After accomplishing a natural hat trick of Strade Bianche victories on Saturday, Tadej Pogačar became the undisputed king of the Race of the White Roads, registering four titles over five seasons. With typical Pogačar aplomb, the world champion soloed 79.5 km to glory in his first race of the season.
Preliminaries
Last March Tadej Pogačar bounced up from a nasty crash, bridged to Tom Pidcock and eventually dropped the Brit to tie Fabian Cancellara’s record of three Strade Bianche wins, becoming the first rider to take two in a row.
Pier-André Côté (NSN Cycling Team) was the lone Canadian.
The Course
There were 63 km of gravel roads across 15 sectors on the 203-km route. Hard and hilly Sectors 5 (11.9 km) and 6 (8 km) only had 1 km of tarmac between them. Long Sector 7 of San Martino in Grania (9.5 km) was characterized by constant ups and downs in the first part and a twisting climb in the second. Sector 8 Monte Sante Marie was the hardest of the race, a punishing 11.5 km of mostly tough hills. Two finishing circuits each contained four-star Colle Pinzuto and Le Tolfe sectors. In Siena, with 900 metres to the finish line, the race route passed beneath Fontebranda Gate where the road surface turned to cobbles. The gradient kicked up to 10 percent until 500 metres from the line, with a maximum gradient of 16 percent along Via Santa Caterina.
Early in the day, a nontet of riders broke away. By the end of the five-star San Martino in Grania sector, the escape, anchored by Tibor del Grosso, was 25 seconds ahead of the 70-strong, UAE-led peloton.
At the start of the taxing, five-star Monte Sante Marie sector, the fugitives were brought to heel. UAE-Emirates continued to wield the whip, cracking off the tip of the dusty string. Pogačar had men in the colony, as did Paul Seixas. Pidcock was there too. With 79.5 km to go, the world champion attacked. For a while Seixas looked like he might grab the Slovenian’s wheel, but ultimately could not.
Pogačar’s teammate Isaac del Toro sandbagged Seixas. Pidcock was in Group 3 with two others. The chase groups came together to sort out the podium. By the Monteaperti sector, 15 riders including Wout van Aert pursued the man in the rainbow jersey. The fans screamed Pogačar up his sector, Colle Pinzuto I. Le Tolfe I was equally as raucous.
The chase split again, Pogačar’s teammates del Toro and Jan Christen sitting on Seixas, Pidcock and Jorgenson in Pursuit Group 1.
On Colle Pinzuto II, Seixas and del Toro dropped the others. They survived the final sector of Le Tolfe II with gap intact.
Sporting a winning smile, the world champion climbed up the cobbles to the finish line, with plenty of time to celebrate. Seixas was runner-up.
Pogačar’s next race is Milan-San Remo on March 21.
2026 Strade Bianche
1) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) 4:45:15
2) Paul Seixas (France/Decathlon-CMA-CGM) +1:00
3) Isaac del Toro (Mexico/UAE-Emirates) +1:09