Citigroup & Visconti miss out close on win at Strade Bianche

Strade Bianche has been titled as the favourite of many riders since its existence, and it’s also one of the best in the eyes of young, 23 year old Italian-austrian Raphael Visconti. The rider from Citigroup-Cannondale rode a clever race but missed out on the win against a very strong Maxim Iglinskiy. The Kazakh, riding for Team Astana, put in a great attack at 15 kilometers left and rode to a solo-victory in one of a kind.

While our riders Raphael Visconti and Alessandro De Marchi did a fantastic job at keeping themselves at the front of the race, the nominal team leader T.J. Van Garderen struggled throughout the race. Early on, it was clear that the gravel roads were not suited for T.J. The American new signing still later claimed: “It’s a wonderful race. I was impressed by Raphael and Alessandro, they rode really easy and quickly. For me, I love the weather and landscape here in Toscana, but the roads… not so much unfortunately.” Van Garderen still said thought that he’d love to race here again.

Another young gun was featured early on in the breakaway for Citigroup – Cannondale. Mateij Mohoric, former U23 World Champion, did a fair share of work, while also being chased by Team SKY, who wanted to see Geraint Thomas repeat his victory of last year. BMC and Astana have been very active in the chase too. Realizing that the road was growing thin, Citigroup provided assistance at 40 kilometers left in order to catch the breakaway after Mohoric punctured in the breakaway and the race was basically over for him as he got caught by the peloton.


There was a considerable amount of chaos and disorientation, and in that Maxim Iglinskiy escaped. Though being chased by a small group of around 7 top favourites, including Raphael Visconti, alongside Greg Van Avermaet, Geraint Thomas, Edvald Boasson Hagen and two riders from AG2R La Mondiale, the Kazakh kept them at distance throughout the finale kilometers. A bit similar to his performance at Liege a few years back. Iglinskiy’s gap at the walls of Siena was around 30 seconds, enough for the last climb up the stronghold-ish town. Visconti and De Marchi kept themselves in the back during the chasing effort, fully aware that the two Team SKY riders and GVA (BMC) were stronger than them. Thanks to this smart riding, Visconti outsprinted the others for a second place.


This second place is a considerable improvement to last year for Raphael Visconti, and for the team itself it means something too: The team had scored a 2nd place last year with Sagan here.

Journalist X: “How did it feel to race here today?”
Raphael: “Well, it was a really hot race. I raced so much in Belgium and CX lately, and I was always freezing and today, it felt like a warm day in spring, and I wasn’t used to do that. It took a toll and took some time gettin’ used to. And I had to drink a lot, really a lot of water today. Because there was so much dust, and it’s… dangerous for the lungs. And otherwise I would have gone dehydrated so fast. But erm… yeah, I have to thank my team and especially Alessandro, who fetched me his last bottle at 10 kilometers left because I would have had no energy otherwise.”

Journalist X: “Are you satisfied with how the race panned out?”
Raphael: “So and so. I think if we would have done more work in the small group in the finale, we might had caught Iglinskiy. But I remember Edvald from last year at Eneco Tour, where he pissed me off and didn’t help me, and I didn’t feel like cooperating with him today, so yeah… I am okay with the second place. It’s probably more than I could ask for, and it’s definitely more than people would grant me after how we… rode, I mean… we basically wheelsucked in the last ten, fifteen kilometers in the group of 7 riders. But I don’t mind, it’s called racing. It’s not some friends club. Congratulations to Maxim in any case, he was a great rider today.”

Journalist X: “What’s up next for you?”
Raphael: “Well, I continue racing tomorrow at Paris-Nice. There’s no rest for the wicked, but I have a bit heavy legs from Cyclo-Cross season and the Italian Fall, so we’ll see how I feel afterwards.”

Journalist X: “Thank you Raphael. I’ll be sure to follow you in Paris-Nice too. Your every move.”