Bigger tyres, different treads, and some subtle swaps for the Tuscan hills
Tom Pidcock's Strade Bianche winning bike(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Sure, in the pantheon of bicycle racing, Strade Bianche is but a little baby, having only kicked off in 2007, but it's quickly become one of the season's must-watch events.
It more than holds its own, rubbing shoulders with the titans of the calendar like Paris-Roubaix, thanks to a heady mix of beautiful scenery, a parcours that could favour anyone from climbers to classicists, and those dusty dusty (or muddy, when it rains) white roads.
As per Opening Weekend in Belgium, the pros often opt for slightly different set-ups to what they'd run for a 'normal' road race, to account for the fact that a great portion of the race is run on gravel.
To see how the pros switch it up for the cobbles be sure to check out our Opening Weekend tech gallery, but first have a scroll through the gallery below featuring all the noteworthy tech that we spotted at Strade Bianche on Saturday.
Primarily, the mods focused on different tyres - some wider, some different treads, some a combination of both - but there were also some different cockpit setups, too.
Last year's winner, Matthieu van der Poel, gets to start with the number 1 at the rear of his relatively stock Canyon Aeroad (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Van der Poel opted for the slightly more grippy and puncture resistant Vittoria Corsa Control tyre, set up tubeless, in 28mm width (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
His stem details when and what to eat and drink. The smiley faces are caffeine, rather than a reference to 90's acid house (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Intermarche-Circus-Wanty opted to use the new Continental GP5000 AS (all season), again for better grip and puncture resistance. Tubeless, too, as is becoming commonplace, and these look like 28mm to us (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
No notes, just vibes for this rider. Inwardly turned hoods are becoming more and more common to allow riders a more narrow position on the tops - See our gallery of Remco Evenepoel's bike for more on this (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
EF Education-Easypost had tubeless, unmarked Vittoria tyres on their Vision Metron wheels. These are the new Vittoria Corsa Pro; cotton sidewalls sacrifice puncture resistance for weight and speed, and the more supple casing may add grip off road too (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
This rider had his hoods turned in, just like we've seen on Tadej Pogacar's bike(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
30mm Continental GP5000 tyres for the UAE Team Emirates riders, the faster S TR model, but not the fastest TT model (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
As we spotted at opening weekend, UAE are running unbadged wheels, but with Enve hubs. Whatever they are the 30mm tyres, set up tubeless, look plump even compared to a 28mm (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
When you're a professional you can just blast air into a tyre with a drill on feel and you just know when it's the right pressure (he definitely checked after with a tyre gauge) (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Stock Sram Red setup for Jumbo-Visma (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
The more aero version of the Speedplay pedals is single sided, so this rider has sacrificed the ability to clip in more easily for a small boost to efficiency (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Slammed stems? Completed it, mate! Here Quinn Simmonds is running a Bontrager XXX Blendr stem as low as it's possible to go. It looks a 140mm to us, and you can only buy them in 7 degree models but this looks more negative (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
More tubeless ready tyres shod his Bontrager wheels too (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
And his hoods were turned in to a pretty drastic degree (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Tom Pidcock's bike, the winner on the day, with a relatively standard setup too, save for 11sp chainrings and a highly rearward saddle (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
The standard GP5000 S TR proved to have the right mix of speed and grip for the British sensation. Note the little sticker on the front of his seatpost so the mechanics know exactly what height to set it (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
The Wilier fleet of Astana-Qazaqstan is probably the standout 'stock' paintjob of the pro peloton this season (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Even the one piece cockpits have been painted to match; a classy touch for sure, despite the extra grams (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Despite clearly being able to accommodate wider tyres, the team opted for standard sets of Vittoria Corsas (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Slight inward hoods on this Soudal-QuickStep machine, but the more interesting thing is the use of round profile bars. Despite it being demonstrably faster to use aero bars, it's still common to see pros use round bars for comfort reasons sometimes (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Soudal also opted to use the standard S-Works Turbo. More interestingly perhaps is the choice to run inner tubes. Further sleuthing reveals these are the previous model of the Rapide wheels, which were famously not tubeless ready; the current generation has the valves directly under the 'Roval' logos (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Despite the near ubiquity of the Continental GP5000 range on Continental sponsored teams, we did spot 28mm tubular Competition Pro Limited rubber on some bikes, which used to be the tyre of choice (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Bahrain-Victorious kept to the same formula as many others with tubeless GP5000 S TR rubber in 28mm widths (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Bora-Hansgrohe were also on S-Works Turbo tyres - We'd say these are 30mm wide (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
You don't see Maxxis tyres so much in the World Tour. Here, Israel-Premier Tech are using a previous generation of the Maxxis High Road, set up tubeless (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
SL, presumably 'superlight', construction to shed some grams (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Meanwhile AG2R were on the standard Schwalbe Pro One tyre (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
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Will joined the Cyclingnews team as a reviews writer in 2022, having previously written for Cyclist, BikeRadar and Advntr. He’s tried his hand at most cycling disciplines, from the standard mix of road, gravel, and mountain bike, to the more unusual like bike polo and tracklocross. He’s made his own bike frames, covered tech news from the biggest races on the planet, and published countless premium galleries thanks to his excellent photographic eye. Also, given he doesn’t ever ride indoors he’s become a real expert on foul-weather riding gear. His collection of bikes is a real smorgasbord, with everything from vintage-style steel tourers through to superlight flat bar hill climb machines.
