The Strade Bianche, officially called Strade Bianche - Eroica Pro, is a road bicycle race in Tuscany, Central Italy, starting and finishing in Siena. It has been held annually since 2007, on the first or second Saturday of March. The name Strade Bianche (Italian for White Streets) stems from the historic white gravel roads that are a defining feature of the race. More than 50 km of the total distance are raced on dirt roads.
Despite its relatively short history, the Strade Bianche has quickly gained prestige. As from 2017, the event will be included in the UCI World Tour, cycling's highest level of professional road races. It is organized by RCS Sport - La Gazzetta dello Sport, and is held the weekend before Tirreno-Adriatico as an early spring precursor to the cobbled classics in April. Swiss Fabian Cancellara holds the record with three wins.
Since 2015, a women's event, the Strade Bianche Donne, is held on the same day as the men's race. The event is part of the UCI Women's World Tour and is raced at approximately half the distance of the men's race, containing 17 km of gravel roads spread over five sectors.
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History
Monte Paschi Eroica
The Eroica Strade Bianche ("Heroic race of the gravel roads") was created in 1997 as a granfondo, a recreational bike race for vintage bikes only, on the white gravel roads around Siena, an event that is still held annually the day after the professional race.
In 2007, a professional race was spun off the event, inaugurally called Monte Paschi Eroica, won by Russian Alexandr Kolobnev. The race was held on 9 October; it started in Gaiole in Chianti and finished in Siena. Organizer RCS asked local cycling icons Fiorenzo Magni and Paolo Bettini to promote the maiden event. Monte dei Paschi, the world's oldest still-existing bank with its headquarters in Siena, served as the race's title sponsor for the first four years.
In 2008 it moved to early March on the calendar, closer to the heart of the spring classics season. Swiss Fabian Cancellara won the second edition. In 2009, organizers changed the name of the race to Strade Bianche - Eroica Toscana and in 2010 to Strade Bianche. The race was also lengthened 9 km (5.6 mi) and one more gravel sector was added, taking the total unsealed sections to 57 kilometres.
Strade Bianche - Eroica Pro
In 2014, the start of the race moved to the hill town of San Gimignano. In 2015, its name officially changed to Strade Bianche - Eroica Pro after the creation of a women's version, and UCI upgraded the event to a 1.HC race of the UCI Europe Tour, the highest rating for a non-World Tour single-day cycling event. Since 2016, Siena hosts both the start and finish of the Strade Bianche. Due to the nature of the race and its place on the calendar, the field is usually made up of riders taking part in Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo.
Although a young event, the race has gained the status of an instant classic, garnering lots of media attention and soon becoming a desirable entry in classics riders' palmares. Among the winners of the first ten editions feature Fabian Cancellara, Philippe Gilbert and Micha? Kwiatkowski on a very international roll of honour. In 2013 Moreno Moser became only the first Italian winner of the Strade Bianche. Classics specialist Cancellara is the only three-time winner of the race, earning a sector named after him.
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Route
Course
The race starts and finishes in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Siena. The route consists of 176 kilometres over hilly terrain crossing the southern Tuscan province of Siena, including nine sectors of gravel roads, totaling 52.8 km (32.8 mi) of dirt road. The finish is on Siena's illustrious Piazza del Campo, after a steep and narrow climb with a roughly paved surface leading into the heart of the medieval city. The race is often decided on the final stretches of the race.
Gravel roads
The white gravel roads, characteristic of the Tuscan countryside, provide the unique character of the race. They are usually country lanes and farm tracks, called strade bianche or sterrati in Italian, twisting through the hills and vineyards of the Chianti region. The longest and most arduous sectors are the ones in Lucignano d'Asso (9.5 km) and Asciano (11 km). Some of the dirt roads are flat, other sections include steep climbs and winding descents, testing riders' climbing abilities and bike handling skills. Positioning and route knowledge often prove vital.
Race organizers were inspired by the two most famous northern classics, uniting the peculiarities of the Tour of Flanders with its bergs (short stretches of steep hills), and Paris-Roubaix with its grueling cobblestone sections. It has been called Italy's answer to Flanders' most iconic one-day races, as reflected by the promotional slogan of the 2015 edition: La Classica del Nord più a sud d'Europa (Europe's most southern Northern Classic).
Angelo Zomegnan, RCS events director, explained before the first edition in 2007: "Cycling needed something new and the riders need a motivation [...] This race is unique and special." Likewise, Italian sprinter Daniele Bennati was equally enthusiastic about the race, stating: "It was a sensation of turning back in time. I did not think paths like these, where you only see a tractor every now and then, still existed [...] It will be an important race that could become an important classic. I can already imagine the atmosphere of the arrival in the Piazza del Palio."
Riders who take three Strade Bianche titles have a sector of gravel road named after them. Fabian Cancellara is the first rider with a stretch named in his honour: sector 8, an 11.5 km section at Monte Sante Marie.
Winners
Multiple winners
Wins per country
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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