Strade Bianche 2024 will be held 2 March 2024.
Who wins Strade Bianche 2024?
Strade Bianche 2023
The Strade Bianche is a one-day cycling competition held in Siena, Tuscany, in Central Italy. The 17th Strade Bianche 2023 will take place on March 4, 2023. It will be the fourth competition on the UCI World Tour. The traditional white gravel roads of the Crete Senesi, which are a defining element of the event, are the source of the term Strade Bianche, which is also known in Italian as White Roads. 63 km of strade bianche, distributed over 11 sectors, make up one-third of the total race distance.
Despite its brief history, the Strade Bianche has quickly gained prestige and reignited interest in the talent and discipline of gravel and dirt road racing. In order to serve as an early spring warm-up for the cobbled classics in April, it is held the weekend before Tirreno-Adriatico. With three victories, Swiss Fabian Cancellara holds the record.
The Route
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Siena is where the marathon begins and ends. The route, which spans 184 kilometers across mountainous terrain through the province of Siena in central Tuscany, includes 11 sectors of gravel roads with a combined length of 63 kilometers of dirt roads. After a narrow climb up the unevenly paved Via Santa Caterina that leads into Siena's historic city center, the race ends on the famed Piazza del Campo.
The race's unique nature comes from the white gravel roads that are typical of the Tuscan countryside. Strade bianche or sterrati, as they are known in Italian, are often rural roads and farm tracks that wind through the Chianti region's hills and vineyards. The Lucignano d'Asso (9.5 km) and Asciano sections are the longest and most complicated (11 km). The cyclists' ability to climb and bike handling skills are put to the test on some of the flat and steep hills and descents on the dirt roads.
The two most well-known northern classic races served as inspiration for the race's organizers, who combined the unique characteristics of the Tour of Flanders with its bergs (short stretches of steep slopes) and Paris-Roubaix with its taxing cobblestone parts. The 2015 edition's promotional motto, "La Classica del Nord più a sud d'Europa" (Europe's most southern Northern Classic), reflects the comparison to Flanders' most famous one-day events.
Participating Teams
Around the world, a lot of riders have developed an interest in taking part in the competition. The majority of riders flock to white gravel routes in particular to gauge the level of competitiveness. Below is a list of the expected competing teams:
AG2R Citroën Team, Alpecin-Deceuninck, BORA - hansgrohe, Cofidis, Groupama - FDJ, INEOS Grenadiers, Jumbo-Visma, Movistar Team, Soudal - Quick Step, Team Arkéa Samsic, Team BikeExchange - Jayco, Team DSM, Trek - Segafredo, UAE Team Emirates and so on.
Recent Winners
On behalf of UAE Team Emirates, Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogaar took first place in the 2022 Strade Bianche. Kasper Asgreen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) won second and third place, respectively.
There are other recent winners are Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin–Fenix) 2021, Wout Van Aert (Team Jumbo–Visma) 2020, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck–Quick-Step) 2019, Tiesj Benoot (Lotto–Soudal) 2018, Michał Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) 2017, Fabian Cancellara (Trek–Segafredo) 2016, Zdeněk Štybar (Etixx–Quick-Step) 2015.