Strade Bianche 2023, March 4, one-day classic (men's & women's)

[Netserk]

Does anyone have full results? Outside the top 10...

2023 Strade Bianche

The 2023 Strade Bianche was won by Tom Pidcock of INEOS Grenadiers.

firstcycling.com

 

[Extinction]

I don't think if Pidcock had been caught he would have "blown it," because when he pulled ahead on the descent he had two options, soldier on with courage or sit up and wait. He chose the former and then it was a game of steadfastness versus numbers. He gambled and won. In that situation you don't blow it, but just keep fighting to the end and come what may. By contrast, had he decided not to push on, wait for the others and play his chances again, to then lose in the end to a more cagey rider or one with more power to the finish at Siena, that's how he would have "blown it."

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Great victory for Pidcock, who Pogacared from 50 km out. At some point the chasers were less than 10 seconds down but they lacked one more push and the Brit didn't look back and kept going. MVP had some moments but ended up in the wrong group, not his day surely.

 

[Lequack]

Wow just got to watch the replay since I couldn't see it live. What a ride by Pidcock, hats off. He out Pogacar'd everyone. And Jumbo Visma with the crazy tactics probably made it all possible.

 

[Lequack]

Bettiol : "I hit my head and destroyed my helmet. It could have been worse"

Strade Bianche 2023, Bettiol: "Ho battuto la testa e distrutto il casco. Poteva andare peggio"

Strade Bianche 2023, le dichiarazioni del corridore della EF Alberto Bettiol: "Ho battuto la testa e distrutto il casco. Poteva andare peggio"

www.sportface.it

https://twitter.com/x/status/1632071032478527490

View: https://twitter.com/EFprocycling/status/1632071032478527490

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Not by that much. Worlds is just lol variance.

I dunno, you must rate his physical talents more highly than I do. I tend to think that 30 wins for a non-sprinter who has never been one of the top ten riders at any sub discipline in the sport is very good going. Particularly when they include the WCRR, three Tour stages and three Tours de Suisse.

anyway, I really dont get complaints about him today. His best chance was to do no work and hope for the Jumbo DS to tell Valter or Benoit to stop messing about and pull.

 

[Lequack]

I loved the Mohoric interview, he's always pretty accurate.
Also when the interviewer mumbles something in his French accent he just says "WHAT?" Gotta love the guy.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn01CGzfQj0

 

[cen]

I loved the Mohoric interview, he's always pretty accurate.
Also when the interviewer mumbles something in his French accent he just says "WHAT?" Gotta love the guy.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn01CGzfQj0

Tells it like it is

 

[Red Rick]

I dunno, you must rate his physical talents more highly than I do. I tend to think that 30 wins for a non-sprinter who has never been one of the top ten riders at any sub discipline in the sport is very good going. Particularly when they include the WCRR, three Tour stages and three Tours de Suisse.

anyway, I really dont get complaints about him today. His best chance was to do no work and hope for the Jumbo DS to tell Valter or Benoit to stop messing about and pull.

I think Rui Costa in his day was probably one of the top 10 riders in medium mountains. But I should rephrase.

I think his overachievements have been more down to race selection than a reward for consistently negative tactics.

 

[tobydawq]

Well at least Bala is here in spirit

I knew he would somehow get the blame for this

 

[CyclistAbi]

Congratulations to Thomas Pidcock MBE for taking the win.

Was somewhat a thriller of a race. Pidcock gaining an advantage descending. JV with leadership issues and Mohorič unfortunately with a lack of support. But all in all a nice race to watch.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Apparently the fastest Strade Bianche edition ever.

 

[tobydawq]

I mean that was just sound tactics by Rui Costa. It was Valverde who *** that up.

It was Purito who *** that up.

Just close down Nibali and Costa, and Valverde would take a certain win in the sprint.

Okay, Valverde of course also screwed Purito over by not following Costa when he went away.

 

[Lequack]

Does anyone have full results? Outside the top 10...

The Ranking of Strade Bianche 2025

Discover the Ranking of Strade Bianche 2025 with the winner, the best times and the gaps!

www.strade-bianche.it

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Apparently the fastest Strade Bianche edition ever.

So now we know Pidcock is better than Pogacar.

 

[Lequack]

Pidcock to win the TDF?

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Pidcock to win the TDF?

No he peaked too soon he needs to learn from Remco

 

[Cookster15]

Another great win by Pidcock. Is it too much to dream that this guy might one day win a grand tour on the back of his descending?

But I am perplexed by Cycling News describing his sublime descending skills as "infamous". I'd describe them as beautiful.

 

[staubsauger]

Actually the mistake was Jumbo not having figured out who's their strongest climber.

Because it was always clear that either Benoot or Valter has to kick it right from the bottom of the final ascend to drop all other riders and win.

Costa always was the strongest sprinter in the group, but had already shown he can't keep up once someone jumps on all other ascends in the final.

So it ended up with Madouas being the hot favorite. As the Frenchman actually is a good climber (at least not much worse than Benoot) and owns a good sprint as we saw at Luxembourg & the Tour de France last year.

But Madouas doing the majority of the work would always result in either Benoot / Valter jumping from his wheel on the finish hill or Costa winning the sprint. Especially since Madouas already had invested quite some energy after his crash / mechanical. So of course he rather lost it against Pidcock who fully deserved his win than being fooled by Benoot or Costa. That's weirdly enough how cycling even with all competitiveness of a professional athlete is being set up.

