'Even for Mathieu the race is way over the limit' – Van der Poel may be king of the Classics, but here's why he won't race Strade Bianche in its current form

Mathieu van der Poel will be in Italy on Saturday afternoon as Strade Bianche plays out on the gravel roads of Tuscany, but he will not be clashing with Tadej Pogačar or using his bike skills on the sterrati sectors of the race.

The 31-year-old Dutchman is arguably the best Classics rider in the world and dominated Omloop Het Nieuwsblad a matter of days ago, so it seems strange and even disappointing that Van der Poel is not riding Strade Bianche. However, we see that the intensity and physiology of modern-day pro cycling limit the number of big-rider clashes during the spring, and the demands of Strade Bianche mean it is out of reach even for Van der Poel.

"Strade Bianche used to be on the limit for the punchy Classics riders. Today it's way over the limit for those guys. Even for Mathieu," his Alpecin-Premier Tech team manager Christoph Roodhooft admitted to Nieuwsblad.

Van der Poel will travel to Italy to ride Tirreno-Adriatico, which starts on Monday, using the week-long stage race as an important block of racing before targeting Milan-San Remo and then the cobbled classics.

After an intense six weeks of cyclo-cross in December and January, adding Strade Bianche to his race programme would create extra demands of his fitness and mental freshness and risk undermining his form for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

For similar reasons, Tadej Pogačar will make his season debut at Strade Bianche as he begins his spring campaign but he won't ride Tirreno-Adriatico and only return to Italy for Milan-San Remo.

Wout van Aert returns to Strade Bianche after a five-year absence instead of spending March at altitude but he needs to race after illness and injury and is unlikely to be a contender on Saturday when Pogačar goes on the attack.

Van der Poel won Strade Bianche in 2021 but the sport and the race route has changed significantly since then.

"When Mathieu won, he had to beat Bernal. That's never easy but if you come up against Pidcock or Pogačar at 100 percent, it would simply be very difficult for him. And so Mathieu would be better off focusing on other races," Roodhooft explained to Nieuwsblad.

"Strade Bianche has become much tougher, in kilometres but especially in elevation gain. Compare it to five years ago, and the elevation gain has increased by 20 to 25%."

"It's still a great race. But the way the race is today, means Mathieu has little business there."

Nieuwsblad cited Velofacts data that showed that the Strade Bianche route once included 3,300m of altitude gain. In recent years the route has been changed, adding a second circuit of the testing Colle Pinzuto and Le Tolfe gravel climbs. This year's route has been reduced by 12km and two early sectors of gravel have been removed but the decisive final 80km remain incredibly demanding, especially for Classics riders.

"They've simply made it too difficult," former rider and former Strade Bianche podium finisher Greg Van Avermaet told Nieuwsblad.

"Even if Mathieu could still get a good result, guys like that simply don't start for second place, let alone sixth or seventh. It's logical that he stays away.

"Strade Bianche used to be the race where all types of riders came together. The lighter ones and the heavier ones, the guys from the cobbles and those for the Ardennes. This was one of the few races where I could compete with someone like Valverde. That's over."

Calendar considerations

Van der Poel dominated Omloop Het Nieuwsblad but that race and his victory should be taken in isolation when considering his spring campaign.

His presence at Omloop was an early-season extra race, a teaser and chance to blow off some cobwebs after three weeks of road training.

In 2025, Van der Poel rode the Ename Samyn Classic to also scratch his early-season racing itch. But then he didn't ride Strade Bianche and used Tirreno-Adriatico as the road to Milan-San Remo and the cobbled Classics.

In 2022 and 2024, Van der Poel only started his racing season at Milan-San Remo. In 2023 he debuted at Strade Bianche but finished 15th, lacking the form to compete with winner Tom Pidcock and other riders who targeted Strade Bianche.

We may have forgotten but Van der Poel often starts his season later than his Classics rivals because he races cyclo-cross. This winter he raced cyclo-cross 13 times between December 14 and February 1, winning every race, including eight rounds of the World Cup and an eighth world title.

Cyclo-cross is 'only' an hour-long effort but it is intense and requires technique, aerobic and anaerobic efforts, specialist training and recovery. Van der Poel combines his cyclo-cross campaign with blocks of winter road training in Spain. He is basically doing two jobs at the same time, combining two cycling careers in an era of hyper-specialisation. He arguably deserves respect for that and the right to decide his race calendar.

How to lure all the best riders back to Strade Bianche

One critic on social media recently suggested that Van der Poel only peaks for one-month of the year, between Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix. He then targets stages at the Tour de France and perhaps the World Championships as a second peak but his year revolves around cyclo-cross and the Classics.

It may seem that way due to his dominance but the truth is very different and explains why he and Alpecin-Premier Tech make some tough but logical calendar choices.

It is easy to argue that Van der Poel and other riders should somehow compromise their goals and training and ride all the Classics, from Omloop to Paris-Roubaix. It would be great to see every top rider – or at least every top Classics rider – agree to ride the same race calendar.

The OneCycling project included a proposal that teams would agree to send their big-name riders to the biggest races, to ensure that they clashed in at least 70% of the races. The project was flawed in other ways and the UCI ultimately blocked the idea of venture capitalists from Saudi Arabia taking hold of the sport in cahoots with some of the strongest teams and race organisers.

A simpler solution of a date change and easier race route would go against the sport's traditions but make Strade Bianche a far more appealing race to far more riders.

Strade Bianche is traditionally held just before Tirreno-Adriatico for organisational reasons, which in turn is historically considered a preparation race for Milan-San Remo and the cobbled Classics. But training and racing plans have changed massively in recent years, so why can't the race route and the race calendar change too?

Strade Bianche could be held between the cobbled Classics and the Ardennes in mid April, or even in the late summer before the World Championships. Why not even in September, before Il Lombardia?

If RCS Sport wants to attract more of the biggest riders in the sport, including riders like Van der Poel, Filippo Ganna and Remco Evenepoel, they should tweak the route, reduce the kilometres of gravel roads and especially the amount of climbing.

The current route is breathtaking but there are hundreds of other – flatter – gravel roads and farm tracks near Siena that could be used to create a more balanced race route.

Just a few changes could be enough to tempt Van der Poel and other big-name riders to return to Strade Bianche, and offer up a real clash of the titans race. Isn't that what we all want to see?

Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We'll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. Find out more.