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March 7, 2026
20th Strade Bianche 2026 🇮🇹 (1.UWT) ME – Siena – Siena : 203 km
Strade Bianche is one of the most iconic one-day races in professional cycling,
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March 7, 2026
20th Strade Bianche 2026 🇮🇹 (1.UWT) ME – Siena – Siena : 203 km
Strade Bianche is one of the most iconic one-day races in professional cycling, famously known as “Europe’s southernmost Northern Classic.” Held in the picturesque landscape of Tuscany, the race is defined by its “sterrato”—the historic white gravel roads that give the event its name. The route typically starts and finishes in the medieval city of Siena, culminating in a legendary, steep climb up the narrow Via Santa Caterina before ending in the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo.
Another year, another Tadej Pogačar exhibition at Strade Bianche. The World Champion delivered on his favourite status on the Tuscan gravel on Saturday and, in almost choreographed fashion, soloed from range to a record-breaking fourth title.
After his 50km solo in 2022 and his 19km effort last year, this was a throwback to the 2024 edition, when Pogačar rode alone from all of 81km out. This was a shade shorter, at 79km, but the move was made on that same critical gravel sector of the Monte Sante Marie, and the result was the same – he was never seen again.
Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) could not quite provide the competition for Pogačar that the race has arguably lacked in recent years, but the 19-year-old nevertheless confirmed his status as the next great rival to the Slovenian’s dominance of world cycling with a stunning second place on debut.
Seixas was agonisingly close to being able to follow Pogačar on Sante Marie, only to be dropped by a vicious secondary acceleration, but he recovered to stand out in the chase group and then drop fellow young phenom Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on the steep final kicker of the Via Santa Caterina in the final kilometre. He rode into the Piazza del Campo a minute after Pogačar had crossed the line and dismounted his bike to celebrate.
Del Toro couldn’t make it a one-two for UAE but he did make it two on the podium with his third place, while Jan Christen, who’d split the bunch initially on Sante Marie, made it three in the top six. The presence of those two in the chase effectively locked the race up for Pogačar.
Christen arrived just behind Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ United) and Gianni Vermeersch (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who were part of the main chase group along with Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), the latter two strong throughout but fading on the Santa Caterina. Pidcock was especially dejected, having slipped his chain twice at key moments on the Sante Marie.
Former winner Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) rounded out the top 10 just behind Andreas Kron (Uno-X).
But the day belonged to Pogačar, who marked his season debut with a win and now, with four Strade Bianche titles, surpasses the record of three he shared with Fabian Cancellara until today.
“I always say this but chapeau to my teammates today, everybody did an incredibly job. It was an honour to ride with such a team today and deliver the win,” said Pogačar, who also spoke about the moment he dropped Seixas.
“I saw he was chasing really hard on the steepest part of the climb on Sante Marie, and I said to myself ‘I’ll go all-out to the top then I’ll see. Either he can come to my wheel or there’ll be a gap. In the end it was enough, and I saw Isaac and Jan were there behind so this was enough to go alone.”
The early break and the explosion on Monte Sante Marie
It was a fast start to proceedings on a mild and dry day in Tuscany, and it took some 40km and three gravel sectors for a breakaway to form.
In the end, nine riders managed to make the boat: Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek), Jack Haig (Ineos Grenadiers), Tim Rex (Visma-Lease a Bike), Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), Davide Toneatti (XDS Astana), Anders Foldager (Jayco-AlUla), Adrien Boichis (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), Samuele Zoccarato (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort).
The gap reached two minutes but Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG soon came to the front and the escapees were never allowed more rope than that.
The gap came down to 45 seconds as sectors 4 and 5 – Lucignnano d’Asso and Pieve a Salti – came in quick succession, forming what was effectively one long 20km sector with a stiff climb on the latter. However, the peloton eased up on the subsequent 20km stretch, allowing the break to go back out to 90 seconds.
Sector 6 at San Martino in Grania, however, saw the race come back to the boil. The 9.4km sector was mostly uphill and saw the peloton fragment, split, and reduce, with the breakaway coming back into view. This time, the tarmac offered little respite, as UAE kept a high pace in what was essentially a leadout to the Monte Sante Marie, which would live up to its billing as the crucial point of the race.
Florian Vermeersch led the way onto the 11.5km rolling sector before handing over to Jan Christen, who split the bunch just 2km into the sector. Nine riders were in the initial selection: Christen, Pogačar, Del Toro, Seixas, Pidcock, Jorgenson, Gregoire, Lapeira, and Labrosse.
A couple of kilometres later, Pogačar was off, 7.5km from the end of the sector and 79.5km from the finish.
Pidcock was sprinting into the wheel just as the World Champion was going clear but appeared to slip his chain. Seixas came through to give chase and it looked like the script from previous years may be ripped up as the 19-year-old clawed his way back up towards Pogačar on the main climbing part of the sector.
However, just as he was making contact Pogačar kicked again, and his rear wheel would be clear for the remainder of the day.
On exit of Monte Sante Marie, Pogačar already had a lead of 30 seconds over Seixas, who’d been joined by Del Toro. The latter, being a teammate of the leader, was not contributing and so Seixas soon made the call to wait for the next chase trio of Pidcock, Jorgenson, and Gregoire. As he did so, the gap went out to nearly a minute.
