Tadej Pogacar picked himself up off the gravel to win Strade Bianche with a stunning solo ride into Siena. The reigning Tour de France champion was involved in a huge crash early in the race but blew apart the field after it came back together to cross the finish line alone.
The 23-year-old, who rode alone for a quarter of the race, now becomes the first cyclist to have won both the Tour de France and Strade Bianche. Pogacar made his bold move for victory with 49km to go in the early part of the seventh gravel section, quickly establishing a gap of more than minute and a half on the peloton behind.
“I went early and I didn’t know until five kilometres to go that I was going to make it,” Pogacar told Eurosport. “Even on the last climb I was still looking behind to see if someone was coming. I’m super happy to pull it off.
“Normally there is a moment when the race goes and I tried to make a huge effort on the Sante Marie climb and nobody followed, so I had to be fully committed once I started. My energy was going lower and lower in the final stages but I managed to hold on.”
Alejandro Valverde, who finished second in his final Strade Bianche, and Kasper Asgreen put up a chase behind but were not able to catch Pogacar.
Before the Slovenian’s stunning attack, the defining moment of the race looked to be a huge crash with around 100km to go that took out a number of the leading riders and saw Jumbo-Visma’s 2018 winner Tiesj Benoot, among others, retire. The crash saw pre-race favourite Julian Alaphilippe fly dramatically over his handlebars and the reigning world champion was probably only saved worse injury by managing to unclip from his pedals as a Quick-Step colleague was blown across his path by the strong winds.
Alaphilippe and most of what remained of the peloton were able to make up a two-minute disadvantage on those who stayed upright to rejoin the front of the race, but were left in the dust by Pogacar soon after.
Earlier, SD Worx played their hand to perfection, enabling Lotte Kopecky to win the women’s race. The powerhouse Dutch team managed to get three riders into the leading pack in the final kilometres, isolating two-time winner Annemiek van Vleuten, and setting up the Belgian national champion to get the racing line through the windy roads of Siena as they came off the top of the brutal final climb.
Kopecky, 26, powered away through the final turns to claim what she described as the biggest win of her career. “It was a really good plan from the team,” Kopecky told Eurosport post-race. “Racing like this is super nice to do, I have teammates behind me who have my back.
“I was never confident of beating [Van Vleuten]. I knew she was the person to follow. I let her go a bit on the last climb and then just kept going. I turned to the right to pass her, she passed again and then it was sprint through the last corner.”
As Van Vleuten’s Movistar teammates fell away on the Tuscan hills, SD Worx managed to stay together. Kopecky’s teammates Demi Vollering and Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, who finished 19 seconds back in third, launched a series of energy-sapping attacks in the final stages that ultimately proved key in tiring out Van Vleuten.
