The 2022 Tirreno-Adriatico dates and route have been changed. The Italian stage race will end on Sunday, March 13, the same day as Paris-Nice, with a road stage replacing the traditional final time trial along the San Benedetto del Tronto seafront.

This schedule change will likely affect preparations for Milan-San Remo, with Milan-Torino being moved to Wednesday, March 16 as the final race before La Classissima on Saturday, March 19.

Tirreno-Adriatico will start at Lido di Camaiore on the Tyrrhenian coast on Monday, March 7, two days after the Strade Bianche on Tuscany's dirt roads The seven-day race begins with a 13.9 km individual time trial out and back along the sea beginning and covering roads that have been used in recent years.

This year's Tirreno-Adriatico will have no mountain finish, but RCS Sport director Mauro Veni explained that there will be 14,000 m of climbing during the 1131 km race. 3 stages are over 200 km, with sprinters and Umbria and Le Marche There are opportunities to attack on the step climbs.

After the opening time trial, the race route continues deep into Tuscany to Sovicille near Siena, crossing Umbria and finishing in Terni.

The route jumps north for a 213-km mountain stage, climbing the steep 6-km Monte Carpegna twice. This is the climb that Marco Pantani used for training and form testing, and there are two testing descents to the finish on Calpegna.

"There is no need to train on high mountains. Calpeña is enough," Pantani famously said.

Monte Carpegna is only 6 kilometers long, but twists and turns with an average gradient of 10 percent. The gradient in the last 2 km is about 12%.

The final stage consists of five laps on the flat course along the sea in San Benedetto del Torronto.

The new route means that the overall win will be decided by a time bonus and the double climb of Monte Carpeña rather than a time trial.

RCS Sport will be represented by 2021 winner Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates), world champion Julian Alaphilippe and teammates Remco Evenpole (Quick Step - Alfa Vinyl), Peter Sagan (Total Energies) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana-Cazakstan) have indicated that they will participate in the Italian race instead of Paris-Nice.

"Tirreno - Adriatico will finish on Sunday for the first time.

"The short climbs and beautiful villages of central Italy will also appeal more. After experimenting with high mountains and steep climbs for the past few years, Tirreno-Adriatico believes it is better to race on the rolling hills and short climbs of central Italy.

"There will be no mountain top finishes, but the stages will be hard. The Monte Carpeña stage in particular has about 14,000 meters of climbing during the race. In the past, there have been few, if any, mountain stages with this much climbing. The sprinters will have to fight for a chance to win in the early stages, and the time bonuses are crucial in determining the eventual overall winner."

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