Strade Bianche 2025, March 8, one-day classic (men's)

[Brullnux]

It's also kind of ridiculous to post the messages of banned users.

You're right, and silly of me to respond to it. He is just an extreme fanboy, really.

 

[Lequack]

Quinn Simmons has gone full American

Quinn Simmons (LTK) enjoys the dirt roads around Siena:
"It's difficult to beat Mr Pogi, but we have to try. We're not going to sit back and let him fly away on the Strade Bianche. That's the most likely scenario, but we're not going to give him the win."

 

[Lequack]

Some more pics

 

[search]

If anyone is bored enough, the interviews from the presentation are on Youtube:

Cycling Pro Net

FR www.velopro.fr ITA www.spaziociclismo.it

www.youtube.com

"The legs are turning well", Scaroni says . He doesn't think the race suits his "out of the saddle" climbing style perfectly, though

 

[topcat]

Albert Philipsen top 10s this.

Pogi is shut down.

Moscon wins

That's the way Kirby and I see it unfolding also. Of course the paparazzi will say Pog is a sure thing but they're a callow lot incapable of deep analysis.

 

[Sciatic]

Some more pics

Love it!

 

[Cookster15]

I also don't get the complaints that making this race 29km longer has wrecked it? Maybe 40 minutes extra racing. No biggie.

 

[Berniece]

Pogi is too dominant. Hes 1.30 to win Strade and 1.50 odds to win the Tour, essentially saying only a crash can stop him. He even is the odds favorite to win MSR, a race where the route is massively stacked against him..

The problem is Pog is to good relative to everyone, not the route. Theres noone any team can send here who would change anything. Alter the route and its more suspense, sure its fine, im with you guys, but in reality its a solution equal to pissing your pants to keep yourself warm imo, it wont do much in reality. He would still dominate, maybe not 80km solo but nevertheless same result. Unless you make the entire route pancake flat and make it into a complete new race entirely.

That's the real issue for people complaining about suspense, not the route thats a minor problem compared to the real one. Remove the bogeyman, and Strade is suddenly wide open.

Maybe start by making it like it used to be, before claiming the result would still be the same. MVDP dropped him like a brick in 2021.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Maybe start by making it like it used to be, before claiming the result would still be the same. MVDP dropped him like a brick in 2021.

Pogacar finished behind Michael Gogl in 2021. That should tell you all you need to know about how comparable 2025 is.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Maybe start by making it like it used to be, before claiming the result would still be the same. MVDP dropped him like a brick in 2021.

Comparing 2021 Pogacar with 2024/2025 Pogacar. Well done!

 

[repre]

Albert Philipsen top 10s this.

Pogi is shut down.

Moscon wins

This is parallel universe, where van Aert is multiple De Ronde winner, Moscon is race activist and Tiberi is working at the animal care center.

 

[Berniece]

Comparing 2021 Pogacar with 2024/2025 Pogacar. Well done!

Yeah because MVDP didn’t get better

 

[search]

also Gogl is always injured now, unfortunately

 

[Peyroteo94]

Yeah because MVDP didn’t get better

Yep MVP is so much better. Maybe Remco is too. Can't wait for Remco to show the world how Pogacar is a fraud.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

also Gogl is always injured now, unfortunately

Yeah, Pogačar obviously improved a lot since 2021, but Gogl definitely also got way worse. To be beaten by him that day was a bit like losing to Skujiņš last year, which nearly everyone did.

 

[Cookster15]

Yeah because MVDP didn’t get better

Nearly everyone gets better in their early 20s.

 

[Coffeeplanter]

Someone: 'I like waffles.'
Someone else in response: 'So you hate pancakes?'

This thread perfectly summarised. Some doodle heads just inventing brand new sentences on sight.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

'There's going to be a lot of dead bodies in the final'
-Pogacar

 

[yaf2]

I dont think tomorrow will be as straightforward for pog and uae as most people think. We already saw a change in the dynamics of teams that want to race against him in lombardy last year trying to make it hard for his team. I also expect the same tomorrow with strong guys probably with 2nd tier riders on a 20+ men breakaway from the start which would make it hard for only uae controlling the race.

 

[Netserk]

Little wind tomorrow, and it's a tailwind on Monte Sante Marie.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Little wind tomorrow, and it's a tailwind on Monte Sante Marie.

We know what you did there.

 

[Rob5091]

I also don't get the complaints that making this race 29km longer has wrecked it? Maybe 40 minutes extra racing. No biggie.

Jim Cotton at Velo gives the extra loop the once over and ...
https://velo.outsideonline.com/road...ent-status-make-strade-bianche-shorter-again/

It’s time to put the fizz back into the Strade Bianche Prosecco. That extra 30km must go.

 

[Lequack]

'There's going to be a lot of dead bodies in the final'
-Pogacar

https://twitter.com/x/status/1898117751505387827

View: https://x.com/faustocoppi60/status/1898117751505387827

 

[Cookster15]

Jim Cotton at Velo gives the extra loop the once over and ...
https://velo.outsideonline.com/road...ent-status-make-strade-bianche-shorter-again/

I think he’s exaggerating - it’s only an extra 40 minutes racing in a one day classic. I don’t think the organisers should be aiming to make the race another monument but the only thing which might have taken the fizz out of this race is Pogacar’s dominance.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Oh no, poor Van der Poel and Van Aert, they‘ve put in 30 more kilometers of punchy hills and moved the lengthy selective sections farther from the finish. We all know MVDP can‘t deal with punchy terrain.

Serious mode on:
I‘m guessing pushing those sections further away would actually be bad for Van Aert and may have also been worse for previous winners like Cancellara. On the other hand riders like Sagan and Stybar who previously competed here should like more short hills and less long, hard sections close to the finish. I also don‘t think cumulative fatigue would be prohibitive here.

What most people miss from the race is a huge fresh peloton coming into Monte Sante Marie so enough guys come back out in good position to compete afterwards. But there the issue is just that UAE makes the race harder than in the days of Kwiatkowski. If you really want the race to return stablely to its 2010s state, then you will have to bring the route back to what it was in 2015, i.e. take out Pieve a Salti and San Martino in Grania before Monte Sante Marie. Any harder than that and in a few years, we would be back to where we are now, the current top contenders would continue to dominate. This race just has the same issue as Flanders, it‘s too easy to tear apart the field at the moment due to a mysterious power imbalance.