Van der Poel goes for the Strade Bianche 2023: schedule, favorites and how to watch

The classics season moves its action to Italy with the 6th monument of cycling on Saturday, March 4th, which for many is the 6th monument of cycling. The Strade Bianche will once again provide us with an exciting race through its selective sections of sterrato through the beautiful region of Tuscany. Will anyone be able to perform an exhibition like Tadej Pogacar last year? Will Van der Poel repeat his explosive attack of 2021?

The world's top cyclists meet in Siena

Despite its youth, it began to be disputed in 2007, then with the name of Monte Paschi Eroica seeking to transfer to the competition the spirit of the classic bike race l'Eroica, the Strade Bianche has become one of the favorite races for cycling fans, usually offering exciting outcomes.

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It was the Strade Bianche that made it fashionable to recover the passage on unpaved roads, because in that region of Italy they are precisely that and not mere dirt tracks between villages or fields, recalling the cycling of the past that we have seen so many times in photos and short vintage recordings.

Strade Bianche Course: Through the hills of Tuscany

Once again this year, the beautiful city of Siena will be the heart of this battle with a 184-kilometer route that has remained unchanged for several years now. Along the way, the cyclists will have to overcome 11 sterrato sections that give the Strade Bianche its name and that total 63 selective kilometers that gradually sap the riders' strength until the final selection is finally made.

A climax that usually takes place on the stage of the ascent to Monte Santa María, a stretch of 11.5 kilometers that starts 72 kilometers from the finish line and that is a hard but irregular climb in which sustained stretches alternate with small breaks and very hard ramps. There the cyclists find slopes of up to 18% that serve to select the favorites.

Other decisive points of the route are the last two sections, Colle Pinzuto and Le Tolfe, short but again with important slopes in which to finish the race if it has not been achieved before.

After overcoming them, the cyclists go around the city of Siena with the sole objective of finding the most difficult access to it: the steep ramps of Via Santa Caterina, homonymous to the imposing sanctuary that dominates this part of the city and that just over 600 meters climbs 91 meters, or what is the same, an average gradient of 13.5%, a slope that grows progressively steeper until its culmination.

All that remains is a narrow alley through the narrow streets of the city center to reach the splendid Piazza del Campo, a place that until the popularization of the Strade Bianche was already known for being the scene of the Palio of Siena, the horse races that pit the different neighborhoods of the city against each other dating back to the Middle Ages.

In parallel to the men's race, the women also race their Strade Bianche. In their case the distance is reduced to 136 kilometers by eliminating the so-called Montalcino loop, which also means avoiding two of the longest white road sections of the race. However, the decisive part of the race shares the same route as the men's race, including the tough climb up Monte Santa Maria.

Strade Bianche 2023: the favorites

During the last few weeks we were all looking forward to the scenario of this edition of Strade Bianche with Mathieu Van der Poel and Wout Van Aert extending the bloody battles they have offered us during the spectacular cyclocross campaign we have enjoyed this winter.

However, the surprise came when Wout Van Aaert, just a few days before the race, announced on his social networks that he would not take part in the race despite his initial plans. The Belgian, who has been concentrated in Tenerife for several weeks, commented that he has been ill the last few days, which has prevented him from training as he had planned in order to arrive in the best possible condition for this race. Therefore, he has opted to hurry his stay at altitude and delay his debut a couple of days, until the start of Tirreno-Adriatico, where between the initial time trial and the next two flat stages, he will be able to resume the pedal stroke prior to Milan-San Remo.

A message from @WoutvanAert, who’s preparing his road season at the Teide.

Change of plan: his first race to come is Tirreno-Adriatico! pic.twitter.com/jzgUekuMe4

— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) February 27, 2023

The reigning winner Tadej Pogacar will not participate either. Pogacar had a great debut in Clásica de Jaén-Paraiso Interior and Vuelta a Andalucía, but he has focused his efforts on Paris-Nice, which starts on Sunday, March 5th, in what will be his first big duel of the season against Jonas Vingegaard after the Danish rider's also strong debut, who won all the stages of O Gran Camiño.

This leaves as undisputed favorite Mathieu Van der Poel, who already managed to win this race in the 2021 edition and who makes his debut in this road season after the forced break at the end of the intense cyclocross campaign.

In front of him will be Tom Pidcock as the main leader of INEOS Grenadiers who, on the other hand, had a tremendously discreet role in the two races of the opening weekend: Omloop Het Niewsblad, in which they could do nothing to counteract the manifest superiority of Jumbo-Visma.

A Jumbo-Visma that presents again, as last weekend in Belgium, an exquisite 8 with riders like Jan Tratnik, Attila Valter or Tijs Benoot, winner on Sunday in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. It remains to be seen who will replace Wout Van Aert in the line-up.

Attention also to Tim Wellens who seems to have recovered his best version after signing for UAE-Team Emirates and, after his stage victory in La Vuelta a Andalucía, he confirmed his excellent form being protagonist, although without prize in the two Belgian classics last weekend.

For its part, Soudal-QuickStep, another of the squads from which more was expected at the start of the classics, will try to rediscover the good feelings. To do so, they will rely on Julian Alaphilippe, who returns to the race where a year ago he began his season of calamity after suffering a hard crash in one of the dirt sections.

We will also have to keep an eye on Bahrain-Victorious, which will have Matej Mohoric as its main asset. The Slovenian has arrived at the beginning of the campaign as he showed on Sunday in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, being one of the protagonists of the final cut although he had to settle for third place on the podium against the power of the Jumbo-Visma.

In any case, we must not forget that a lot of factors come together in these classics and the outcome is often unpredictable, perhaps that is why we are so passionate about these races and make us vibrate in these early months of the year.

Bikers at the Strade Bianche

For mountain bike fans there will also be a few familiar names in the race. Apart from superstars like Mathieu van der Poel or Tom Pidcock, this edition will feature the current XCM and Short Track World Champion, New Zealander Samuel Gaze (Alpecin-Deceunink), and Swiss XC star Filippo Colombo, who will be wearing new colors with his new team, the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.

Pieterse could give the double win to Alpecin-Deceunink

On the women's side, this Strade Bianche 2023 will also be the last for Annemiek Van Vleuten in the year of her farewell to cycling and in which she will try to achieve the hat trick as she achieved victory in the 2019 and 2020 editions.

Elisa Longo Borghini is her main rival, although we should not rule out a great Lotte Kopecky who won with authority a few days ago in Omloop Het Niewsblad and is the current winner of this race, nor should we forget Mavi Garcia who managed to finish in second place, first of the mortals, in 2020, only beaten by Annemiek.

It will also be interesting to see how far Dutch rider Puck Pieterse can go in what will be only her third elite road race, and not many more in the lower categories. However, with the technical ability she has shown us in the tremendous cyclocross season she has had, she should be in her element on the sterrato. Will Alpecin-Deceuninck be able to do a double in both races with Van der Poel and Pieterse?

UPDATE: Elisa Longho-Borghini announces the day before the race that she is ill and will not be able to take part.

How to watch the Strade Bianche 2023

As usual, Eurosport is the option to enjoy the best cycling. The sports channel will broadcast the women's Strade Bianche from 11:30 a.m. on its Eurosport 2 channel and on the Eurosport Player and GCN+ applications. For its part, the retransmission of the men's race will connect at 13:50, as well as the women's race, through the Eurosport 2 channel and digital applications, having its completion scheduled around 17h.