The race in Tuscany will officially start this year’s International Cycling Union (UCI) Women’s WorldTour season, with weather conditions potentially set to play a factor.

Snow earlier in the week has gradually drifted away, with heavy rain having taken over to provide an added layer of intrigue to the course, which features several gravel sections.

Last year's race was the third edition of the women’s event and the first won by an Italian, with Borghini emerging victorious.

Her triumph followed wins for the United States' Megan Guarnier and Britain's Lizzie Deigan in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

This year's event will be held over 136 kilometres, an increase of nine kilometres from last year's edition.

Should the eight gravel sections not decide the outcome, a steep climb to the finish will ultimately reveal the winner of the race.

Former winners Guarnier and Borghini will hope to be among the contenders at the finish, as well as last year's Women’s WorldTour winner Anna van der Breggen of The Netherlands.

Team Sky's Kwiatkowski will be among the favourites for the men's race, which is taking place over a longer 184km route, with around a third made up of gravel sections.

The Polish rider is one of only two men to have won the race on multiple occasions, having also triumphed back in 2014.

Should he triumph tomorrow, he would equal the record of the now retired Swiss star Fabian Cancellara.

World champion Peter Sagan of Slovakia is likely to be another contender for the victory, along with Belgium's Greg Van Avermaet and the Czech Republic's Zdeněk Štybar, who won back in 2014.

Italy's Vincenzo Nibali and France's Romain Bardet are also taking to the start, with the pair among a handful of riders who could spring a surprise.

The second men's UCI WorldTour event of the weekend will begin on Sunday (March 4), with the eight-stage Paris-Nice.

The race is viewed as an early season test for several of the general classification riders at this season's Grand Tours.

Defending champion Sergio Henao of Team Sky is set to start, with the Colombian likely to face competition from Russia's Ilnur Zakarin and France's Warren Barguil.

The pair will look to improve on their sixth and eighth place finishes at last year's race.

Mitchelton-Scott will hope their duo attack of Colombia's Esteban Chaves and Britain's Simon Yates pays off to good effect.

Germany's Marcel Kittel and Italy's Elia Viviani are among the sprinters who will hope to make a mark during the race, which will take place until March 11.