Today is a busy day in the world of cycling, later today you can watch the best climbers of the Continental Circuit during the Tour of the Middle East. Or if you enjoy uphill sprinting more, you can go watch the Gisborne GP instead, but we start this day with the early morning broadcast of the Strade Bianche in Tuscany, Italy!
Let's first have a look at the main favourites for today: Di Maggio, McCarthy, Dowsett, Kelderman and Costa (1st in 2012 edition).
Behind these main favorites there are a lot of good cobblers here in Italy like Summerhill, Vanmarcke, Vandenbergh, Trentin and Nuyens (1st in 2011 edition).
Many of the slopes on the way are 15% or more. It’s a race where a rider needs to be at the front all day and get over each climb with the first few riders. The gravel sections are also sometimes narrow, so positioning will be very important, one thing is for sure; if you ride in the back of the peloton, your lunch will be served with a lot of sand!
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If the dust roads don't force a selection, the road into Siena will, it's an up straight road that passes under the arched entrance through the old city walls to take a final steep climb paved with flagstones. As seen below it tops at 16% and then flattens before a sharp corner where whoever goes through first normally wins the race as there’s little time - nor energy - to get past before the race emerges into Siena’s famous square.
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Now let's go the live coverage of the race, 192 riders are about the start the Strade Bianche, 30 degrees and sunny, the organization actually moved the start a little bit, so the riders could enjoy the shade as long as possible, the mayor of Gaiole in Chianti gives the start signal: Here we go!
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After 3km of neutral section, the race director waved his flag and right from the start numerous attacks occurred. The first riders to attack were Chan and Scheit, and a few seconds later also Maldonado joined them to make it a trio. A few kilometres later also Pulido, Allonca and Appollonio got away from the peloton.
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When entering Colle Malameranda (35km) the breakaway (6 riders) already had build a gap of 2'30" and so the break of the day was a fact.
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The peloton wasn't really chasing, but Bank of Ireland made sure the pace was acceptable/enough for now.
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The first gravel section is also the longest one (13.5km), the 6 riders upfront were trying to keep the pace high but stayed together and when leaving the gravel roads it was quite clear that the gravel sections might not be a big factor this year after all. Minutes later also the peloton passed the first section without any problems.
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After two hours the breakaway reached the highest point of the race (Montalcino - 459m), the gap was still growing, almost 7 minutes, with 116km still to ride.
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When the gap almost reached 8 minutes Bank of Ireland, Evonik, Eritel and Kenya started to up the pace. Ngock Ngue and 4 other riders were the first to get dropped by the peloton, many more would follow.
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With 30 kilometres to go, the gap between the breakaway and the peloton was less than a minute, and finally some action; Hofland was the first to attack! But he was quickly reeled back in by Puma, who started to dictate the peloton now.
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On the second last gravel section Di Maggio attacked, he was followed by McCarthy and Pozzato. Numerous of attacks followed, creating an elite group of 48 riders including the former breakaway riders
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On the descent of the Vico Alto Sanchez Gil attacked, with only 8km to go this could work! Behind him there were only 9 riders left in the elite group
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But the group got back to Sanchez Gil before the last uphill sprint started. First to go under the arched entrance was McCarthy followed by Kelderman, Sanchez Gil, Dowsett, Furdi, Boswell and Ben Nasser. Costa and Di Maggio are closed behind the group, they both lost contact in the final descent.
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When Costa and Di Maggio almost reached the front group it was time for McCarthy to accelerate. (still 1200 metres to go to the finish line).
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Kelderman was the only one who could keep up with McCarthy. The other riders seemed to have gassed out.
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With 500 metres to go Kelderman got next to McCarthy and/but...
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...and surpassed him just in time to celebrate a big win for Team Puma - SAP!
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Wilco Kelderman (1st) wins the Strade Bianche 2015, just in front of Jay McCarthy (2nd).
Wilco Kelderman
Jay McCarthy
Hassen Ben Nasser
Alex Dowsett
Blaz Furdi
Luis Leon Sanchez Gil
Ian Boswell
Rui Costa
Cesare Di Maggio
Jérémy Roy
