Strade Bianche: Pidcock triumphs at Strade Bianche

Click through: How the Strade Bianche 2023 race went

Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Alpe d'Huez winner at the 2022 Tour de France, has won the tough Strade Bianche gravel race for the first time. After 184 kilometres, the British Olympic mountain bike champion soloed to victory on the Piazza del Campo in Siena ahead of Frenchman Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) and the Belgian Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma). The German Bora-Hansgrohe team with Lennard Kämna did not play a role in the decision.

Strade Bianche 2023: Pidcock pulls away 50 kilometres before the finish

Pidcock had broken away a good 50 kilometres before the finish and could no longer be caught on the white gravel roads through Tuscany. The final climb to Siena, with gradients of up to 16 per cent, turned into a triumphant ride.

The 23-year-old is one of the all-rounders in the peloton. In addition to his 2021 Olympic triumph on the mountain bike, Pidcock also won the World Cross-Country Championships last year. He also won at the Tour de France the mountain finish in the legendary ski resort of Alpe d'Huez.

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Pogacar not at the start of Strade Bianche 2023

Last year's winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) had decided not to compete, but instead the two-time Tour de France champion will go on stage for the first time on Sunday. at the start of the traditional Paris-Nice race, where he will face his great rival Jonas Vingegaard. Wout van Aert, the 2020 winner, was also absent from the Strade Bianche this time.

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