Tirreno Tidbits and Nice Notes
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It’s Ronde van Vlaanderen season, don’t you know? So yes, I am here to write about the week’s ongoing races, all of which are nice little practice events for the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
Tirreno-Adriatico Best Bet
I am guilty of writing off these races, even one that goes through central Italy, for lack of interest and need of sleep, but the fact is that both races have provided plenty of reasons to stay tuned. Paris-Nice is kind of its usual self, building to a climactic weekend with a larger mountain stage and then a mountain laps thingy around Nice, ascending the Col d’Eze somewhere close to the finish. This time around the Col d’Eze is the penultimate climb, the Col des Quartre Chemins, or the Climb of the Four Paths. Are there four routes to the top? Is this a discounted version of the Eightfold Path to Buddhist enlightenment? Nobody knows. But the winner will roll into central Nice, and it won’t be a bunch sprint.