Strade Bianche 2024

The peloton takes on the white gravel roads in Tuscany in the first of the Italian Classics

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Strade Bianche

Dates 2 Mar
Race Length 215 kms
Start Siena
Finish Siena
Race Category Elite Men

Published: 6 March, 2024

Strade Bianche Men: Tadej Pogačar calls his shot with 81 km solo win

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won his second Strade Bianche with a stunning 81km solo from the Mante Saint Marie section. Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek) was the second best on the day despite some bad luck, while Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) rounded out the podium.

To make the effort even more stounding, Pogačar went so far as to make it clear he planned on attacking that section before the race. While at the time it seemed to be a joke, when Pogačar stomped on the pedals on that steep kick-up on the white roads of Monte Saint Marie it was clear he was dead serious. From that point, it was clear everyone else was simply racing for a second.

Read more:

Incredible Tadej Pogačar wins Strade Bianche after jaw-dropping 81km solo break

Strade Bianche Men 2024 overview

Strade Bianche is the new kid on the block in one-day racing and many will have Saturday, 2 March circled on the calendar, the day when the peloton will take on the famous white roads around Tuscany. With a varied course, the novelty of dirt road racing, the verdant landscapes and a stunning finish in the medieval town centre of Siena, Strade Bianche is one of the most iconic races of the season.

Nevertheless, the race has more than just a picturesque backdrop. Every year Strade Bianche brings many of the sport's biggest stars to the start line as they look to add the title to their trophy case. Just in the last four years, the winners have been Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Tom Pidcock. One would be hard-pressed to find a more diverse and powerful list of winners anywhere in the cycling calendar.

In 2024, new elements will be thrown into the mix as the race has added two new sectors and a challenging finishing loop, including a second go of the famous Le Tolfe climb, extending the overall length of the race from 184km to 215km. The added kilometres have changed the formula of the race as the challenging Monte Sante Marie section, which has been where the last two winners made their moves, is now much further away from the finish in Siena. While this limits the prospects of a solo move, it could mean the race simply splits apart sooner, providing even more excitement to one of the most anticipated races in cycling.

Since 2015, there is also a women's Strade Bianche.

Who will win Strade Bianche 2024?

Strade Bianche Men 2024 key information

When is Strade Bianche 2024? Strade Bianche will take place on Saturday, 2 March.

Where does Strade Bianche 2024 take place? Strade Bianche takes place in Tuscany, Italy with a start and finish in the town of Siena.

Who won Strade Bianche in 2023? Tom Pidcock won the 2023 Strade Bianche in a long-range solo move after a daredevil attack on the descent of the Monte Sante Marie.

When did Strade Bianche start? The first edition of the Strade Bianche, which was originally called Monte Paschi Eroica, was run in 2007. In 2010 it changed its name to Strade Bianche.

Who won the first Strade Bianche? Alexandr Kolobnev won the first edition ahead of Marcus Ljungqvist and Mikhaylo Khalilov.

Who has the most wins at Strade Bianche? Fabian Cancellara has the most wins in the race with three wins in total. Michał Kwiatkowski is the only other rider with multiple wins with two victories in 2014 and 2017.

Strade Bianche Men 2024 route

The route for the 2024 men's Strade Bianche

The Strade Bianche route is by now a well-trodden loop around central Tuscany, taking on a mix of the winding, paved lanes and rolling white gravel roads of the area. The race begins with a trek to the south with four dirt sectors before the race takes the long, gradual climb up to Montalcino before descending back down and beginning the meat of the course with the race's toughest, longest sectors coming next.

Beginning with the 11.9km Lucianano d’Asso section with 139km to go and ending with the 11.5km Monte Sante Marie with 72km to, the middle of the race takes on a total of 41 kilometres of dirt road racing within just 67km. With the gravel stretching the field through treacherous downhills, off-camber turns and punchy climbs, this where one particular cliché comes to mind: it might not be where the race is won, but it can certainly be where the day is lost.

Where the race has changed is in the final third of the course. This year, there are seven short sectors which follow the pivotal Monte Sante Marie sector. Traditionally, there have been only three gravel sectors from Monte Sante Marie to the finish. Now, the additional four sectors come after the first lap of Le Tolfe and will include a second time up both the Colle Pinzuto and Le Tolfe.

The new course will also see the final portion of the race have a lot more gravel, as the seven sectors will be packed into the last 55km, whereas the old course had only three sectors left to race in the 43km after Monte Sante Marie.

After the gravel is done and dusted, the race will follow a familiar course back to Siena with a mix of rolling paved climbs and dragging uphill ramps setting up the final push up the notorious Via Santa Caterina and its 16% slopes where the final attacks will be made. Then, after a few tight turns through the historical streets of Siena, the winner will burst into the afternoon light and the thousands of spectators gathered in the Piazza del Campo in one of the most spectacular finishing scenes in cycling.

Find the full route and race profile under the 'Route' tab.

Which teams are racing Strade Bianche Men 2024?

Strade Bianche is a WorldTour race which means all 18 of the WorldTour teams will be on the start-line, along with seven ProTeams. In total, the peloton will be 168 riders strong with 24 teams of seven riders.

WorldTour

Alpecin-Deceuninck
Arkéa-B&B Hotels
Astana Qazaqstan
Bahrain Victorious
Bora-Hansgrohe
Cofidis
Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
EF Education-EasyPost
Groupama-FDJ
Ineos Grenadiers
Intermarché-Wanty
Lidl-Trek
Movistar Team
Soudal Quick-Step
dsm-firmenich PostNL
Jayco AlUla
Visma-Lease a Bike
UAE Team Emirates

ProTour

Lotto Dstny
Israel-Premier Tech
Uno-X Mobility
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
Corratec-Vini Fantini
Team Polti Kometa
Tudor Pro Cycling

What happened at the Strade Bianche Men in 2023?

Tom Pidcock wins Strade Bianche 2023

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) won the 2023 Strade Bianche in a daring solo breakaway ahead of Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) and Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma). Pidcock, the reigning Olympic mountain bike champion, was able to escape on the steep downhill in the middle of the Monte Saint Marie sector and didn’t look back, reeling in the remaining two escapees and then dropping them on the subsequent gravel sections. An elite group came close to chasing down Pidcock, but dysfunction in the chase, especially amongst Benoot and his teammate Atilla Valter, let Pidcock hold onto his margin and take the biggest win of his road racing career.

Strade Bianche Men history

Strade Bianche was born out of the L’Eroica gran fondo, a non-competitive event in Tuscany that was conceived to celebrate the legacy of cycling. The event which began in 1997 brought together cycling enthusiasts who wanted to relive the bygone years of cycling through retro-tech and riding gravel roads like the greats of cycling’s past would have ridden.

With the event in place, the idea of having a professional race – with modern-day tech along those same gravel roads – came to fruition in 2007. The race was soon a success with Fabian Cancellara winning the second edition of the race in 2008. By the time the race became a WorldTour race in 2017, the event had seen its profile grow big enough to boast winners from eight countries and three former monument champions.

Since 2017, the profile of the race has only increased with more hype surrounding the year every year. Beginning with the 2020 race, which saw Strade Bianche hold the position as the first big event following the pandemic hiatus, the race has become arguably the biggest one-day prize outside of the five Monuments.

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