Strade Bianche, white roads in english, is coming up again. The race goes from Gaiole in Chianti to Siena in 188kms. But thats not what this race is about. Strade Bianche was called after the special roads the riders ride on. Its a road of white gravel on which the riders will spend over 30kms.



Last year, the race was rather boring with Peter Sagan, just riding away. But this year, there will be some tougher opposition with once again Dan Martin, but also Bauke Mollema, Delfi Cervero, Rajesh Kahki, Carlos Betancur and others. Even if the best Team in the world, OPQS, is missing, it will be a tough race and the race decider should be the last steep, but also short climb in the finish. But if you thought that Strade Bianche has an uphill finish, you are wrong. The last couple meters, its downhill again, which could give Sagan the upperhand, if it should come to a sprint finish. Also we have something new this year. We asked some riders to put attach some GoPro cameras. We hope that those riders will have some action during the race.

Favourites:

Sagan(CAN), Betancur(ALM), Valverde(MOV)

Mollema(BEL), Martin(GRS), Cervero(AND)

Bernard(COL), Gerrans(OGE), Kahki(CSS)

Full startlist:

Belkin
Jorge Cristobal Riquelme
Robert Gesink
Bauke Mollema
Luis Leon Sanchez
Tom Jelte Slagter
Jasper Stuyven

BMC
Michael Albasini
Dario Cataldo
Fabio Felline
Chad Haga
Adrien Hanzen
Georg Preidler
Greg Van Avermaet
Simon Yates

Cannondale
Enrico Battaglin
Francesco Bongiorno
Josh Burton
Hugh Carthy
Moreno Moser
Silvio Pennarossa
Peter Sagan
Davide Villella

Euskaltel
Garikoitz Bravo
Arkaitz Durán
Koldo Fernandez
Xavier Florencio
Enrique Sanz
Romain Sicard
Rudy Verboven

Garmin
Jack Bauer
Jordan Birtles
Magnus Cort
Nathan Haas
Alex Howes
Daniel Martin
Peter Stetina
Fabian Wegmann

Katusha
Jan Barta
Giampaolo Caruso
Alexandr Kolobnev
Sergey Lagutin
Richard Löwenherz
Luis �ngel Maté
Ivan Rovny
Eduard Vorganov

Movistar
Alejandro Valverde
Fabio Duarte
Marco Marcato
Davide Formolo
Rafael Valls
Dayer Quintana
Jesús Hernández
Pablo Lastras

Orica
Winner Anacona
Davide Cimolai
Simon Gerrans
Amael Moinard
Klaas Lodewyck
Pieter Weening

AG2R
Carlos Betancur
Carlos Bonilla
Guillaume Bonnafond
Mattia Cattaneo
Blel Kadri
Stefano Locatelli
Matteo Montaguti
Angelo Pagani

Androni
Enrico Barbin
Gregory Brenes
Delfi Cervero
Ricardo Chiarini
Marco Frapporti
Miguel Rubiano
Ivan Santaromita

Caja Rural
Julian Arredondo
André Cardoso
Fabricio Ferrari
Omar Fraile
�ngel Madrazo
Ricardo Martinez Machado
Antonio Piedra
Pablo Urtasun

CCC
Drago di Silvestro
Nikolay Mihaylov
Jacek Morajko
Mateusz Nowak
Maciej Paterski
Davide Rebellin
Marek Rutkiewicz
Matteo Trentin

Champion System
Yimmi Briceno
Pengda Jiao
Rajesh Kakhi
Francisco Javier Moreno
Rinaldo Nocentini
Mart Ojavee
Muhamad Othman
Ryan Roth

Colombia
Carlos Barbero
Gregory Bernard
Sondre Holst Enger
Ivan Gutiérrez
Marcel Meisen
Gorka Nieve
Bruno Pires
Jens Voigt

IAM
Marcel Aregger
Mathias Brändle
Stefan Denifl
Heinrich Haussler
Reto Hollenstein
Alexandre Pluschin
Marcel Wyss

Lampre
Damiano Cunego
Manuele Mori
Davide Mucelli
Andrea Palini
Daniele Pietropolli
Simone Stortoni

MTN
Natnael Berhane
Louis Meintjes
Adrien Niyonshuti
Youcef Reguigui
Meron Russom
Yonas Tekeste
Jani Tewelde
Dennis Van Niekerk

Neri
Francesco Chicchi
Francesco Failli
Mauro Finetto
Oscar Gatto
Luca Mazzanti
Alessandro Proni

NetApp
Heimdal Hägg
Bartosz Huzarski
Julan Kern
José Mendes
Mathieu Van der Poel
Carlos Verona
Mathias Von Triesenberg
Paul Voss

Vacansoleil
Lars Ytting Bak
Johnny Hoogerland
Bjorn Leukemans
Tomasz Marczynski
Luca Paolini
Domenico Pozzovivo
Bobbie Traksel
Giovanni Visconti


Key:
Team Leader
EPIC rider

Should be an great race! Come on Visconti!

