Tadej Počagar of UAE Team Emirates used a solo attack 50km from the finish in Siena to win 2022 Strade Bianche (Image credit: Luca Bettini/SprintCyclingAgency)
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) exploded from a leading group of favourites with 50 kilometres to go and won Strade Bianche on Saturday, riding alone on the narrow streets of Siena to Piazza del Campo.
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) pushed ahead of Kasper Asgreen (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) on the final ascent to secure second place, 37 seconds behind Pogačar. Asgreen rolled in another nine seconds later for third.
The 184km race proved to be epic in many ways, with strong winds blowing over dozens of riders with 100km remaining, including tossing Julian Alaphilippe (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) and his bike into the air, with a massive pileup behind.
Pogačar hit the front on the long Monte Sante Marie sector and used a descent on the white gravel to open, then extend, his lead.
The profile of the 2022 Strade Bianche (Image credit: Strade Bianche / RCS Sport)
The 2022 edition of Strade Bianche will follow a familiar format, starting and finishing in Siena, with the usual array of gravel roads in between.
There are once again 11 sectors of the eponymous 'strade bianche', totalling 63km of gravel.
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The first four sectors come early in the race before the paved Montalcino climb softens the legs ahead of two much longer sectors around the half-way mark. From there, the race heads to two more long and even-more gruelling sectors at San Martino and Ponte del Garbo, the latter being 11.5km long and hilly.
The race will have opened up by then in the final 50km and the big plays for victory will then unfold on three sectors that are much shorter but much steeper. From the end of the final sector, there's a run-in of 11km to Siena, but there's a sting in the tail in the form of the vicious haul up Via Santa Caterina and the drop down into the Piazza del Campo.
The map of the 2022 Strade Bianche (Image credit: RCS Sport)
Teams for Strade Bianche 2022
AG2R Citroen Team
Alpecin-Fenix
Bahrain Victorious
Bardiani-CSF-Faizane
Bora-Hansgrohe
Cofidis
Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli
EF Education-EasyPost
Eolo-Kometa
Groupama-FDJ
Ineos Grenadiers
Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
Israel-Premier Tech
Jumbo-Visma
Lotto Soudal
Movistar Team
QuickStep-AlphaVinyl
Team Arkéa-Samsic
BikeExchange-Jayco
Team DSM
Trek-Segafredo
UAE Team Emirates
Cyclingnews predicts
Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)
Tom Pidcock was fifth on his Strade Bianche debut in 2021 (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)
With neither of the past two winners - Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert - on the start line, the 2022 Strade Bianche is an open affair. 2019 winner Julian Alaphilippe is the world champion and always a contender, while 2018 winner Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) has caught our eye with flying performances at Opening Weekend. However, it's Pidcock who stands out. He made his debut at the race last year and immediately placed fifth, going on to enjoy a stellar first Classics campaign. He made a couple of errors at Opening Weekend and perhaps didn't showcase his full strength, but he has described Strade Bianche as his first major objective of 2022. He'll be fully focused, he has the off-road skills in abundance, he has the strength, he has the climbing advantage of being lightweight, and he now has a year's experience. He is destined to win this race at some point in his career and there's every chance it will happen on Saturday.
Tech spotlight
Julian Alaphilippe's dust covered bike from his 2019 victory (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
To cope with the gravel roads, expects significant modifications for most bikes at Strade Bianche.
Riders will typically run wider tyres than they would on the road, with 28mm tyres being the minimum you're likely to see on Saturday. That will in turn allow for lower pressures to be used, reducing the risk of punctures and improving grip on the stoney gravel. 7 bar is a good ballpark pressure figure for front and rear, while the tyres themselves - with most opting for tubular - will have more tread than smooth road tyres.
Strade Bianche history
Fabian Cancellara holds the record of three Strade Bianche victories (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Strade Bianche is one of the youngest one-day Classics, having only been created in 2007. In a short space of time, it has risen to become one of the biggest, most iconic, and most anticipated races of the spring, if not the year.
The race was born as an offshoot of the Eroica event, in which amateur riders took on some of Tuscany's historic gravel roads on vintage bikes.
The first edition was held in October 2007 and won by Alexandr Kolobnev but it then changed to a March date in 2008, which it still occupies.
Fabian Cancellara is the race's most successful rider with three victories - 2008, 2012, 2016 - and has a sector of gravel named in his honour. Michal Kwiatkowski is the only other repeat winner - 2014 and 2017.
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