>> Strade Bianche 2023: Here you go's to the race report
Strade Bianche is an Italian cycling race that takes place annually in Tuscany and is part of the UCI World Tour for men and the Women's World Tour for women - the premier league of international cycling. It is characterised by numerous gravel sections. Hence the name Strade Bianche (white roads in German).
Strade Bianche a trailblazer for other races
The organiser is RCS, which also organises the Giro d'Italia organised. With this race, the Italians have started a trend in professional cycling that many other events have followed: road races with gravel elements, such as the Clasica Jaen Paraiso Interior in Spain or Paris-Tours in France.
The Strade Bianche one-day race was held for the first time in 2007, back then in October. Since 2008, it has been held in March, with the exception of 2020, when it was held in August due to the coronavirus pandemic. Numerous cycling stars line up at the start every year. The record winner is Fabian Cancellara from Switzerland, who has won three times (2008, 2012 and 2016).
Strade Bianche 2023: The route
The start and finish are in Siena. The route for the men is 184 kilometres long, 63 of which are on gravel roads, spread over eleven sectors - just like 2022. The first section awaits at kilometre 17.6, the last at kilometre 171. It's not just the gravel that makes life difficult for the riders, the gravel sections are often steeply uphill. It is a constant race of elimination. The weather can also have a significant influence on the outcome. In the rain, the race turns into a muddy battle, in dry weather it's all about swallowing dust. And last but not least, the wind is also a factor, as Julian Alaphilippe had to learn the hard way last year when a gust of wind that swept through the peloton caused him to roll over violently.
In 2022, the winner Tadej Pogacar launched his decisive attack around 50 kilometres before the finish in the Monte Sante Marie sector. This year, the finale of Strade Bianche should also be heralded there at the latest. Over the last 30 kilometres, there are three poisonous stretches waiting with Monteaperti (800 metres with up to 13 per cent), Colle Pinzuto (2.4 kilometres with up to 15 per cent) and the last gravel sector Le Tolfe (500 metres with up to 18 per cent) before Siena is reached.
The final ramp in Via Santa Caterina in the old town of Siena is a tough one with a gradient of up to 16 per cent. This is where you need to decide who will be the first to turn into Piazza del Campo.
The ballast sectors at a glance
The stars symbolise the level of difficulty of the respective sector.
- Sector 1: Vidritta, kilometre 17.6 *
- 2.1 kilometres long - Sector 2: Bagnaia, kilometre 25.0 ***
- 5.8 kilometres in length
- 3.2 kilometres gradient
- maximum 15 per cent - Sector 3: Radi, kilometre 36.9 **
- 4.4 kilometres in length
- 1.5 kilometres gradient
- maximum 12 per cent - Sector 4: La Piana, kilometre 47.6 **
- 5.5 kilometres long - Sector 5: Lacignano d'Asso, kilometre 75.8 ***
- 11.9 kilometres long - Sector 6: Pieve a Salti, kilometre 87.7 ****
- 8.0 kilometres in length
- 2.0 kilometres gradient
- maximum 11 per cent - Sector 7: San Martino in Grania, kilometre 111.7 *****
- 9.5 kilometres in length
- 5.6 kilometres gradient
- maximum 12 per cent - Sector 8: Monte Sante Marie, kilometre 130.0 *****
- 11.5 kilometres in length
- 4.5 kilometres gradient
- maximum 18 per cent - Sector 9: Monteaperti, kilometre 160.0 **
- 0.8 kilometres length
- 0.8 kilometres gradient
- maximum 13 per cent - Sector 10: Colle Pinzuto, kilometre 164.6 ****
- 2.4 kilometres in length
- 2.4 kilometres gradient
- maximum 15 per cent - Sector 11: Le Tolfe, kilometre 171.0 ****
- 1.1 kilometres in length
- 0.5 kilometres gradient
- maximum 18 per cent
Strade Bianche 2023: TV broadcast & live stream
The men's and women's races can be seen on TV on Eurosport 2. It is also possible to watch the broadcast of Strade Bianche 2023 in the live stream on Discovery+ and GCN+ (both via paid subscription).
- Women: 11:30-13:50 Eurosport 2
- Men: 13:50-17:00 Eurosport 2
The favourites
Last year's winner Tadej Pogacar will start at Paris-Nice on Sunday and will therefore not take part in Strade Bianche. In his absence, there are three names to mention in particular: Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal - Quick Step).
