’s not the best time trial of my life, but it’s not awful. It’s still a good sign for the coming week”.
“I did my best with the legs I had today”, Romain Grégoire
Compared to Filippo Ganna, a clear winner of the time trial, David Gaudu lost 1’15 on Monday. “There were some positive things today, especially the way he maintained the position on the time trial bike”, said his coach, David Han. “However, from this morning, he didn’t have the best legs. Also, David had not competed in a time trial since the Vuelta. It was a new position, a new bike, and we will continue to improve all that towards May.” About twenty minutes later, his teammate Romain Grégoire crossed the line in 13’09, which placed him in 23rd place in the stage after all the competitors had finished. “It’s not a bad time trial, but it’s not a very good one either,” said the young man. “I felt like I was on pace but that I was missing a little something to take it to the next level. The result is pretty consistent with what I felt. I had a good result here last year, so I was hoping to do a little better, but I did my best with the legs I had today. My shoulder and elbow were still a little bit sore after the crash on the Strade, but it didn’t really bother me.”
“It’s a very decent result for Romain, and I think that some of the guys who finished ahead of him today won’t be here after the hard stages,” added David Han. “He is aiming for a top 10 overall in this Tirreno-Adriatico, and he is right in the mix. He and David are ambitious this week, but 48 hours after their crash, we were a bit uncertain. Physically, it seems to be going well, and that is the positive from today. Tomorrow, we should have a rather quiet day, then we will see on Wednesday how it goes”.
