Strade Bianche 2026, March 7, one-day race

[canina82]

And because of that he did 40 watts more than the years before.

He looks bulkier for sure. But he wasn't by any means less stellar than other years. It's clear he could have won with 30" more

 

[snipeheem]

And because of that he did 40 watts more than the years before.

Yea he was worse , he just beat his record on santa Marie by 50 seconds

 

[Krzysztof_O]

And because of that he did 40 watts more than the years before.

I don't know if you can believe these kind of estimates for 80 km distance. They can have big errors and they don't even know Pogacar's current mass and conditions.

 

[chinaski]

I saw thousands real fans that disagreed with that today.

Don't know if this proverb is in English too, but it goes like this: eat ***, people! Millions of flies surely can't be wrong!

 

[Extinction]

He's a bigger alien overall of course, but over the last 3-4 years MVP has leveled up to a point he can produce the best CX level ever while nosebreathing (yeah it's CX, but I still value being a clear GOAT of another discipline) and then go on to beat Pogacar 6-2 in those monuments. He absolutely is an alien of similar caliber to Pogacar in this period, something no one else is in anything since 2024, if we're excluding TT.

Yea, but look at the difference with anything else. Who can go from that distance out, repeatedly, and win GTs, and put him on the ropes on terrain in which he excells? A bigger alien indeed. I can't wait for MSR and the cobbles. 6-2 is a nice compensation, but what we see is extraterrestrial. Also because it's so smooth. "A race where [Mathieu] Van der Poel and [Tadej] Pogačar competed on equal footing – every organizer's dream." Herein lies the difference, not small.

 

[Tim Cahill]

I think Pogacar looks a fair bit heavier, probably for MSR/Roubaix, it will leave him a more difficult deficit to cover when he needs to lose weight for the tour but his only real rival is doing the giro so he probably won't need to be as sharp for it anyway.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Don't know if this proverb is in English too, but it goes like this: eat ***, people! Millions of flies surely can't be wrong!

The difference is that fans keep the sport alive, but people and animals would still defecate if flies didn't exist.

 

[Extinction]

Didn’t see anything today of the race today, but happy to see Seixas finish second. Pogacar only took 1min, was he holding back or not that impressive as usual?

Pog was on cruise control.

 

[Red Rick]

I don't know if you can believe these kind of estimates for 80 km distance. They can have big errors and they don't even know Pogacar's current mass and conditions.

Race shorter than last year, gaps are smaller. I swear people are statistically illiterate.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Race shorter than last year, gaps are smaller. I swear people are statistically illiterate.

It's true, the race was shorter by 11-13 km. Still, those 40 watts (which is like 12%) seems too much.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Race shorter than last year, gaps are smaller. I swear people are statistically illiterate.

I know the race is shorter, but it‘s 12 kilometers, not 50 or something.

 

[Red Rick]

I know the race is shorter, but it‘s 12 kilometers, not 50 or something.

Conditions were clearly way better. Women had the fastest Strade as well. Better gravel conditions probably reduce fatigue by a lot.

Like if we want to run with the idea that Pogacar of 2025 or 2024 would not be winning this that just seems weird to me

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Conditions were clearly way better. Women had the fastest Strade as well. Better gravel conditions probably reduce fatigue by a lot.

Like if we want to run with the idea that Pogacar of 2025 or 2024 would not be winning this that just seems weird to me

No, my idea is that Pogačar of 2025 and 2024 would win by more.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Conditions were clearly way better. Women had the fastest Strade as well. Better gravel conditions probably reduce fatigue by a lot.

Like if we want to run with the idea that Pogacar of 2025 or 2024 would not be winning this that just seems weird to me

These conditions (which I referred to in my previous post) were probably the reason of watts overestimation and (coupled with less gravel km) smaller gaps (faster race and shorter race duration).

 

[Peyresourde]

The conditions were perfect and the race was easier than last year before Sante Marie. I also would not believe these estimated watts, they have often been wrong in the past.