So the whole situation only occurred because Jumbo never determined one clear lieutenant to chase Pidcock, with than would've been joined by Madouas.

I disagree with Mohoric though. If they sacrifice Valter. That's serving Madouas victory on the silver platter. There was no way Benoot would be able to go long out enough on that short ascend to gap Madouas. And Tiesj doesn't have the sprint to beat him either as the result sheet shows.

Jumbo should've sacrificed Benoot. Telling him Felipe Massa style "Atilla is faster than you. Can you confirm you got that message?" Because even if the Hungarian wasn't able to shut the gap to Pidcock earlier on, he initially looked stronger in the final. Closing gaps time-delayed with quite some ease. BUT if Jumbo does that and then Valter can't gap Madouas either and thus loses the sprint there's even more drama than there's probably now. Because if you relegate your initial leader and it doesn't work out dispute's guaranteed.

Hence why everything actually developed as it had to. Because Jumbo didn't want to take a wrong decision. Which only resulted in them taking no decision at all which is wrong 99% of all times. Only German finance minister Lindner truly believes not doing anything is better than doing something wrong.

Madouas won the sprint. Finishing 2nd by being the strongest from his group, rather than being fooled by someone he brought back beating him. His decision payed off eventually.

 

[Sciatic]

Everyone coming back.

Group 2 dynamics will be back.

Race over

Good call on the bad dynamic

 

[postmanhat]

Three of the last four winners have been the most recent CX World Champions. Two of those are already established as amongst the best road riders and the other is likely to become so. Then there's Pogacar.

Possible to make an argument either way that Strade is becoming the domain of specialists. Or along with RVV, the ultimate testing ground for the new breed of versatile superstars.

 

[Sciatic]

A few years back I was thrilled to see guys like MVDP, Remco, and Pogacar launching solo attacks from 40-50 kms out. Thought it would really make races so much more fun while they were around. But instead, for a rider who knows they’re in good form—it’s no longer radical but simply sound strategy in a race where there’s no longer a intact chasing peloton, because the dicking around in the chase group is almost guaranteed.

Today was even worse (and more frustrating) than usual with two teammates in the small chase group. And with at least 20 Km to go it should have been obvious to all of them that Rui Costa wasn’t going to do an ounce of work. It’s not even like he was bluffing, he was clearly just going to sit on till Sienna. I know the others are on fumes by that point, but I wish someone would decide I’m not going to let Costa lose this race for me.

 

[tobydawq]

Three of the last four winners have been the most recent CX World Champions. Two of those are already established as amongst the best road riders and the other is likely to become so. Then there's Pogacar.

Possible to make an argument either way that Strade is becoming the domain of specialists. Or along with RVV, the ultimate testing ground for the new breed of versatile superstars.

Four of the five cyclocross World Champions who have ridden Strade have been able to win it.

 

[postmanhat]

Actually the mistake was Jumbo not having figured out who's their strongest climber.

Because it was always clear that either Benoot or Valter has to kick it right from the bottom of the final ascend to drop all other riders and win.

Costa always was the strongest sprinter in the group, but had already shown he can't keep up once someone jumps on all other ascends in the final.

So it ended up with Madouas being the hot favorite. As the Frenchman actually is a good climber (at least not much worse than Benoot) and owns a good sprint as we saw at Luxembourg & the Tour de France last year.

But Madouas doing the majority of the work would always result in either Benoot / Valter jumping from his wheel on the finish hill or Costa winning the sprint. Especially since Madouas already had invested quite some energy after his crash / mechanical. So of course he rather lost it against Pidcock who fully deserved his win than being fooled by Benoot or Costa. That's weirdly enough how cycling even with all competitiveness of a professional athlete is being set up.

So the whole situation only occurred because Jumbo never determined one clear lieutenant to chase Pidcock, with than would've been joined by Madouas.

I disagree with Mohoric though. If they sacrifice Valter. That's serving Madouas victory on the silver platter. There was no way Benoot would be able to go long out enough on that short ascend to gap Madouas. And Tiesj doesn't have the sprint to beat him either as the result sheet shows.

Jumbo should've sacrificed Benoot. Telling him Felipe Massa style "Atilla is faster than you. Can you confirm you got that message?" Because even if the Hungarian wasn't able to shut the gap to Pidcock earlier on, he initially looked stronger in the final. Closing gaps time-delayed with quite some ease. BUT if Jumbo does that and then Valter can't gap Madouas either and thus loses the sprint there's even more drama than there's probably now. Because if you relegate your initial leader and it doesn't work out dispute's guaranteed.

Hence why everything actually developed as it had to. Because Jumbo didn't want to take a wrong decision. Which only resulted in them taking no decision at all which is wrong 99% of all times. Only German finance minister Lindner truly believes not doing anything is better than doing something wrong.

Madouas won the sprint. Finishing 2nd by being the strongest from his group, rather than being fooled by someone he brought back beating him. His decision payed off eventually.

Yes, Valter was clearly climbing better during the race and would have been their best option in the finale. Can only imagine ego or team hierarchy prevented Benoot from being the one who was sacrificed?

In the end it didn't really matter as Valter and Mohoric were both cooked after the final descent, and so the chase imploded.

 

[Sciatic]

Rui Costa was there, the most annoying (or clever) rider to have in any sort of group. People blame the Jumbo guys, probably rightly so, but at least they tried a few times. Rui Costa was the one out there protecting the gap for Pidcock.

So very true!