Strade Bianche Preview

One of the coolest races on the calendar won’t be dramatic. But I still love it, especially because it starts and finishes in the beautiful medieval city of Siena, where I visited in 2017.

Strade is known for its gravel sectors in the Tuscan hills. I’m not going to go through the entire route in this brief preview, but just know that there is a lot of dirt and a lot of climbing, though no long climbs.

The reason for the brevity of this essay is simple: Tadej Pogacar is the defending champion and will line up again. Barring disaster he’ll win easily. Last year he won by three minutes with a 81k solo.

There isn’t much else to write about this year’s edition besides trying to predict who will round out the podium. And last year’s third-place man Maxim Van Gils just pulled out of the event due to illness, leaving a resurgent Tom Pidcock (fourth last year) as perhaps the most likely contender for second place, also accounting for the fact that Toms Skujins,who was second last year, is not taking part.

I’ll predict Pidcock for second, and Pello Bilbao to finish third.

I bailed on an Opening Weekend Preview and the races kinda sucked anyways. But now I’ve got to crank out an Opening Weekend Recap and Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice Previews!!!

The Cycling Season is in full swing and spring is coming! LFG.