Strade Bianche 2024: The most important facts in brief
- Date: Saturday, 2 March, the women start at 9:35 am (finish ~ 1:30 pm), the men start at 11:10 am (finish ~ 3:30 pm)
- DistanceMen 215 kilometres, women 137 kilometres
- Start: Siena, Target: Siena
- Premiere: Men 2007, women 2015
- Track, gravel sectors, TV broadcast & live stream
- Favourites & start list for the men's race
- Race report of the men
- Women's race report
- The best photos from Strade Bianche 2024
Strade Bianche 2024: The TOUR favourites by stars*
* Ashleigh Moolman, Silvia Persico, Pfeiffer Georgi
** Katarzyna Niewiadoma, Kristen Faulkner
*** Shirin van Anrooij, Puck Pieterse
**** Demi Vollering, Elisa Longo Borghini, Marianne Vos
***** Lotte Kopecky
* The more stars a driver receives, the stronger she is rated
Strade Bianche Women 2024: SD Worx - Protime with two top favourites
Last year's edition made it into almost every Cycling review of the year. There were two memorable scenes: On the one hand, the horse that almost collided with Demi Vollering and on the other, the sprint to the finish between Vollering and Kopecky, which the Dutch rider won by a hair's breadth.
Unsurprisingly, the two riders from SD Worx - Protime are also among the top favourites this year. However, Kopecky is currently slightly stronger than last year's winner. Kopecky has already triumphed in outstanding style at the UAE Tour and also made a strong impression at the Omloop het Nieuwsblad last weekend. While Vollering made her season debut at the Omloop, finishing in sixth place and finishing with the first chasing group, Kopecky only had to fight for the win. Marianne Vos (Visma | Lease a Bike).
Marianne Vos wins Omloop het Nieuwsblad
Vos impressively proved at Omloop het Nieuwsblad that she is still a force to be reckoned with despite now being 36 years old. Will she achieve her next top result at Strade Bianche? The Dutchwoman has competed five times so far, achieving her best result in 2020 with sixth place.
In addition to Vos and Kopecky, the Lidl-Trek duo also rode in the Omloop Elisa Longo Borghini/Shirin van Anrooij in the leading group. The Italian Longo Borghini knows what it feels like to win Strade Bianche - she stood at the top of the podium in 2017. The 32-year-old is therefore a little stronger than her Dutch team-mate, who is ten years younger. Especially as van Anrooij had to end her cyclocross season prematurely after breaking a rib and is probably not yet back to 100 per cent.
Puck Pieterse wants to build on strong performance at Strade Bianche 2024
With Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck), another young Dutchwoman is among the favourites. At just 20 years of age, she finished fifth in the women's Strade Bianche last year. Pieterse has had a strong cyclocross winter with three victories in World Cup races.
In a race that runs over gravel roads for large parts of the route, it goes without saying that the Reigning Gravel World Champion one of the favourites. What is meant is Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing). The Polish rider secured this title last October in the Veneto. To win Strade Bianche, however, she would probably have to try an attack from far away. Resisting Kopecky on the steep ramp in the historic centre of Siena is likely to be difficult for Niewiadoma.
Kristen Faulkner: Specialist for long solo escapes
Already in the previous year it tried Kristen Faulkner with such an attack from a long way away. The US-American - then still with Jayco-AlUla, now with EF Education-Cannondale - was only caught by the SD-Worx tandem Kopecky/Vollering around 600 metres into the race. She won the Omloop van het Hageland last Sunday with a 55-kilometre solo and impressively demonstrated her current top form.
Already in good shape Ashleigh Moolman (AG Insurance - Soudal Team), who recently won La Santa Vall, the opening round of the Gravel Earth Series. However, the 38-year-old South African is only likely to be an outsider on Saturday and only gets one star from us, just like Silvia PersicoUAE leads Team ADQ and Pfeiffer Georgi (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), who finished third in the Omloop van het Hageland last Sunday.
Strade Bianche 2024: What are the chances of the German riders?
The best chances of a good placing from a German perspective are probably Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon//SRAM Racing). The 23-year-old finished 16th last year and, alongside Lana Eberle (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team) is the only German starter this year. Liane Lippert (Movistar), who achieved a top result in 2023 with seventh place, is not taking part in Strade Bianche 2024.
