There's some rain in the air in Tuscany as the riders line up for the 2020 edition of the Strade Bianche. The picturesque route covering a little under 200 kilometers awaits what should be a great day's racing for the best punchers of the PCT.
Favourites
HIL
RES
SPR
ACC
Di Maggio
82
68
65
75
Schreurs
81
72
71
74
Beltran
81
72
66
76
Claeys
82
66
66
71
Borges
80
73
71
81
Ulissi
80
71
74
75
Paulinho
80
72
68
75
Turgis
79
78
70
77
Betancourt
80
71
67
74
Prevar
80
70
67
73
Waeytens
80
70
66
73
Dowsett
80
69
66
71
Gebrezgabihier
79
74
67
69
Bilbao
79
71
71
75
Gautier
79
71
67
76
The rain does not deter seven riders from leaving the relative protection of the peloton and going into the day's break. They are:
Herrera Vanspeybrouck Venturini Lyu Van Niekerk Gamper Akhmaevi
Campari, Duolingo, Minions, Swisslion, GCN, Aramco and Popo4Ever have all sent riders up to the front to help out with the chase. 150 km to go and the break's lead is 4'49".
The break are on the summit of Montalcino, still leading by 4 and a half minutes. 122 km to go.
First riders start getting dropped as the peloton traverse the harder profiles. They would make it back a few kilometers later though.
This would only be a temporary recovery as more riders would be dropped in the further kilometers.
75 kilometers left for the peloton now as they increase the pace. GCN, Aramco, Duolingo and Popo4Ever remain at the front. The gap is down to 2'3".
There is a major split with 56 kilometers left to ride as 31 riders fall off the back of the pack. Dowsett, Klemme and Bazhkou are the bigger names caught in the wrong side of the split.
The break's lead comes down further to 1'52". 40 km to go.
The 43 riders in the peloton enter the final 25 kilometers of the race. They have reduced the gap to 1'25" now. The Dowsett group is more than 3 minutes in arrears now. Errazkin, Meurisse and Ackermann are some of the other big names dropped, who were not mentioned earlier.
15 km left for the break and their lead has actually increased over the last 10 kilometers! It stands at 1'31" now.
Borges attacks with 11 km left. The break's lead is down to less than a minute.
Borges and the peloton catch the break a kilometer later. 38 riders remain in the front group.
5 km to go, Ulissi picks up the pace at the front which drops 12 riders and reduces the lead group to 38. Moazemi, Yates and Guerreiro are among those dropped.
Turgis attacks and the rest of the favourites follow. This acceleration drops 4 more riders.
Claeys and Van Niekerk are dropped, with the latter's breakaway ride finally catching up to him. Minions will be disappointed with this development.
Turgis, Schreurs, Di Maggio and Borges have a gap at the front with 1500 meters left.
Prevar has taken charge in the chase group with Gautier shadowing him. They trail the leading quartet by 17 seconds.
Turgis still leads with Borges moving up. Flamme Rouge! (Don't know why the game put a 5 km marker here)
600 meters. Looking ahead from Waeytens, we see Ulissi leading the charge for the chase group now.
Di Maggio takes the lead with 300 meters left. The chase group has nearly caught up. There is a final left hander to negotiate for the riders before the finish.
Turgis is dropped! The Farfetch leader loses power at a very bad time. The leading trio have a gap to the him already. Paulinho, Ulissi and Gautier are in the leading positions of the next group.
Di Maggio slows down as they enter the final 100 meters and Borges takes the lead. Schreurs has the inside line though. Could that have an effect?
The answer is no! Borges pulls away and starts to celebrate. Schreurs himself has started to pull away from Di Maggio for 2nd
Borges wins Strade Bianche! He followed the right moves and made his acceleration at just the right time to clinch a great victory.
Schreurs takes 2nd ahead of Di Maggio.
100 meters still to go for the chase group where Ulissi still leads Paulinho and Gautier. Beltran is right behind them.
Ulissi finishes 4th.
Paulinho stays ahead of Gautier for 5th. The latter is 6th with Beltran in 7th.
Areruya is 8th, ahead of Bilbao.
Turgis pays a heavy price for the early attacks and slips down 10th at the finish.
Benoot finishes 11th....
...followed by Bettiol in 12th, the second Farfecth rider.
Waeytens and Siskevicius are 13th and 14th.
Dyrnes completes the Top 15, ahead of De Plus and Betancourt.
Rumac, Prevar and Gebrezgabihier round out the Top 20.
Today's winner - Bruno Borges.
Borges, Schreurs and Di Maggio make up the podium and their respective teams should be happy with that result. Farfetch will likely be disappointed to just the 10th as the best result although another rider in 12th makes up for it a little. Fablok too would perhaps be somewhat disappointed, while MOL, Popo4Ever and Polar did not have a good day of it, among teams with pre-race favourites. Minions will want to forget this race as soon as possible.
