Tirreno-Adriatico: i big gather in Tuscany for the pre-race press conference

Even with Froome and Kittel backing out of the race in the last few days, and Cavendish a no-show at the press conference, the Tirreno-Adriatico pre-race presser still boasted an impressive panel of i big.

The mood was pleasant but business-like, with the riders generally more animated in their pre-Q-and-A interactions with each other than when answering questions from the press.

No one confessed to targeting Tirreno-Adriatico as a major objective for this season, but Contador, unsurprisingly, said that he always liked to win, and would try his best.  He said, however, that the Giro is always on his mind, and is his main focus these days.

Asked for his reaction to Tom Boonen's crash, Cancellara said although he knew Boonen as a rival, he knew him as a person first, and felt bad that he was injured.  He went on to say that as a rider, he preferred that Boonen was on his bike and at the races.

The only real news came from Contador, who had two tidbits to share.  He confirmed that he had signed with Tinkoff-Saxo for the 2016 season. When asked for his reaction to the CIRC report, Contador also revealed that he had cooperated in the CIRC inquiry, and said that had been happy to do so.

Nibali and Cancellara were also asked for their reactions to the CIRC report, and both said that they had not read the report and thus could not comment on it.

After the formal conference ended, the riders stuck around for a few minutes for TV interviews.