Cycling great Tadej Pogacar picked up in 2026 where he left off in 2025, beginning his season with an emphatic win at Strade Bianche, a record-breaking fourth win in the last five editions of the race.
The world champion came to the front of a high-powered front group and attacked on the Monte Sainte Marie gravel section, as he did in 2024, and went solo with 78km to go.
The 27-year-old has now won the last three editions in a row and broken clear of the previous record of three overall victories at the Tuscan Classic, which he had shared with Fabian Cancellara.
Talented Frenchman Paul Seixas managed to claw back onto his wheel after the initial acceleration, but Pogacar stamped on the pedals once more to drop the 19-year-old and take another magnificent solo victory.
Unlike last year when he crashed and fought back to win rather bloodied and bruised, this was a more serene outing for the Slovenian, who never looked in danger of losing his lead.
He punched the air as he crossed the line in Siena’s Piazza del Campo, bowing theatrically to the crowd and high-fiving spectators in delight.
Seixas demonstrated why he is the most hyped young rider on the WorldTour as he dropped Pogacar’s teammate Isaac del Toro on the final climb up the steep Via Santa Caterina, finishing second on his debut, a minute behind Pogacar.
Last year’s Giro d’Italia runner-up del Toro was third, a further nine seconds back, having enjoyed a relaxed run-in to the finish on Seixas’ wheel.
Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad controlled the race perfectly and had three riders in the top six, with Swiss teammate Jan Christen sixth.
“Chapeau to the teammates today, everybody did an incredible job,” Pogacar - sporting a new bleach-blonde haircut for this season - said. “Also the young bullets, Jan and Isaac, what a job for them. It was an honour to ride with such a team today and to deliver the win, so I’m super happy.
“I saw that [Seixas] was chasing really hard on the steepest part of the climb on Sainte Marie, but I said to myself I would go all out to the top and then see if he can bridge, either he will come to my wheel or he will explode. In the end I saw it’s enough and I knew that Isaac and Jan was there [to neutralise the chase].”
Britain’s Tom Pidcock, who won the 2023 edition, suffered several mechanical malfunctions, dropping his chain as he attempted to stay on Pogacar’s wheel on Monte Sainte Marie.
But he fought back on to feature in a strong chasing group behind del Toro and Seixas. He was distanced on the steep final climb and finished seventh, two minutes and 14 seconds behind Pogacar.
Earlier on there were farcical scenes in the women’s race as the second group on the road, including pre-race favourites Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot were led the wrong way by a race motorbike with around 33km to go, with their chances of victory disappearing immediately as the gap was too big to close.
Vollering’s FDJ United-Suez teammate Elise Chabbey was safely in the front group however and assumed the mantle of leadership after Vollering slipped out of contention.
The former Swiss champion rode a brilliant race, beating a group including 2024 Tour de France champion Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and Giro d’Italia winner Elisa Longo Borghini.
Chabbey withstood a flurry of late attacks and took the right line on the tricky cobbled climb to the finish to surge clear.
“So many emotions. I think I cannot realise [what I've done] for now. I think I will need days,” an emotional Chabbey said afterwards, after collapsing against a barrier in the finish area and needing to ask a team official for confirmation that she had won.
“Normally it should have been for Demi, but today it’s for me,” she added. “I think she’s as happy for me. When she wins, I’m also super happy.”
Polish national champion Niewiadoma-Phinney ran out of gas in the four-woman sprint to the line, finishing second - a fifth podium finish in Tuscany but never on the top step - with another FDJ United-Suez rider, Franziska Koch, in third.
Vollering was in high spirits, gatecrashing Chabbey’s post-race interview to hug her teammate and say, “I’m so proud of you,” despite her own race falling apart with a mechanical on the Le Tolfe gravel sector even before the group took a wrong turn.
“I think we will party all night,” she grinned in her post-race interview.
Had the European champion taken victory she would have been the first woman to win the race three times and would have a gravel sector named in her honour - as is tradition for three wins - but she crossed the line in 20th place.
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