If the cobbles weren’t enough bump and grind for the Classics riders, the pro peloton will descend upon gravel roads this Saturday in Strade Bianche. The race, founded during the 2000s, has fast become a fan favourite due to its stunning location, steep climbs and testing gravel roads known as sterrato. Unofficially touted as ‘the sixth Monument’, Strade Bianche has caught headlines in recent years thanks to an illustrious list of victors that includes Grand Tour winners and Classics titans alike.
The men’s reigning champion Tadej Pogačar will be back to defend his title. Last year, he claimed the victory after a tumble, his third Strade Bianche win. Last year’s runner-up Tom Pidcock will be back for redemption too, though Pogačar sits as the overwhelming bookies’ favourite at odds as short as 1/4.
Like Pogačar, Demi Vollering will be in Siena to defend her Strade Bianche crown. The European Champion starts as the favourite following a win at Omloop Nieuwsblad last week, but she will be up against a strong field of rivals, including Lotte Kopecky, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and Kim Le Court-Pienaar. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will also enter the fold as she makes her 2026 debut on the Italian sterrato on Saturday.
Men’s favourites
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
Tadej Pogačar will crawl out of his winter hibernation this weekend as he begins his 2026 at Strade Bianche. Having won on the gravel three times in the past, history suggests the Slovenian will be back to winning ways on Saturday.
Pogačar’s three victories have come from long-range moves. Last year was a bumpier ride than normal though, having crashed while on the offensive with runner-up Tom Pidcock. Still, he’d bridge back to the Brit and drop him with around 20km remaining. In other words, not even a crash would stop the World Champ from taking the victory on Saturday.
His team is just as strong as previous years, with Jan Christen and Isaac del Toro here to serve the Slovenian. While they could easily be podium contenders in their own right, Kevin Vermaerke and Florian Vermeersch will play a crucial role on the early gravel sectors. No rider has ever won the race on four occasions, but this is Tadej Pogačar. There’s a 95% chance he’ll win on Saturday.
Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling)
2023 winner Tom Pidcock was the closest rider to Pogačar at last year’s edition. For much of the race, he looked like the more aggressive rider, but he’d ultimately suffer the fate of a second place.
Hoping to step back onto the top step of the podium in 2026, Pidcock has got his season off to a decent start in Spain. There, he snuck onto the podium at the other gravel one-dayer Clásica Jaén before picking up a stage win and a top three overall at the Vuelta a Andalucia. It’s not quite as convincing as his streak of form last year, when he won the AlUla Tour, but it’s a sign that he’s on the right lines for some solid Classics results.
Now well-acclimatised to Pinarello-Q36.5, Pidcock brings a respectable list of domestiques to Siena this weekend. New signing Quinten Hermans should thrive on the hillier terrain, while Q36.5 veteran Mark Donovan looked in great form last month at Clásica Jaén. Team support may not be the be-all and end-all though. Pidcock has never finished outside of the top five at Strade Bianche. History, therefore, suggests that the Yorkshireman will be in the mix at least at his fifth visit to the race.
Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM)
Paul Sexias is hardly considered an underdog for victory at Strade Bianche, but at the age of 19, he’s one of the most exciting entrants to the Tuscan race this weekend.
The Decathlon-CMA CGM rider has been on red-hot form since he made his 2026 debut at the Volta ao Algarve. A stage win and second place overall in Portugal was a great sign of form, but this was further backed up the following weekend with an emphatic win at the Faun-Ardèche Classic. While he hasn’t come up against Tadej Pogačar this year, Seixas has already defeated a host of big names in 2026.
The Frenchman will be making his debut in the senior race, but he has competed twice before at the Eroica Juniores, a youngsters’ stage race following the same off-road tracks. However, Seixas has taken like a fish to water at the sport’s top level. He likes a tough race, and this should definitely be tough. If he were to translate this promise to a podium finish, he’d become the youngest rider to ever finish in the top three of Strade Bianche.
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost)
Ben Healy will spearhead a talented EF Education-EasyPost line-up on Saturday. Alongside Richard Carapaz and adopted Italian Mikkel Honoré, Healy’s team is filled with wildcards to look out for this weekend.