Strade Bianche 2024 Women: The start list
Team SD Worx - Protime
- 1 Demi Vollering
- 2 Mischa Bredewold
- 3 Elena Cecchini
- 4 Niamh Fisher-Black
- 5 Barbara Gurischi
- 6 Lotte Kopecky
AG Insurance - Soudal Team
- 11 Ashleigh Moolman
- 12 Mirela Benito
- 13 Julia Borgström
- 14 Justine Ghekiere
- 15 Kimberley (Le Court) Pienaar
- 16 Gaia Masetti
Aromitalia 3T Vaiano
- 21 Rasa Leleivyte
- 22 Milena del Sarto
- 23 Ainhoa Moreno
- 24 Serena Semoli
- 25 Elisa Tottolo
- 26 Valentina Zanzi
Bepink - Bongioanni
- 31 Irene Cagnazzo
- 32 Ana Vitoria Magalhaes
- 33 Nora Jencusova
- 34 Martina Testa
- 35 Monica Trinca Colonel
- 36 Elisa Valtulini
BTC City Ljubljana Zhiraf Ambedo
- 41 Carlotta Borello
- 42 Spela Colnar
- 43 Pija Galof
- 44 Giulia Luciani
- 45 Urska Pintar
- 46 Yelizaveta Sklyarova
Canyon//SRAM Racing
- 51 Katarzyna Niewiadoma
- 52 Ricarda Bauernfeind
- 53 Neve Bradbury
- 54 Elise Chabbey
- 55 Soraya Paladin
- 56 Alice Towers
Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team
- 61 Marta Lach
- 62 Laura Asencio
- 63 Nina Berton
- 64 Lana Eberle
- 65 Marta Jaskulska
- 66 Cedrine Kerbaol
Cofidis Women Team
- 71 Victoire Berteau
- 72 Julie Bego
- 73 Flavie Boulais
- 74 Morgane Coston
- 75 Spela Kern
- 76 Nikola Noskova
EF Education-Cannondale
- 81 Letizia Borghesi
- 82 Kristen Faulkner
- 83 Alison Jackson
- 84 Noemi Rüegg
- 85 Coryn Labecki
- 86 Madeleine Vallieres
FDJ-Suez
- 91 Grace Brown
- 92 Loes Adegeest
- 93 Lea Curnier
- 94 Amber Kraak
- 95 Evita Muzic
- 96 Jade Wiel
Fenix-Deceuninck
- 101 Puck Pieterse
- 102 Yara Kastelijn
- 103 Greta Marturano
- 104 Pauliena Rooijakkers
- 105 Christina Schweinberger
- 106 Marthe Truyen
Human Powered Health
- 111 Katia Ragusa
- 112 Yuliia Biriukova
- 113 Ruth Edwards
- 114 Barbara Malcotti
- 115 Lily Williams
- 116 Silvia Zanardi
Isolmant - Premac - Vittoria
- 121 Beatrice Rossato
- 122 Valeria Curnis
- 123 Sara Mazzorana
- 124 Sonia Rossetti
- 125 Marta Zanga
- 126 Asia Zontone
Laboral Kutxa - Fundacion Euskadi
- 131 Lourdes Oyarbide
- 132 Nadia Quagliotto
- 133 Ane Santesteban
- 134 Debora Silvestri
- 135 Laura Tomasi
- 136 Cristina Tonetti
Lidl Trek
- 141 Elisa Longo Borghini
- 142 Brodie Chapman
- 143 Elizabeth Deignan
- 144 Lauretta Hanson
- 145 Amanda Spratt
- 146 Shirin van Anrooj
Liv AlUla Jayco
- 151 Mavi Garcia
- 152 Caroline Andersson
- 153 Alexandra Manly
- 154 Amber godfather
- 155 Ruby Roseman-Gannon
- 156 Ella Wyllie
Movistar
- 161 Mareille Meijering
- 162 Olivia Baril
- 163 Jelena Eric
- 164 Floortje Mackaij
- 165 Sara Martin
- 166 Paula Patino
Tashkent City Women Professional Cycling Team
- 171 Yanina Kuskova
- 172 Madina Kakhorova
- 173 Sofiya Karimova
- 174 Asal Rizaeva
- 175 Nafosat Kozieva
- 176 Margarita Misyurina
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
- 181 Francesca Barale
- 182 Eleonora Ciabocco
- 183 Pfeiffer Georgi
- 184 Nienke Vinke
- 185 Josie Nelson
Visma | Lease a Bike
- 201 Marianne Vos
- 202 Riejanne Markus
- 203 Lieke Nooijen
- 204 Eva van Agt
- 205 Margaux Vigie
- 206 Sophie von Berswordt
Top Girls Fassa Bortolo
- 211 Alice Palazzi
- 212 Giorgia Bariani
- 213 Alessia Missiaggia
- 214 Eilsa De Vallier
- 215 Iris Monticolo
- 216 Gaia Segato
UAE Team ADQ
- 221 Silvia Persico
- 222 Alena Amialiusik
- 223 Mikayla Harvey
- 224 Erica Magnaldi
- 225 Tereza Neumanova
- 226 Karlijn Swinkels
Uno-X Mobility
- 231 Simone Boilard
- 232 Katrine Aalerud
- 234 Marte Berg Edseth
- 235 Rebecca Koerner
- 236 Anouska Koster