Although Van der Poel has not yet competed in a road race in 2023, he proved last year with third place at Milan-San Remo that he is in top form even without racing experience. The Dutchman has also already won Strade Bianche 2021.
Alaphilippe & Pidcock are a force to be reckoned with
Alaphilippe was also granted this feat in 2019. The Frenchman has recovered well from his injuries from last season and already won another race last Saturday at the Faun-Ardeche Classic.
Thomas Pidock has also already shown himself to be in good form. Fifth place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and a stage win on the Alto do Malhao at the Tour of the Algarve are on the books for the 23-year-old Brit. Pidcock was already third at Strade Bianche in 2021 and feels right at home as a cross specialist on the gravel roads in Tuscany.
Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) - Winner at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne - Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) and Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious). In the absence of Wout van Aert, Benoot will enjoy the full support of his team-mates and try to win as he did in Siena in 2018.
Start list Strade Bianche 2023*
- 1 Mathieu van der Poel
- 2 Samuel Gaze
- 3 Michael Gogl
- 4 Oscar Riesebeek
- 5 Robert Stannard
- 6 Fabio van den Bossche
- 7 Gianni Vermeersch
- 11 Greg van Avermaet
- 12 Valentin Retailleau
- 13 Valentin Paret-Peintre
- 14 Nans Peters
- 15 Michael Schär
- 16 Andrea Vendrame
- 17 Clement Venturini
- 21 Alexey Lutsenko
- 22 Leonardo Basso
- 23 Manuele Boaro
- 24 Yevgeniy Fedorov
- 25 Antonio Nibali
- 26 Aleksandr Riabushenko
- 27 Simone Velasco
- 31 Pello Bilbao
- 32 Matevz Govekar
- 33 Rainer Kepplinger
- 34 Fran Miholjevic
- 35 Matej Mohoric
- 36 Andrea Pasqualon
- 37 Hermann Pernsteiner
- 41 Sergio Higuita
- 42 Cesare Benedetti
- 43 Patrick Gamper
- 44 Lennard Kämna
- 45 Patrick Konrad
- 46 Ide Schelling
- 47 Alexander Vlasov
- 51 Axel Zingle
- 52 Andre Carvalho
- 53 Thomas Champion
- 54 Eddy Fine
- 55 Jonathan Lastra
- 56 Axel Mariault
- 57 Harrison Wood
- 61 Alberto Bettiol
- 62 Andrey Amador
- 63 Mikkel Frölich Honore
- 64 Jens Keukeleire
- 65 Sean Quinn
- 66 James Shaw
- 67 Julius van den Berg
Eolo - Cometa
- 71 Erik Fetter
- 72 Simone Bevilacqua
- 73 Andrea Garosio
- 74 Mirco Maestri
- 75 Andrea Pietrobon
- 76 Samuele Rivi
- 77 Diego Pablo Sevilla
Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizane
- 81 Alex Tolio
- 82 Luca Colnaghi
- 83 Davide Gabburo
- 84 Riccardo Lucca
- 85 Filippo Magli
- 86 Alessandro Tonelli
- 87 Samuele Zoccarato
- 91 Thibaut Pinot
- 92 Lewis Askey
- 93 Romain Gregoire
- 94 Olivier Le Gac
- 95 Fabian Lienhard
- 96 Valentin Madouas
- 97 Quentin Pacher
- 101 Thomas Pidcock
- 102 Laurens De Plus
- 103 Michal Kwiatkowski
- 104 Brandon Smith Rivera
- 105 Carlos Rodriguez
- 106 Magnus Sheffiled
- 107 Ben Tulett
- 111 Rui Costa
- 112 Sven Erik Byström
- 113 Rune Herregodts
- 114 Laurens Huys
- 115 Simone Petilli
- 116 Lorenzo Rota
- 117 Georg Zimmermann
Israel-Premier Tech
- 121 Simon Clarke
- 123 Derek Gee
- 124 Omer Goldstein
- 125 Reto Hollenstein
- 126 Krists Neilands
- 127 Mads Würtz Schmidt
- 131 Tiesj Benoot
- 132 Michel Heßmann
- 133 Lennard Hofstede
- 134 Gijs Leemreize
- 135 Milan Vader
- 136 Attila Valter
- 137 Tosh van der Sande
Lotto-Dstny
- 141 Andreas Kron
- 142 Johannes Adamietz
- 143 Arjen Livyns
- 144 Sylvain Moniquet
- 145 Mathijs Paasschens
- 146 Eduardo Sepulveda
- 147 Maxim van Gils
- 151 Alex Aranburu
- 152 Juri Hollmann
- 153 Lluis Mas
- 154 Nelson Oliveira
- 155 Ivan Romeo
- 156 Albert Torres
- 157 Carlos Verona
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
- 161 Gianluca Brambilla
- 162 Negasi Haylu Abreha
- 163 Walter Calzoni
- 164 Marcel Camprubi