EF’s Irish leader is unafraid to make a daring move. If he’s on a good day, expect him to be off the front by the 50km to go marker, perhaps hoping to secure a podium place while the group flails behind. Healy will hope to avoid a sprint at the end, so an attack may be necessary, no matter how fruitless they may seem.
He thrived in attritional races last year, having reached the podium of both Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the World Championships Road Race. Often, he outfoxed the group chasing a lone Pogačar out in front. Chances are we’ll have a similar situation on our hands this weekend. In that case, he might be able to improve on his fourth place finish in 2025.
Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
If one leader wasn’t enough, UAE Team Emirates XRG have enlisted Isaac del Toro for Saturday’s Strade Bianche. It’s understandable too, since Del Toro has started a jam-packed 2026 schedule in flying form. In the Middle East, he bagged two stage wins and the overall title at the team’s home race, the UAE Tour.
The Mexican has a great pedigree in one-day races, having picked up over ten Italian Classics last year. In terms of the gravel, Del Toro has also impressed, finishing in second behind Wout van Aert on the gravel stage of the 2025 Giro d’Italia, which featured many of the same roads as Strade Bianche including the finish. The gravel didn’t seem to bother him that day, and the hilly terrain shouldn’t be an issue either. This race feels like a perfect fit for the talented youngster.
Del Toro has ridden two editions of Strade Bianche now. On both occasions, he worked in the loyal service of leader Tadej Pogačar. Given this year will see the pair hit the Tour de France, there’s a good chance that UAE Team Emirates XRG use this to really lay out a warning ahead of the big rendezvous in July.
Other contenders
Although Tadej Pogačar is the overwhelming favourite, the fight for the top ten is quite open.
Basque rider Pello Bilbao could be a good bet to reach the podium. He has been consistent in Strade Bianche over the years, having finished in fifth, seventh and tenth in recent editions. Following this trajectory, he could crack the top three on Saturday.
Wout van Aert should start as a favourite, but his form has been unpredictable over the past 12 months. Of course, he’s won Strade Bianche in the past, and added the equivalent stage at the Giro to that feat last year, beating Del Toro, but he looked underwhelming on his 2026 debut at Le Samyn earlier this week. If anything, Matteo Jorgenson could be Visma-Lease a Bike’s best chance of reaching the podium.
Strade Bianche has always favoured GC riders. In this regard, Tobias Halland Johannessen, Filippo Zana, Lennart Van Eetvelt and Giulio Pellizzari all have a shot of making the top ten. I’d watch Pellizzari especially. He’s been in good form so far in 2026, and he will lead a Red Bull squad riding a wave of momentum.
Women’s favourites
Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez)
Demi Vollering is a two-time champion of Strade Bianche, having won the race for both FDJ United-Suez and SD Worx-Protime. Not just that, she’s finished on the podium of the past three editions, which goes to show that she is a natural when it comes to the Tuscan gravel.
Now dressed in the blue bands of European Champion, Vollering has started 2026 in imperious form. Two stages and the overall at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana prefaced a victory at Omloop Nieuwsblad last weekend, a first for the Dutchwoman.
FDJ United-Suez look mightily strong at the moment as well. Steadied by domestiques including Juliette Berthet, Elise Chabbey and Franzi Koch, Vollering is in prime position to become the first woman to win the race on three occasions.
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto)
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney has been a perennial fixture inside the top ten in Siena. She’s cracked the top ten on ten times of asking, making her one of the most consistent Strade Bianche competitors taking to the start this weekend.
Compared to last year, Niewiadoma-Phinney has started 2026 in much better form. After a top five overall at the UAE Tour last month, she looked strong at Omloop Nieuwsbald, where she finished in a close second behind Vollering, the Pole’s best result in that race.
If she stays upright, Niewiadoma-Phinney will no doubt finish inside the top ten. However, she will need to be tactically astute if she wants to defeat Vollering. History suggests the Pole will have a hard time accomplishing that if she drags the European Champion into the final 3km.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike)
After claiming a historic Roubaix-Tour double in 2025, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will get her 2026 season underway at Strade Bianche. On her comeback Strade last year, Ferrand-Prévot managed to clinch a top three finish despite taking a tumble while on the attack.
