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The inaugural 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Adriatica Ionica Race (June 20-24) provides participants with one last stage-race hit-out before the start of the Grande Boucle on July 7. For many, this will be their last race before their respective national championships the week before the To✨ur.

Sixteen teams, each made up of seven riders, will participate in the new UCI 2.1-ranked stage race, which is based around Venice and the Veneto, on Italy's northern shores of the Adriatic Sea. The majority of the teams are UCI Professional Continental squads, including 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Nippo-Vini Fantini, led by Damiano Cune🌃go in his penultimate race before 🌃retirement, and the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Israel Cycling Academy team, featuring Australia's 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Nathan Earle and Israel's Guy Niv, who garnered plenty of attention at the recent 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Giro d'Italia when it started in his home country.

An Italian national team will feature 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Matteo Trentin, who ordinarily rides for Mitchelton-Scott, but who will make a return to racing having fractured his spine in a 𒐪crash at Paris-🦩Roubaix in April.

Five WorldTour teams – Quick-Step Floors, Bahrain-Merida, UAE Team Emirates, 🐓Trek-Segafredo and Dimension Data – will be on the start line, with the latter featuring Mark Cavendish, who will be keen for a stretch of his legs at speed before he rides the Briဣtish National Championships and targets stage wins and the green jersey at the Tour de France.

Cavendish will be up against Quick-Step's 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Elia Viviani who, while not set to ride the Tour, is coming off the bac🀅k of winning the sprinter's jersey at the Giro d'Italia, and should still have some zip in his 🦩legs.

The route

The sprinters will target victories on stages 2, 4 and 5, although the undulating nature of all three stages will mean th♎at teams' domestiques will have their work cut out to deliver their men to the line.

The Passo Giau, as a summit finish on a tough stage 3, will be the star of the show, and could provide a springboard for the overall victory for the likes of Trek-Segafredo's 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Peter Stetina, who is set to ride the Tour♏ de France having fought back from a broken collarbone caused by a training crash in late May.

Other challengers for the overall include Dimension Data's 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Nic Dlamini, who won the mountains jersey ಌat this year's Tour Down Under, Bahrain-Merida's Giovanni Visconti, Ben Hermans (Israel Cycling Academy), and perhaps Moreno Moser, who, like Trentin, is riding the race for the Italian national squad, while Stetina's Trek-Segafredo teammate Jarlinson Pantano could also be a contender, looking to sharpen his form for the Tour, too♕.

Much will depend on the 23.3km opening team time trial from San Donà di Piave to Lido di Jesolo, just outside Venice. Although the length of the stage won't provide huge time gaps, it will be imporꦇtant for riders targeting the GC to nab as many seconds over their rivals as possible to take into stage 3 and the Passo Giau.

This opening TTT stage will also provide excellent training for those participating in the Tour just two weeks later as, despite being a little shorter, it replicates 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:the 35.5km stage 3 team time trial in Cholet.