Place Name: - Il Campo
Address: - Il Campo 81, 53100 Siena Siena, Italy
Details: March 7, 2026
Many wait all year to see views of Tuscany in the Springtime with Cypress trees lining white gravel roads and villages as old as the hill they sit atop. The Strade Bianche is a special race that has cemented itself as one of the most important one-day races on the calendar, so much so that many have called for its inclusion into Monument status. The landscape is not the only reason people get excited about this race, the actual racing has been thoroughly entertaining over the years and has crowned winners who are great champions of the sport. About the race itself, there are 14 gravel segments totaling 64KM in the 201KM race with a total elevation gain of 3,500M. The added elevation over recent years has tipped the scales in favor of a General Classification rider over one for the Classics. The Monte Sante Marie sector has historically been a pivotal point as it comes with around 80KM to go and lasts for over 11KM. A circuit near the finish in Siena includes the Colle Pinzuto and Le Tolfe which are each ridden twice before arriving back at the Medieval fortified city for the finish. The finish line is in the Piazza del Campo, one of the most famous squares in all of Europe, after a 500M ramp at 10% up the via Sante Caterina. If there is a small group together, they will have to make their move on the Sante Caterina because the last chance to make a pass comes right at the top as the final 150M are very narrow and lead into a short downhill into the square and the finish line.
Riders to watch: Tadej Pogačar, Isaac del Toro, Pello Bilbao, Paul Seixas, Ben Healy, Richard Carapaz, Romain Grégoire, Quinn Simmons, Lennert Van Eetvelt, Tom Pidcock, Gianni Vermeersch, Julian Alaphilippe, Alberto Bettiol, Clément Champoussin, Matteo Jorgenson, Wout van Aert
Low cloud hung over the start but it was a warm early Spring day in Tuscany. When live coverage began with 93KM to go, the early break of nine riders had just 15 seconds left of their maximum 2 minute gap on the UAE-XRG led peloton who were pulling hard with the crucial Monte Sante Marie gravel segment coming next on course. The break consisted of Tibor Del Grosso of Alpecin-Premier Tech, Martin Marcellusi of Bardiani CSF 7 Saber, Jack Haig of Ineos, Patrick Konrad of Lidl-Trek, Samuele Zoccarato of MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort, Adrien Boichis of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Anders Foldager of Jayco AlUla, Tim Rex of Visma-Lease a Bike, and Davide Toneatti of XDS-Astana.
The race continued across the narrow ridge lines, passed villa after villa with olive groves and vines, to the left turn onto Monte Sante Marie with 84KM to go. The break were caught almost immediately upon arrival as UAE-XRG turned the screw with Florian Vermeersch. The dust was flying as Jan Christen took over pace making responsibilities and gaps started to form down the group. Nine riders made the front split after the first hill including Christen and teammates Isaac del Toro and Tadej Pogačar, Tom Pidcock of Pinarello Q36.5, Matteo Jorgenson of Visma-Lease a Bike, Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ United, Paul Seixas, Paul Lapeira, and Jordan Labrosse from Decathlon CMA CGM. Pidcock was on Pogačar's wheel through a downhill but dropped his chain and drifted to the back of a group. Seixas was forced to close the gap and held Pogačar at a few bike lengths while everyone but del Toro dropped away.
Seixas kept powering away and nearly caught Pogačar but the Slovenian squeezed a few more watts out and broke the young Frenchman. Del Toro had also been dropped by this point, leaving just Pogačar at the front with 78.5KM to go. Back on the pavement 6KM later, Pogačar had built a gap of 30 seconds to Seixas and del Toro and 50 seconds to Jorgenson, Pidcock, and Grégoire. A larger chase group had formed as group four on the road but they were already 1 minute 40 seconds behind and likely out of the race. Seixas took a breath and allowed Pidcock, Jorgenson, and Grégoire to join he and del Toro at 67KM to go with an ever-increasing gap up to 50 seconds.
Attacks came from the large third group and it split several times. Ben Healy of EF-Education EasyPost and Andreas Kron of Uno-X Mobility emerged and they were able to bridge to the Seixas group to make seven in the chase with 56KM to go. Group two swelled at the base of the Monte Aperti to 15 riders with the addition of Wout van Aert of Visma-Lease a Bike, Gianni Vermeersch of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Quinn Simmons of Lidl-Trek, Lapeira, Labrosse, and others. The gap was out to 1 minute 20 seconds but there were also plenty of resources if a chase could be organized.
Pogačar reached his recently awarded sector of Colle Pinzuto at 49.8KM to go with 90 seconds on the chase. The tifosi were out in force with flags, banners, and signs to cheer on their favorite riders. Although there were plenty of teammates in the chase, they never got organized. Everyone seemed to have lost faith and by the start of Le Tolfe with 43KM to go, the gap ballooned out to 1 minute 55 seconds. Crowds were enormous on Le Tolfe and it was Pogačar who was first to part the sea of screaming fans. Over the next few kilometers, there were a number of attacks from Pidcock, Healy, and Seixas and eventually the group split almost in half. The new group two consisted of Grégoire, Jorgenson, Pidcock, Vermeersch, Seixas, del Toro, and Christen. With 33KM to go, they had cut Pogačar's gap down to 1 minute 25 seconds.
The gap got down as low as 1 minute 17 seconds but as the sun started to peak out with 25KM to go, Pogačar increased the effort and seemed to add 25 seconds at will. No one would get much closer and Pogačar capped off his 78KM solo attack with a bow to the crowd at the finish in the Piazza del Campo. The win marks his third in a row and the fourth of his career, making him alone at the top of list of historical winners of the race.
The race for second kicked off on the second ascent of the Colle Pinzuto with Seixas going clear with a trailing del Toro. Del Toro refused to swap turns but Seixas was able to build a gap over the rest to 20 seconds by the start of Le Tolfe with 13KM to go. Seixas single-handedly held off the chase group and had 30 seconds by the start of the Via Sante Caterina with 1,200M to go. A gap formed to del Toro on the steep ramps allowing Seixas to sail into the Piazzo del Campo alone for second place, 1 minute behind Pogačar and a handful of seconds ahead of Del Toro who finished third. Grégoire continued his strong run of form to lead in group three for fourth place ahead of Vermeersch, 2 minutes 4 seconds down on Pogačar.
Tags: Strade Bianche, 2026, March, Siena, Tibor Del Grosso, Martin Marcellusi, Jack Haig, Patrick Konrad, Samuele Zoccarato, Adrien Boichis, Anders Foldager, Tim Rex , Davide Toneatti, Florian Vermeersch, Jan Christen, Isaac del Toro, Tadej Pogačar, Tom Pidcock, Matteo Jorgenson, Romain Grégoire, Paul Seixas, Paul Lapeira, Jordan Labrosse, Ben Healy, Andreas Kron, Wout van Aert, Gianni Vermeersch, Quinn Simmons