- 165 Filippo Colombo
- 166 Filippo Conca
- 167 Mark Donovan
- 171 Julian Alaphilippe
- 172 Andrea Bagioli
- 173 Davide Ballerini
- 174 Dries Devenyns
- 175 Casper Pedersen
- 176 Pieter Serry
- 177 Mauri Vansevenant
- 181 Warren Barguil
- 182 Louis Barre
- 183 Anthony Delaplace
- 184 Simon Guglielmi
- 185 Lukasz Owsain
- 186 Clement Russo
- 187 Alessandro Verre
- 191 Harm Vanhoucke
- 192 Marco Brenner
- 193 Sean Flynn
- 194 Lorenzo Milesi
- 195 Oscar Onley
- 196 Martijn Tusveld
- 197 Henri Vandenabeele
- 201 Filippo Zana
- 202 Alexandre Balmer
- 203 Alessandro De Marchi
- 204 Felix Engelhardt
- 205 Christopher Juul-Jensen
- 206 Jan Maas
- 207 Zdenek Stybar
TotalEnergies
- 211 Peter Sagan
- 212 Maciej Bodnar
- 213 Mathieu Burgaudeau
- 214 Steff Cras
- 215 Valentin Ferron
- 216 Daniel Oss
- 217 Julien Simon
- 221 Edward Theuns
- 222 Dario Cataldo
- 223 Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier
- 224 Asbjörn Hellemose
- 225 Markus Hoelgaard
- 226 Quinn Simmons
- 227 Toms Skujins
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
- 231 Sebastien Reichenbach
- 232 Nils Brun
- 233 Alois Charrin
- 234 Lucas Eriksson
- 235 Simon Pellaud
- 236 Roland Thalmann
- 237 Yannis Voisard
- 241 Diego Ulissi
- 242 Sjoerd Bax
- 243 George Bennett
- 244 Alessandro Covi
- 245 Davide Formolo
- 246 Brandon McNulty
- 247 Tim Wellens
*Start numbers may vary
Women's race
The ninth edition of the Strade Bianche for women will take place in 2023. The race is part of the Women's World Tour and is 136 kilometres long. There are eight gravel sectors on the programme - a total of 31.6 kilometres of unpaved roads. The race starts at 9.25 am and the finish is expected between 1.15 pm and 1.45 pm.
Strade Bianche: Everyman race
The amateur version of the Strade Bianche will take place on 5 March 2023. It will take place one day after the pros over 138.5 kilometres (Gran Fondo) or 87 kilometres (Medio Fondo) along the roads of Tuscany.
Strade Bianche 2023: The most important info
Date: Saturday, 4 March
Start: Siena, 11:40 (men), 9:25 (women)
Target: Siena, ~16:15-16:45 (men) ~13:15-13:45 (women)
Edition: 17th of the men, 9th of the women
Distance: 184 kilometres (men), 136 (women)
Last year's winner: Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia)
Last year's winner: Lotte Kopecky (Belgium)
Premiere: 2007 (men), 2015 (women)
Record winner: Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) - three victories
Record winner: Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) - two victories
Strade Bianche winners list
- 2007 Alexandr Kolobnev (Russia)
- 2008 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
- 2009 Thomas Löfkvist (Sweden)
- 2010 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kazakhstan)
- 2011 Philippe Gilbert (Belgium)
- 2012 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
- 2013 Moreno Moser (Italy)
- 2014 Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland)
- 2015 Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic)
- 2016 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
- 2017 Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland)
- 2018 Tiesj Benoot (Belgium)
- 2019 Julian Alaphilippe (France)
- 2020 Wout van Aert (Belgium)
- 2021 Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)
- 2022 Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia)
Strade Bianche winners list
- 2015 Megan Guarnier (USA)
- 2016 Elizabeth Deignan (Great Britain)
- 2017 Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy)
- 2018 Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands)
- 2019 Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands)
- 2020 Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands)
- 2021 Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (Netherlands)
- 2022 Lotte Kopecky (Belgium)
