Will Demi Vollering take a third win or can the powerful SD Worx-Protime and Visma-Lease a Bike duos stand in her way? – Analysing the favourites for Strade Bianche Women

Strade Bianche Women is celebrating its 12th anniversary this year as one of the most popular one-day classics on the calendar.

The peloton will compete over 133km of undulating terrain that includes eleven sectors of distinct white gravel roads, leading to the punishingly steep city-centre Via Santa Caterina climb into Siena's Piazza del Campo.

If Omloop Het Nieuwsblad offered a glimpse of what to expect, there will be several on-form riders wanting to stake a claim on the second major one-day race of the Spring Classics, including Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto).

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Given the demanding nature of the terrain, which includes not only gravel roads but also short and steep climbs, this race is a great opportunity for a decisive breakaway. In its twelve seasons, this event has seen long-range solo attacks and small lead groups enter the final climb together.

Cyclingnews highlights just a few of the riders from among the women's peloton to watch at Strade Bianche in 2026.

Demi Vollering (FDJ United-SUEZ)

FDJ United-SUEZ are off to a flying start, with Ally Wollaston on a winning run in Australia and New Zealand, then Demi Vollering claiming the overall title at Vuelta Ciclista Setmana and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in what was a commanding display of team cohesion on the roads to Ninove.

Vollering has come into the early season in top form, even though her sights are set on bigger targets at the Tour de France in August. However, she has reduced her racing programme this year to include a selection of spring one-day races, with an eye on the podium top step.

She has already reached her first target by winning Omloop, and she is understandably the outright favourite to win Strade. Having won the race twice, in 2023 and 2025, the European Champion will know exactly what it takes to claim victory a third time.

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto)

Second to Vollering at Omloop, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney was the only rider who could follow her attack over the steepest part of the Muur van Geraardsbergen, and that alone bodes well for her chances of success just one week later at Strade Bianche.

The racing dynamics between Vollering and Niewiadoma-Phinney over the last few seasons have made for thrilling competition during both the Spring Classics and the Tour de France, where Vollering won in 2023, and Niewiadoma-Phinney won in 2024.

The Polish Champion has yet to win the Italian classic despite standing on the podium four times and recording nine top-10s out of 11 starts. "It would mean a lot to me! It’s been an extremely long journey following this dream, and often I say, ‘once I win that race, I will almost be fully satisfied with my cycling career," she said.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot had an outstanding return to road cycling last year, after retiring from a sparkling mountain bike career, winning Paris-Roubaix and the Tour de France on home soil.

She will once again focus on select races during the Spring Classics, with Strade Bianche being her first event of this road season. Last year, she finished third behind Vollering and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), showing her versatility and strength across a range of terrain.

This year, she lines up with a similar programme but will undoubtedly have gained insights from her experiences in the Spring Classics last year, especially about once again racing against some of the leading riders and teams on the Women's WorldTour.

She is no stranger to the road scene, having raced for nearly a decade for top teams Rabobank and Canyon-SRAM from 2012-2020, and she is a 15-time world champion across road, cyclocross, mountain bike and gravel racing.

Though, Visma-Lease a Bike will also have a second card to play in Marianne Vos, who is also a 14-time world champion across road, cyclocross, track and gravel, and is not slowing down as she starts her 20th year in elite pro cycling.

Vos won stages at the Vuelta and Tour last year, and finished second at Milan-San Remo. She will likely prioritise the Spring Classics this year, where she and Ferrand-Prévot have fine-tuned their racing dynamics after a successful spring block last year.

Anna van der Breggen and Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime)

Anna van der Breggen also returned to road racing last year after a three-year hiatus, but she too did so with a bang, placing second to Vollering in Siena.

Her performance showed her talent on the most challenging terrain. The four-time Giro winner, seven-time Flèche Wallonne winner and two-time road world champion wasn't able to replicate her success from previous seasons, but she noted how much the peloton's strength had grown in her absence.

With one full year of road racing under her belt, Van der Breggen will co-lead SD Worx-Protime at Strade Bianche in a bid to win a second title, having won a rain-soaked 2018 edition, she was also third in 2021 and second in 2025.

She only has two of the major early-season one-day races on her programme; Strade Bianche and Trofeo Alfredo Binda, before focusing on the Ardennes Classics, so she will want to make these count.

She lines up with former two-time winner Lotte Kopecky, who has a stated aim of being a 'wildcard' option during the Spring Classics. She was delayed at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad due to mechanical issues after being caught behind a late-race crash, so she will undoubtedly want to make up for that setback in Siena.

Kopecky won Strade Bianche in 2022 and 2024 and is certainly capable of following long-range attacks or being part of a selection coming into the finale. She and Van der Breggen will give the team two major cards to play and can even play off of one another in the final, so watch for them to have a big impact on the outcome of the race into the Piazza del Campo.

Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ)

Italian Champion Elisa Longo Borghini has not won Strade Bianche since 2017, but she has been on the podium four times. She lines up in great form, having won the UAE Tour for a second year in a row, and she brings that back to home soil for the start of her Spring Classics season in Siena.

Longo Borghini has had some ups and downs over the last few seasons, but her accomplishments certainly outweigh the rest with back-to-back Paris-Roubaix victories in 2022, a second Tour of Flanders win in 2024, and overall wins at the Giro d'Italia in 2024 and 2025.

She will undoubtedly want to have a strong start to her one-day racing campaign at Strade Bianche before moving on to Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Milan-San Remo.

Although she will lead UAE Team ADQ, they have a powerful squad with Silvia Persico. The team in general, showed its strength at Opening Weekend and will aim to carry that into the upcoming Italian races.

Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech)

There is no rest for the weary as Puck Pieterse carries her cyclo-cross racing form straight into the Spring Classics.

She has had two strong early road seasons in the past two years, with a fifth at Strade Bianche in her 2024 debut and top-10 performances in seven one-day races last spring.

This year, she starts with a very strong Fenix-Premier Tech team that saw Millie Couzens finish 8th at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Charlotte Kool take the victory last weekend at Omloop van het Hageland.

Pieterse is certainly capable of winning in Siena, with proven strength after winning a stage of the Tour de France in 2024 and Flèche Wallonne atop the Mur de Huy in 2025. Watch for her to pull off a similar feat in Siena.

Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal)

Racing in her brand new and bold Mauritian national champion jersey, Kim Le Court-Pienaar will lead the AG Insurance-Soudal squad at Strade Bianche.

She also arrives in top form, having finished fourth overall at the UAE Tour, putting her climbing skills to the test on Jebel Hafeet. There are no guarantees that will translate onto the gravel roads of Tuscany, but she has pulled off impressive performances at the biggest races over the last few seasons.

Last year, she secured top-10s in five one-day races in the spring and the victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège before going on to win a stage at the Tour de France and wear the yellow jersey.

It's hard to surpass a season like that, but Le Court-Pienaar is now positioned as one of the leading riders of the peloton, and all eyes will be on her for a win in Siena.

Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly)

Magdeleine Vallieres will line up in her new World Champion jersey after winning the elite women's road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali last September.

She already started her season at the Tour Down Under before travelling back to Europe, where she was sixth overall at the Setmana Valenciana.

Now she will lead the team in her first one-day Spring Classics of the season in Siena, where fans will be hoping to see a repeat of the brave breakaway performance that won her the world title six months ago.

Watch for her to join a decisive breakaway, maybe with the likes of Mavi Garcia (UAE Team ADQ) and Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), again, although neither are confirmed to start Strade Bianche, yet.

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