More broadly, Ferrand-Prévot was in stellar form during the Classics last year, having finished on the podium of Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. It’ll be interesting to see whether she has the same shape in 2026, given she’s decided to skip some Classics to focus on the Vuelta and Tour to come later in the year.
No one can underestimate Ferrand-Prévot this time around though. She clearly has great climbing legs and she’s got the bike handling and race craft to win a race like Strade Bianche. Her team also looks prepared to back her up, with Marianne Vos, Sarah Van Dam and Femke De Vries among the starters for Visma-Lease a Bike this weekend.
Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ)
A winner of Strade Bianche back in 2017, Elisa Longo Borghini skipped Opening Weekend to make her Classics debut here at Strade Bianche.
The UAE Team ADQ leader looks in similar shape to last year, having won the UAE Tour in near-identical fashion in February. Her team, on the other hand, has been bolstered in support on terrain like Strade Bianche. UAE returnee Mavi García and Grand Tour contender Domenika Włodarczyk will line up as domestiques, even if both are capable of a top ten finish in their own right, and she’ll also have former top ten finisher Silvio Persico and in-form youngster Paula Blasi.
However, Elisa Longo Borghini has been a yo-yo in the Classics since joining UAE Team ADQ. Perhaps blinded by big GC ambitions, the team seems to have stripped the Italian of her former Monument glory. Fair enough, she claimed two major one-day wins last spring, but she was nowhere to be seen at Strade Bianche, Amstel Gold or Liège-Bastogne-Liège. In fact, last year saw Longo Borghini miss the top ten of Strade Bianche for the first time in her career. In that sense, I’d be cautious about her chances.
Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime)
Lotte Kopecky has won this race on two occasions in the past, most recently in 2024. Having improved on her climbing in recent years, Kopecky suits Strade Bianche well. Plus, with her sprinter’s kick in the finale, she is a hard rider to beat if it comes down to a one-on-one up the Via Santa Caterina.
Kopecky’s form has been enigmatic since Paris-Roubaix last year. She suffered some setbacks with injury in the summer, but it’s often been hard to tell where she is at fitness-wise. Last week’s Omloop result didn’t help either, as she finished in 39th place despite some brief flashes of strength.
There’s no Lorena Wiebes to work for at this race at least, so I’d expect Kopecky to be more selfish when it comes to leadership opportunities. That said, she’ll be called upon for support if Anna van der Breggen is flying on the gravel. Knowing SD Worx though, this co-leadership plan may just end up backfiring.
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck)
Puck Pieterse was remarkably consistent in the Classics last year. She managed to finish inside the top ten at all 11 Classics she contested, including several Monuments. That streak was broken at the Tour de France, which was the last time we saw her on the tarmac. Since then, she’s been busy pursuing her off-road career over the winter, but will make her return to ‘road racing’ this weekend.
Pieterse finished in seventh place at Strade last year, which was a slight downgrade on her career best of fifth place from 2023. The Dutchwoman has the skills to be able to contest a top result here however due to her cyclocross background and GC results on the road.
Her Fenix-Premier Tech team looks rather weak going into the weekend. They’ve only just managed to pick up their first win of the season, and the roster for Strade Bianche looks rather powerless when compared to the likes of Visma or FDJ. That hasn’t stopped Pieterse in the past though.
Other contenders
We’ve already touched on SD Worx, but they also bring Anna van der Breggen to Siena. A winner of this race back in 2018, the Dutch rider has looked slightly off the boil in 2026. That said, she has often gone well at Strade Bianche, and she managed to finish as runner-up in last year’s edition.
EF Education-Oatly bring an interesting team. There’s no shortage of potential leaders there, as Noemi Rüegg, Magdeleine Vallières and Cédrine Kerbaol line up for the American squad. Any of the trio could fight for a podium, but I will be most intrigued to see how the World Champion Vallières gets on.
Kim Le Court-Pienaar will probably feature in some discussions for the win. However she has never finished inside the top ten of this race, and she looks to be in weaker form this year in comparison to 2025, when she finished in 14th. Instead, AG Insurance-Soudal may want to prioritise the chances of Belgian champion Justine Ghekiere.
If you’re hungry for more names, here are some to consider: Yara Kastelijn, Lianne Lippert, Dominika Włodarczyk and Niamh Fisher-Black. Hopefully, we’ve got the winner namechecked here somewhere.