For many fans of the little queen, it is nothing less than the sixth Monument of cycling – including one of the most prestigious one-day races on the calendar. What does it matter if the Strade Bianche, an event created in 2007, does not have the history allowing it to officially claim this status. The Italian semi-classic owes this reputation as much to its setting as to its often spectacular scenario. A hilly route through the Tuscan countryside, formidable gravelly sections – the famous white paths from which it takes its name –, its arrival, too, in the Piazza del Campo in Siena, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Its 2024 edition, Saturday March 2, was no exception. A small episode of rain, punctures, breaks, falls, abandonments too – including that of Julian Alaphilippe. And, when it came time for the podiums, a curious feeling of deja vu: Lotte Kopecky won among the women; then a few hours later, Tadej Pogacar among the men. Like in 2022.
This season, the organizers decided to spice up the race a little more, extending the route by around thirty kilometers for the men. Two hundred and fifteen in total, with fifteen unpaved sections – compared to eleven last year. Did Tadej Pogacar have this data in mind? Like two years ago, the Slovenian claimed victory at the end of a long breakaway… which he also extended by around thirty kilometers: 80 kilometers of solo effort.
The leader of the UAE team Emirates was the big favorite at the start. Three days before the big day, the mischievous person put himself on the scene, on social networks, with a hairstyle made of peroxided highlights created especially for the occasion: “White hair for white paths”, he wrote in the caption . This Saturday, he came to win, he warned – as usual.
Uncertainty remained, however, because the 25-year-old “cannibal” had not raced competitively since October 7, 2023 and his victory in the Tour of Lombardy – his third in a row on the “dead leaves classic”. “I’m starting my season later than usual but the schedule has been busy, with training, reconnaissance and planning for two big Tours [the Giro from May 4 to 26, and the Tour de France from June 29 to 21 July], which is new for me,” he explained before the event.
Two former winners of the Strade, the Dutch world champion Mathieu Van der Poel (2021) and the Belgian Wout van Aert (2020) having skipped this edition, the affair seemed within his reach. But Tadej Pogacar still had to compete against other former winners, the French Julian Alaphilippe (2019) or the Pole Michal Kwiatkowski (2014 and 2017). To the Briton Tom Pidcock, above all, who had raised his arms in Siena last year – also after an impressive solo – and was determined to give himself the pass of two.
A prestigious podium among women
In the end, there was no debate. Just a very long time trial. The Slovenian accelerated some 80 kilometers from the finish. Then, he took advantage of the landscape until the Piazza del Campo, leaving his pursuers to fight to know which of them will have the honors of sharing the protocol photo alongside him. It will finally be the Latvian Toms Skujins, 2nd, and the Belgian Maxim Van Gils, 3rd.
Like Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, presented as his most serious opponents in the quest for the yellow jersey in the Tour de France this summer, Tadej Pogacar succeeded in his back-to-school race. The Dane, double title holder on the Grande Boucle, won the coronation on O Gran Camino, in Spain, with all the distinctive jerseys and three of the four stages up for grabs. The Belgian emerged victorious from the Figueira Champions Classic in Portugal before continuing with the overall victory in the Tour of the Algarve.
We would also be tempted to see this Saturday’s success as a symbol for the UAE rider, who will spend a lot of time on the other side of the Alps this season. On March 16, he will depart from Milan-San Remo, the first – true – Monument on the calendar. Fans will then find him in May for the Giro, before the start of the Tour de France, given this year in Florence, to attempt a double unprecedented since Marco Pantani in 1998.
The women’s peloton will have covered on Saturday approximately the same distance as in 2023 (137 km compared to 136 during the previous edition), but it will have spent more time in the dust, seeing the number of sections of white paths increase by eight to twelve, or around thirty to forty kilometers in total.
The rainbow jersey of world champion Lotte Kopecky can attest to this, its white background having completely turned gray. With stained glasses, the Belgian crossed the line first to also claim her second victory in the event. The SD Worx puncher, who made a first attack 10 kilometers from the finish, got rid of her last rival, the Italian champion Elisa Longo Borghini (winner in 2017), 500 meters from the goal. Her teammate the Dutch Demi Vollering, who deprived her of the coronation last year, completes the prestigious podium of this 10th women’s edition.