Colle Pinzuto to the finish
Results :
 ME </strong> - Siena - Siena : 203 km
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Strade Bianche is one of the most iconic one-day races in professional cycling, famously known as "Europe’s southernmost Northern Classic." Held in the picturesque landscape of Tuscany, the race is defined by its "sterrato"—the historic white gravel roads that give the event its name. The route typically starts and finishes in the medieval city of Siena, culminating in a legendary, steep climb up the narrow Via Santa Caterina before ending in the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo.
Another year, another Tadej Pogačar exhibition at Strade Bianche. The World Champion delivered on his favourite status on the Tuscan gravel on Saturday and, in almost choreographed fashion, soloed from range to a record-breaking fourth title.
After his 50km solo in 2022 and his 19km effort last year, this was a throwback to the 2024 edition, when Pogačar rode alone from all of 81km out. This was a shade shorter, at 79km, but the move was made on that same critical gravel sector of the Monte Sante Marie, and the result was the same – he was never seen again.
Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) could not quite provide the competition for Pogačar that the race has arguably lacked in recent years, but the 19-year-old nevertheless confirmed his status as the next great rival to the Slovenian’s dominance of world cycling with a stunning second place on debut.
Seixas was agonisingly close to being able to follow Pogačar on Sante Marie, only to be dropped by a vicious secondary acceleration, but he recovered to stand out in the chase group and then drop fellow young phenom Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on the steep final kicker of the Via Santa Caterina in the final kilometre. He rode into the Piazza del Campo a minute after Pogačar had crossed the line and dismounted his bike to celebrate.
Del Toro couldn’t make it a one-two for UAE but he did make it two on the podium with his third place, while Jan Christen, who’d split the bunch initially on Sante Marie, made it three in the top six. The presence of those two in the chase effectively locked the race up for Pogačar.
Christen arrived just behind Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ United) and Gianni Vermeersch (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who were part of the main chase group along with Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), the latter two strong throughout but fading on the Santa Caterina. Pidcock was especially dejected, having slipped his chain twice at key moments on the Sante Marie.
Former winner Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) rounded out the top 10 just behind Andreas Kron (Uno-X).
But the day belonged to Pogačar, who marked his season debut with a win and now, with four Strade Bianche titles, surpasses the record of three he shared with Fabian Cancellara until today.
"I always say this but chapeau to my teammates today, everybody did an incredibly job. It was an honour to ride with such a team today and deliver the win," said Pogačar, who also spoke about the moment he dropped Seixas.
“I saw he was chasing really hard on the steepest part of the climb on Sante Marie, and I said to myself ‘I’ll go all-out to the top then I’ll see. Either he can come to my wheel or there’ll be a gap. In the end it was enough, and I saw Isaac and Jan were there behind so this was enough to go alone.”
The early break and the explosion on Monte Sante Marie
It was a fast start to proceedings on a mild and dry day in Tuscany, and it took some 40km and three gravel sectors for a breakaway to form.
In the end, nine riders managed to make the boat: Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek), Jack Haig (Ineos Grenadiers), Tim Rex (Visma-Lease a Bike), Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), Davide Toneatti (XDS Astana), Anders Foldager (Jayco-AlUla), Adrien Boichis (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), Samuele Zoccarato (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort).
The gap reached two minutes but Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG soon came to the front and the escapees were never allowed more rope than that.
The gap came down to 45 seconds as sectors 4 and 5 – Lucignnano d’Asso and Pieve a Salti – came in quick succession, forming what was effectively one long 20km sector with a stiff climb on the latter. However, the peloton eased up on the subsequent 20km stretch, allowing the break to go back out to 90 seconds.
Sector 6 at San Martino in Grania, however, saw the race come back to the boil. The 9.4km sector was mostly uphill and saw the peloton fragment, split, and reduce, with the breakaway coming back into view. This time, the tarmac offered little respite, as UAE kept a high pace in what was essentially a leadout to the Monte Sante Marie, which would live up to its billing as the crucial point of the race.
Florian Vermeersch led the way onto the 11.5km rolling sector before handing over to Jan Christen, who split the bunch just 2km into the sector. Nine riders were in the initial selection: Christen, Pogačar, Del Toro, Seixas, Pidcock, Jorgenson, Gregoire, Lapeira, and Labrosse.
A couple of kilometres later, Pogačar was off, 7.5km from the end of the sector and 79.5km from the finish.
Pidcock was sprinting into the wheel just as the World Champion was going clear but appeared to slip his chain. Seixas came through to give chase and it looked like the script from previous years may be ripped up as the 19-year-old clawed his way back up towards Pogačar on the main climbing part of the sector.
However, just as he was making contact Pogačar kicked again, and his rear wheel would be clear for the remainder of the day.
On exit of Monte Sante Marie, Pogačar already had a lead of 30 seconds over Seixas, who’d been joined by Del Toro. The latter, being a teammate of the leader, was not contributing and so Seixas soon made the call to wait for the next chase trio of Pidcock, Jorgenson, and Gregoire. As he did so, the gap went out to nearly a minute.
Colle Pinzuto to the finish
<strong>Results : </strong>
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