Good to see the pace of racing

I've injured my leg quite badly so I'll be at home all weeked. IF SOMEONE COULD JUST SEND ME THE LAST STAGE OF ALGARVE

I can upload it for you later tonight/tomorrow morning, unless somebody else does it before then.

Also, got my computer back! doing World Cup stuff right now

Ahhh good

The time has come. Strade Bianche starts now. This is the route again:




After only 2 kms, Nieve(COL), Proni(NES), Von Triesenberg(TNE), Roth(CSS), Aregger(IAM) and Mate(KAT) attack and try to create a gap. They can extend their gap to around 2 minutes.




Only a few minutes later, another group tries to get away from the pack. This time, Traksel(VCD), Mori(LAM), Duran(EUS), Piedra(CJR), Paterski(CCC) and Van Niekerk(MTN) gain some advantage.








After 18kms, those two 6-man groups unite and create the breakaway of the day, with some decent puncheurs. The pack should not let them too far away.








Soon, the break creates a huge advantage of around 5 minutes. It seems like Garmin and Androni, who still lead the pack are not feeling threatened by the break.

Meanwhile, our GoPro Cameras got their first use. Mathias Von Triesenberg, who was in the break delivered beautiful pictures.




Now the riders head onto the gravel. the roads are pretty thin and they have not that much grip, so maybe we will have some action here.

Beautiful perspective, filmed from Gorka Nieve(COL), while they head on the gravel.

Around 6 minutes later, the pack also arrives on the gravel roads, the Strade Bianche.


With 110km to go, the break has an advantage of over 7 minutes. A fan has sent us a picture, which he made out of his house. Great shot.







We arrive at one of the major ascents. Definitely not a game changer, but the location is beautiful and maybe we see the first riders drop out here.



The riders ride through a beautiful landscape.



Slowly, but steadily, the pack has increased the speed. at 85 kms, they reduced the advantage of the break down to 5 minutes.



During the fuel economy crisis, it is important to have an eye on the fuel prices. 1.53€ "for Sans Plomb 95". Thats quite expensive. Luckily the riders don't need to refuel their bikes.



The break works well together, even on those partly very steep hills. They have searched and found each other today. Great effort.



And it happened! The first riders got dropped with 80kms to go. But they managed to get back to the pack. Could've been worse.



Garmin pulls hard now at the front. They work for the Pot O' Gold with bad teeth, Dan Martin. Since Androni has, next to Cervero, no big firepower in the team, they have to let the heavyweight teams up front.



Another intersting GoPro shot, this time from Dan Martin, who positions himself near the front, with just 2 Teammates infront. 30kms to go. The break is only 3 minutes up the road.



As we can see here, Valverde sneaked his way up the field. He takes a last bit of water...



...and attacks right after. Great push. Martin(GRS), L.L.Sanchez(BEL), Verboven(EUS), Cervero(AND), Van Avermaet(BMC) and Sagan(CAN) follow him directly.



The Sagan group can extend their lead up to a few seconds, but the break of the day is still ahead.



Surprisingly, BMC sets the pace in the pack, even though they have Van Avermaet up front. Stupid or clever? Thats the question.(as you can see, because of the "?"



And BMC has caught the group, but Valverde accelerates again with 16km to go. This time, Van Avermaet(BMC), Cervero(AND), Gerrans(OGE), Cristobal Riquelme(BEL), Arredondo(CJR), Bernard(COL), Weening(OGE), Sagan(COL), Martin(GRS), Betancur(ALM), Verboven(EUS) and L.L.Sanchez(BEL) are with him.



Sagan wants to play Cat and Mouse as he attacks 3 times, only getting Cervero, Van Avermaet, Weening and Arredondo dropped.



Meanwhile, up front, Piedra tries to get rid of the other breakaway riders. But he gets caught fast, because he had put himself too much in the red.



Sagan attack once again. Can he get the others off his wheel? It doesn't look like this to me...



5kms to the finish. Mate attacks. So does Duran. They try to roll the dice. The Sagan group is around 30s back. Everything can happen now.



They are on the final hill now. 1km to go. A beautiful finish area, if you ask me. Roth(CSS) and Aregger(IAM) lead head-2-head into the ascent.



Roth opens the uphil sprint. Some get dropped, but Von Triesenberg can hold the wheel. But he tries to overtake Roth in the corner. Meanwhile, the Sagan group catched up to the break.













Van Triesenberg wins Strade Bianche! What a surprise! He gave everything. He can't even lift his arms to celebrate. Great effort and what a spectacle the race was. Dennis Van Niekerk gets 2nd while Champion System can celebrate in communistic fashion about Roths 3rd place.






