Tadej Pogačar cruised to victory at Strade Bianche on Saturday, despite attacking with over 81km to go to take the win by almost three minutes.
The UAE Team Emirates rider was racing for the first time this season, but showed no signs of rustiness on the roads of Tuscany, as he attacked with over two hours of action left to go, taking his second win in Siena.
Behind, there was no sign of an organised chase despite the amount of time left in the race, as the gap simply extended. Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dsnty) and Toms Skujiņš (Lidl-Trek) became the duo who raced for second, escaping the chasing group, but never got closer than two and a half minutes to Pogačar. Skujiņš attacked on the run in to Siena to take second, in front of Van Gils.
The Slovenian won Strade the last time he raced, in 2022, after an attack from over 50km out. This time, he went from even further out, moving off the front with 81km still to be ridden. It was not even explosive, but a subtle escape, which could not be stopped.
There was much debate ahead of this year’s edition about the length of the route, after it was extended over 200km for the first time, but that did not seem to affect Pogačar, who simply rode away from the field.
In the end, the 25-year-old won by over three minutes, starting his 2024 off in the perfect way.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The riders departed Siena with a dubious weather forecast ahead of them, with rain threatening to make the gravel sectors trickier than they already are.
Various attacks in the opening 50km came to little, before a break was finally allowed to go with 176km left, one which was unlikely to last the course, especially given it was longer in 2024.
However, due to the added kilometres and the inclement weather, the race proved incredibly attritional, with just 25 riders left in the front group with just under 100km to go. The first 80km to go were brutal.
It was from this reduced group that meaningful attacks started flying. One of the first was Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), who was caught after work from Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates).
With his team pulling on the front of the “peloton”, effectively the group of favourites, that Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) rolled off the front. Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) attempted to hold his wheel, but couldn’t, and it then simply became a question of who would finish second in Siena.
The gap grew to a minute and a half very quickly, then to two, then over three, and by the end almost five over the favourites.
Behind Pogačar, there was seemingly little in the way of a coordinated chase, likely because of the rate of attrition which left most teams with just one or two riders in the chasing group.
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) was notable in the chasing group for his attempts at getting away, but the gap to Pogačar never came down in a useful way.
Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dsnty) was one of the most active, attacking multiple times before finally getting away. He was joined by Toms Skujiņš (Lidl-Trek), and that pair became the battle for second.
Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), last year’s winner, also attacked from the chasing group, but could not put any meaningful time into his fellow chasers, not getting closer than a minute to Van Gils and Skujiņš.
Results
STRADE BIANCHE 2024: SIENA > SIENA (215KM)
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 5:19:45
2. Toms Skujiņš (Lat) Lidl-Trek, +2:44
3. Maxim Van Gils (Bel) Lotto-Dsnty, +2:47
4. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +3:50
5. Matej Mohorič (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, +4:26
6. Benoît Cosnefroy (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +4:39
7. Davide Formolo (Ita) Movistar, +4:41
8. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +4:48
9. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco AlUla, +4:49
10. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, +5:17