But I do believe that the general level was very high this year, much higher than 2024 and higher than last year. And I do believe that Pogacar pushed more watts even though the gaps were smaller, the field was a bit better and individual riders have also improved.

This race also confirmed my estimate for Seixas' climb last week (higher Index than Del Toro in UAE).

 

[Krzysztof_O]

The conditions were perfect and the race was easier than last year before Sante Marie. I also would not believe these estimated watts, they have often been wrong in the past.

But I do believe that the general level was very high this year, much higher than 2024 and higher than last year. And I do believe that Pogacar pushed more watts even though the gaps were smaller, the field was a bit better and individual riders have also improved.

This race also confirmed my estimate for Seixas' climb last week (higher Index than Del Toro in UAE).

This year's race was 30-35 minutes shorter than those from the last two editions (they were more attritional). So the watts could've been higher (but by a much smaller % than suggested).

 

[Peyresourde]

This year's race was 30-35 minutes shorter than those from the last two editions (they were more attritional). So the watts could've been higher (but by a much smaller % than suggested).

40 watts is a a lot, but 20-30 watts more could be possible. Last year he did not go all out (+harder course + crash) and 2 years ago his form was IMO not as good as people think and he was probably 2kg lighter than now.

Today I think he pushed pretty hard, I don't know how much faster he could have gone (except for the standard slow-down towards the end).

 

[Krzysztof_O]

40 watts is a a lot, but 20-30 watts more could be possible. Last year he did not go all out (+harder course + crash) and 2 years ago his form was IMO not as good as people think and he was probably 2kg lighter than now.

Well, I think two years ago his form was awesome for climbing but he likely generated less watts as he was very light (and the competition level was likely the weakest of those three years).

 

[Lequack]

This makes the Seixas a real contented for the Tour podium.

 

[Red Rick]

This year's race was 30-35 minutes shorter than those from the last two editions (they were more attritional). So the watts could've been higher (but by a much smaller % than suggested).

Whats appropriate index adjustment for yeeting yourself in a ditch?

 

[Peyresourde]

Whats appropriate index adjustment for yeeting yourself in a ditch?

Watts off the bike don't count. So flying through the air, stand up and running back on the road is worth a big fat zero watts for me.

But I can give a +1 for the crash, when I even did that for Armstrong on Luz Ardiden.

 

[Unchained]

Paul Seixas, made a couple of minor, minor mistakes. He was excellent throughout the day, Del Toro stayed in his draft and even with all the extra energy he was expending for the chase, Seixas was stronger. His effort was extraordinary, he chased Pogacar as hard as anyone could. Despite not winning, Decathlon raced great, it took everything for UAE to hold off powerful Paul.
Some good racing by the chase. Del Toro was blown away at how strong Seixas is, the guy was a real monster today.

Finish of women's race was great.

I personally was surprised that there were not multiple crowd caused crashes. The motorcycles are cars on the course were operated in an extremely dangerous fashion all day but especially in the heavy gallery sections of people standing 3-4 deep to cheer for the racers, really lucky that nothing happened.
I am a little surprised at the lack of Pogacar motor pacing comments which he obviously did, the camera moto with Tadej should get fined.

 

[Gigs_98]

But the real question is if you were watching Finestre live?

Probably a stupid question, all the data from the Giro indicated Gigs was attending a coma.

I was not btw. Unfortunately switching off with 80km to go today was not of much help.

 

[Red Rick]

I was not btw. Unfortunately switching off with 80km to go today was not of much help.

We appreciate the attempted sacrifice once again

 

[Escarabajo]

I fell asleep for most of the last 60 km today — it was really boring. Toward the end, the camera work was also pretty poor and they barely managed to capture what little action there was, if any. I heard they removed a lot of the sterrato sections, and it definitely showed in how the race unfolded. Why did they do that?

Anyway, I had been really looking forward to this race, and suddenly… nothing happened. Hopefully next year will be better and the organizers don’t end up ruining the race.