Bauke Mollema wins the sprint out of the pack, while being 10mins behind.

Results:

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Mathias Von Triesenberg	Team NetApp - Endura	4h31'55
2	Dennis Van Niekerk	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 10
3	Ryan Roth	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
4	Bobbie Traksel	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	+ 17
5	Marcel Aregger	IAM Cycling	+ 22
6	Alessandro Proni	Neri Sottole	s.t.
7	Daniel Martin	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
8	Manuele Mori	Lampre - Merida	+ 30
9	Gorka Nieve	Colombia	+ 34
10	Carlos Betancur	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
11	Antonio Piedra	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.
12	Luis �ngel Maté	Katusha Team	s.t.
13	Simon Gerrans	Orica - GreenEdge	s.t.
14	Arkaitz Durán	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
15	Maciej Paterski	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	s.t.
16	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	s.t.
17	Rudy Verboven	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
18	Jorge Cristobal Riquelme	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
19	Luis León Sánchez	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
20	Peter Sagan	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
21	Gregory Bernard	Colombia	+ 45
22	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	+ 1'24
23	Julian Arredondo	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 1'35
24	Pieter Weening	Orica - GreenEdge	s.t.
25	Delfi Cervero	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	s.t.
26	Michael Albasini	BMC Racing Team	+ 2'10
27	Winner Anacona	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 3'55
28	Bauke Mollema	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 10'20
29	Daniele Pietropolli	Lampre - Merida	+ 10'23
30	Magnus Cort	Garmin - Sharp	+ 10'27
31	Miguel Rubiano	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	+ 10'30
32	Adrien Hanzen	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
33	Jens Voigt	Colombia	s.t.
34	Marco Marcato	Movistar Team	s.t.
35	Robert Gesink	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
36	Dario Cataldo	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
37	Enrico Battaglin	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 10'37
38	Mathieu van der Poel	Team NetApp - Endura	s.t.
39	Oscar Gatto	Neri Sottole	+ 10'44
40	Francesco Bongiorno	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
41	George Preidler	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
42	Rajesh Kakhi	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
43	Fabian Wegmann	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
44	Rafael Valls	Movistar Team	s.t.
45	Ricardo Martinez Machado	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.
46	Moreno Moser	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
47	Francesco Failli	Neri Sottole	s.t.
48	Alexandr Kolobnev	Katusha Team	s.t.
49	Giampaolo Caruso	Katusha Team	s.t.
50	Fabio Duarte	Movistar Team	s.t.
51	Giovanni Visconti	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
52	Ivan Santaromita	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	s.t.
53	Mattia Cattaneo	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 11'02
54	Alex Howes	Garmin - Sharp	+ 11'07
55	Jasper Stuyven	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
56	Davide Villella	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 11'13
57	Carlos Barbero	Colombia	s.t.
58	Marcel Wyss	IAM Cycling	s.t.
59	Matteo Montaguti	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 11'19
60	Davide Formolo	Movistar Team	s.t.
61	Jan Barta	Katusha Team	+ 11'36
62	Bruno Pires	Colombia	+ 11'43
63	Björn Leukemans	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
64	Peter Stetina	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
65	Paul Voss	Team NetApp - Endura	s.t.
66	Sergey Lagutin	Katusha Team	s.t.
67	José Mendes	Team NetApp - Endura	s.t.
68	Luca Paolini	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
69	Domenico Pozzovivo	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
70	Nathan Haas	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
71	Tom Slagter	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 11'59
72	�ngel Madrazo	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 12'02
73	Stefan Denifl	IAM Cycling	s.t.
74	Marcel Meisen	Colombia	+ 12'07
75	Jesús Hernández	Movistar Team	s.t.
76	Riccardo Chiarini	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	s.t.
77	Fabricio Ferrari	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 12'16
78	Enrico Barbin	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	s.t.
79	Simon Yates	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
80	Heinrich Haussler	IAM Cycling	s.t.
81	Jordan Birtles	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
82	Johnny Hoogerland	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
83	Marco Frapporti	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	+ 12'26
84	Gregory Brenes	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	s.t.
85	Dayer Quintana	Movistar Team	+ 12'31
86	Bartosz Huzarski	Team NetApp - Endura	s.t.
87	Eduard Vorganov	Katusha Team	s.t.
88	Julian Kern	Team NetApp - Endura	s.t.
89	Damiano Cunego	Lampre - Merida	+ 12'38
90	Carlos Bonilla	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 13'01
91	Jimmi Briceño	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
92	Sondre Holst Enger	Colombia	s.t.
93	Fabio Felline	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
94	Louis Meintjes	MTN - Qhubeka	s.t.
95	Davide Rebellin	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	s.t.
96	Lars Ytting Bak	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
97	Ivan Rovny	Katusha Team	s.t.
98	Stefano Locatelli	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
99	Matthias Brändle	IAM Cycling	s.t.
100	Natnael Berhane	MTN - Qhubeka	s.t.
101	Xavier Florencio	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 13'14
102	Josh Burton	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
103	Tomasz Marczynski	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
104	Guillaume Bonnafond	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
105	Amaël Moinard	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 13'21
106	Pablo Lastras	Movistar Team	s.t.
107	Silvio Pennarossa	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
108	Andrea Palini	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
109	Blel Kadri	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
110	Jack Bauer	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
111	Pablo Urtasun	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.
112	Alexandre Pliuschin	IAM Cycling	s.t.
113	Reto Hollenstein	IAM Cycling	s.t.
114	Matteo Trentin	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	s.t.
115	Garikoitz Bravo	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
116	Angelo Pagani	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 13'39
117	Iván Gutiérrez	Colombia	s.t.
118	Mauro Finetto	Neri Sottole	+ 13'44
119	Romain Sicard	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 13'48
120	Marek Rutkiewicz	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	s.t.
121	Hugh Carthy	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 13'54
122	Jacek Morajko	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	s.t.
123	Simone Stortoni	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
124	Davide Mucelli	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
125	Francisco Javier Moreno	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
126	Chad Haga	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
127	Koldo Fernández	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
128	Yonas Tekeste	MTN - Qhubeka	s.t.
129	Davide Cimolai	Orica - GreenEdge	s.t.
130	André Cardoso	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.
131	Enrique Sanz	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 14'13
132	Richard Löwenherz	Katusha Team	s.t.
133	Luca Mazzanti	Neri Sottole	+ 14'17
134	Mateusz Nowak	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	s.t.
135	Heimdal Hägg	Team NetApp - Endura	+ 14'21
136	Drago Di Silvestro	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	s.t.
137	Meron Russom	MTN - Qhubeka	s.t.
138	Klaas Lodewyck	Orica - GreenEdge	s.t.
139	Jani Tewelde	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 14'29
140	Youcef Reguigui	MTN - Qhubeka	s.t.
141	Omar Fraile	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.
142	Adrien Niyonshuti	MTN - Qhubeka	s.t.
143	Muhamad Othman	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
144	Rinaldo Nocentini	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
145	Pengda Jiao	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	+ 14'43
146	Carlos Verona	Team NetApp - Endura	s.t.
147	Mart Ojavee	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
148	Nikolay Mihaylov	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	s.t.
149	Francesco Chicchi	Neri Sottole	s.t.

