'The gravel is a lot looser than usual' – Riders prepare for a fast, dusty and furious Strade Bianche

Tadej Pogačar, Kasia Niewiadoma, Demi Vollering, Puck Pieterse and Quinn Simmons were just a few of the riders enjoying the warm, sunny and dry Tuscan spring weather as they carried out a final Strade Bianche recon ride on Thursday.

Many rode the key sectors of gravel roads and then stopped for a selfie or a coffee in Siena's Piazza del Campo, which famously hosts the Palio horse race and the finish of Strade Bianche. There was a sense of happiness, excitement and tension amongst the riders as the hours counted down to a day of painful but spectacular racing.

As the riders and teams discovered, winter rain has compacted the farm tracks that cut between vineyards and olive groves. However, recent warm and dry conditions mean the gravel roads are dry, dusty, and fast.

There will be virtually no wind on Saturday, with temperatures close to 16°C on Saturday afternoon. Riders are expected to race on their usual road bikes and even aero bikes – fitted with 30mm tyres.

The USA's Quinn Simmons has been in Tuscany since the start of the week with family, such is his love for Strade Bianche and Tuscan gravel. The American has a love-hate relationship with Strade Bianche. He finished seventh in 2022 but crashes and punctures have often wrecked his race despite making the key selection on the vital Monte Sante Marie gravel sector.

"Strade Bianche is special. It's different from anything else we do all year. It has the hype of a big Classic and we're riding in the beautiful Tuscan hills. I like that it's a hard race and always spectacular," Simmons told Cyclingnews after he joined his Lidl-Trek teammates on Thursday evening. 

The team's line-up for the men's Strade Bianche includes Toms Skujiņš, who was second in 2024, Andrea Bagioli, the on-form Mathias Vacek and super talent Albert Withen Philipsen, who will be the youngest ever rider in the race at just 18.

Simmons has seen close up how the Tuscan gravel roads are dry, fast and dusty after a week of warm weather.

"The gravel is a lot looser than usual, it's going to be a trickier race," he warned. "I hope it doesn't make the race any more dangerous, it's already dangerous enough.

"Whatever happens, the biggest difference will be made with the climbing legs. You can have bad luck on the gravel but it's still decided by the best legs." 

In 2023, Simmons was riding behind Gino Mäder when he crashed during the Tour de Suisse and his death made Simmons question his love of the sport. He then suffered concussion after a crash at the Tour de France, with the mental and physical effects lasting into 2024. He crashed hard at Strade Bianche and needed five months away from racing to fully recover from his two years of trauma.

An impressive ninth at the 2024 Road World Championships gave him the motivation for the winter and he returned to Tuscany still loving Strade Bianche. Simmons tried to stand up to Pogačar's dominance in Zürich and will do the same at Strade Bianche. 

"It's hard to beat Mr Pogi but you've got to try. We're not going to sit back and let him ride away at Strade. That's the most likely outcome but we're not going to gift it to him," Simmons said defiantly.

"When you line up with a strong team like Lidl-Trek always has, you line up to try to win the bike race. If you race for second, there's no point in even coming here, we're here to try to win." 

'It's like Liège-Bastogne-Liège but arguably harder'

Tour de France Femmes winner Kasia Niewiadoma has also been in Tuscany all week, mixing training with Strade Bianche recon rides. She has finished in the top 10 of Strade Bianche an impressive nine times in ten starts, including four podium finishes.

This year, new teammate Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig will also be in the strong Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto line-up.

"I remember coming to Tuscany, to Siena, for the first time in 2014. I did the L'Eroica ride and it was my first introduction to Strade's roads and the whole area. We had so much fun," said Niewiadoma.

"I just instantly fell in love because I love the steep gravel roads, the beauty, and how the race will always be hard.

"Whether you win it or not, there's always a massive sense of satisfaction that comes at the end. Motivation is always there because anytime I lose, I want it even more for some reason."

All the riders were reminded of the difficulties of the Strade Bianche route during their recon rides.

It is not only the gravel roads – 81.7km during the 213km men's race and 50.3km during the 136km women's race. The steep rolling climbs make Strade Bianche as hard as Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with the tension and need for bike skills of Paris-Roubaix. The men's race includes over 4,000 metres of climbing.

"It's like Liège-Bastogne-Liège but arguably harder," Alberto Bettiol of XDS-Astana told Cyclingnews. He hails from less than an hour away from the route of Strade Bianche and did his personal recon ride before a recent spell at altitude on Mount Teide.

"The gravel roads mean the climbs last longer and your wheels slip and slide, you don't have pure speed," he said. "What's even worse, is that you can't relax for five hours of racing, you're tested physically and mentally all race.

"You have to fight for position before the selection on the long mid-race sections, avoid crashes as riders take risks for position and then survive over the climbs."

The addition of a second loop of the Colle Pinzuto and Le Tolfe gravel sectors and a new sector of gravel has made both the men's and women's Strade Bianche route harder than ever.

Some have argued the race is now too hard and so is too selective, deterring some riders from riding. Lotte Kopecky will only make her season debut at Milan-San Remo Women, and Mathieu van der Poel will skip to Tirreno-Adriatico.

Elsewhere, Wout van Aert has preferred to train at altitude for the cobbled Classics rather than race against Pogačar while Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson are riding Paris-Nice. The setup of the UCI WorldTour calendar makes it impossible to ride and perform in both races. 

Analysis by Het Laatste Nieuws highlighted how Strade Bianche has become a race for the climbers instead of Classics riders. The average rider weight has fallen from near 70kg in 2016 when Fabian Cancellara won for a third time, to Pogačar's lighter build of 66kg. 

"That is a clear evolution," Greg Van Avermaet, who rode Strade Bianche 13 times in his career, said. The Belgian, twice a runner-up at the race, suggested that riders like Van Aert, who won Strade Bianche in 2020, could struggle to be competitive on the current course.  

"In the early years of Strade Bianche, the climbers and stage racers didn't dare to ride it, they preferred Paris-Nice or avoided any risks before Tirreno-Adriatico. As the Strade Bianche gained in prestige, they wanted to try to add it to their palmarès," Van Avermaet said.

"It is a shame that they are making the race even harder, it will become even more predictable," Visma-Lease a Bike directeur sportif Maarten Wynants told Wielerflits. The Dutch team can look to Ben Tulett as their only probable contender.

"Last year, the loop around Le Tolfe was added and that made it a pure climbing race. Now there's also an extra 9.5km sector. That will only make it even harder."

Niewiadoma said that she has already reconnoitred the new-look first part of the route, which packs in another long 9.3km gravel sector – and a 2km climb – at Serravalle.

The Pole, who has been on the podium four times and finished fourth last spring, said that the lack of recovery between the early sectors will have a major impact on the race.

"I got to Siena on Sunday and rode the first part of the race, doing about 90km for recon, including the new Serravalle gravel section. There's very little recovery between the new sector and the next, so this change will definitely impact the race," Niewiadoma said. 

"Everyone will want to stay in the front and of course that's impossible – there's going to be a huge washing machine effect, and you'll definitely need a bit of luck not to puncture or crash.

"Some gravel sections also look quite loose and weirdly fresh. I think that the race will be harder."