Preview: Lofty ambitions

Bettini took a stage of the Tour of California in February but cut his elbow and bruised his knee in a crash during last Saturday's Milan-Turin race.

"I lost some skin but I wasn't hurt. I'm ready for another block of hard racing at Tirreno-Adriatico," 2004 winner Bettini told Reuters.

"It's an important race because it's the last stage race before the spring classics and ends just four days before Milan-San Remo.

"Last year I realised my form was excellent during Tirreno-Adriatico and I'm confident I'll have the same feelings this year. In the past it has always served as a launch pad towards success," added the Quickstep rider, who won Milan-San Remo in 2003.

Bettini will be up against last year's winner Thomas Dekker of the Netherlands, Switzerland's world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara and Giro d'Italia victor Ivan Basso, riding for Discovery Channel.

Basso, previously team leader with CSC, was one of nine riders withdrawn from last year's Tour de France after being implicated in a Spanish doping investigation.

All charges were dropped against the Italian last year and the probe was closed by a judge on Monday, concluding that no offences were committed under Spanish law.

The seven stage Tirreno-Adriatico begins in Civitavecchia, north of Rome and ends in the Adriatic holiday resort of San Benedetto del Tronto on March 20 after crossing the central Apennines mountains.