Would like a good result from Cervero in Strade.
Martinez Machado not bad in Oman first stage but would like better.

Hooly shit, Von Triesenberg %§"X!%!!!! NetApp's Mini-Gilbert wins one of my favourite races.



(And Gorka Nieve 9th!!! I love that race even more now)

Great report too!

Lol, the Cannibal is Merckx, not Cancellara.

You wait days for a race report and then three come along at once. Oman was a great result, but again for the wrong reasons. While I am delighted Niccolo won, I would have liked to see Viviani sprinting too.

Cervero's result in Strade is only disappointing in my opinion if you just looked at the results. It sounds like he stayed nice and active, but perhaps got caught out on the narrow roads, or when a breakaway rider was caught.

@Shonak: I think he means Sagan

It's a post from K-B-K, Sagan wasn't racing there.

Wait, 4th?! What was my goal again?? I think I made it!

*Checks my HQ*

Who was stupid enough to make my goal first in Strade - Bianche?!

Oh right, me. *facepalm* Do we get points for coming close?

Great Work by Traksel anyway, although the rest of the team were horrible, the next rider was Visconti, in 51st?!

Great Report by the way Paul, I loved the jokes, especially:

Disappointed that Verboven got blocked, but good tactics sending Durán in the break as well. I'll take all the points I can get. Still quite a bit more than the 0 points I got last year

Good report!

Breakaways in classics better not continue.

Okay:
Yay for Aregger
Denifl
Bonilla - Good experience and his first time riding with Carlos #1
trekbmc - Yay for news at last about WC game!
And I know it makes no difference but @preview Bonilla is an EPIC rider

@Shonak: He was simply the best puncheur in that group. I thought they won't gonna make it.

@trek: Thanks

@all: Looks like you liked it! Thanks.

Gnah, silly AI and their breakaways

Good rides from Sanchez, Riquelme and Verboven, but yeah, if they caught the break a bit earlier something big was possible..

And a great report Paul, needs to be said

@Ollfardh: Thanks . I was surprised, that only your 2 top domestiques tried it...Mollema sat in the bunch and relaxed. But yeah.

Well yeah, but even then they should've had a good result if they caught the break in time. Let's say the hill were a bit too short for Mollema

Score another one for the breakaway, Marc de Maar to win the ardennes triple?