In the contest, famous for the white gravel roads typical of Tuscany – there were 15 such sections on the longest ever distance of 215 kilometers – a five-man escape group was formed, which was able to develop a lead of only 2:30 minutes, so they caught up with their members already 100 kilometers from the finish line.
Two-time Tour de France winner Pogacar changed the rhythm 81 kilometers from the finish on one of the most difficult gravel sections, Monte Sante Marie, and no one might follow his pace. His attack shattered the leading field, then the captain of the Visma-Lease a Bike Hungarian champion also broke away, but later he was able to catch up.
The 25-year-old Slovenian cyclist quickly built up an advantage of more than three minutes, so the fight was only for second place behind him. Valter regularly broke away from the chasing group of regarding twenty people during rhythm changes, but then he overtook his rivals three or four times following a great struggle. Meanwhile, the Belgian Maxim Van Gils and then the Latvian Toms Skujins left first, so they decided on the second place, which the latter won on the main square of Siena, the Piazza del Campo. Valter, who finished in the top five in the last two years, broke away from the chasing pack 15-20 kilometers from the finish line, so he crossed the finish line in 19th place, 7:45 minutes behind.
The dominance of Pogacar, who won for the second time following 2022, is best shown by the fact that in the 17-year history of the Strade Bianche, the biggest difference of 42 seconds was won by the Swiss Fabian Cancellara back in 2012, and this time the UAE bike was 2:44 minutes ahead of the second place.
In the women’s competition held for the tenth time, Belgian world champion Lotte Kopecky triumphed for the second time following 2022, ahead of Italian Elisa Longo Borghini, who won in 2017. Dutch champion Demi Vollering finished third.
ROAD BIKE
Strade Bianche, men, Siena-Siena, 215 km
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slovenian, UAE) 5:19:45 a.m
2. Tom Skujin (Latvian, Lidl-Trek) 2:44 minutes behind
3. Maxim Van Gils (belga, Lotto-Soudal) 2:47 p h.
…19. Walter Attila (Visma-Lease a Bike) 7:45 p h.
Cousin Erik gave up the fight.
(MTI)
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