News: Van Aert wins Strade Bianche

CX star and grand tour stage winner Wout van Aert won the fourteenth edition of the Strade Bianche in brutal temperatures, showing his skill on the loose gravel and his strength by making the key selection before going to solo and holding on to win his biggest classic yet.

News: Van Aert wins Strade Bianche

Wout van Aert has won the fourteenth edition of the Strade Bianche. The twenty-five-year-old Fleming arrived solo after a one-man show at the Piazza del Campo in Siena.

A leading group of six riders opened up a gap at the beginning of the Italian classic. The high temperatures combined with the hilly gravel sectors made for 184 tough kilometres. On the last sector of the day, Van Aert attacked, after which no one could keep him from winning.

“It was extremely exhausting”, Van Aert said. “I was the strongest in the last part of the race. Everyone in the leading group had good legs. I always believed in myself and in my plan. On the last sector I went full throttle and my technique worked to my advantage. It was an all-or-nothing attempt. Fortunately, it worked out very well.”

It is the ninth pro win for Van Aert. Earlier he won a stage in the Tour de France and two stages in the Critérium du Dauphiné. The Strade Bianche suits the Belgian time trial champion. In all the three editions he participated, he was on the podium.

“It was a goal to win this race sometime in my career. The fact that I have already succeeded makes me very proud. I live for these races. After a period of a lot of training, this naturally feels fantastic.”

… continued after advert

Second placed Davide Formolo: “It has been a beautiful race. I really suffered with the heat, and also because we have trained for a month in altitude. It’s always great to race at Strade Bianche, there a little bit of regret for having missed a beautiful victory, but the second place is a good result anyway and tops-off a good week for the team. Now I’ll look towards Milan-San Remo which is a different style of parcours but we’ll give give it our best.”

Third placed Maximilian Schachmann: “It was a very hard, very tough race and I knew one of the key factors today would be how to manage the heat. So, I cooled myself often, I rode the first four sectors really easy at the back and I could see that everybody was tired. In Santa Maria I felt I had quite good legs and I tried a little bit in the last part.

In Santa Maria I almost crashed twice, we could barely see anything with the dust, so in the last sector I went a little bit easy and I think it was a mistake. Van Aert was able to go away, I tried to catch him but that meant I spent all my energy and couldn’t make it for the sprint. However, overall, I think it was a good start to the second part of the season.”

Former winner Zdenek Stybar finished in the top 10 for the sixth consecutive year. “It’s nice that I finished again in the top 10, but I was aiming for more before the start”, explained Zdenek after his sixth consecutive presence in the Strade Bianche top 10.

“The condition is good, but I struggled due to the heat and because of this I missed a bit when it came to responding when the attacks were launched and the peloton split. But I knew from experience that there was no need to panic, so I maintained a steady pace and was the race progressed, I began feeling better.”

“Today was tough, but it felt good to be back racing with this team I missed so much! I am satisfied with the result and am really happy that we are racing again after five long months”, concluded Stybar.

Julian Alaphilippe came to the start of the 14th Strade Bianche hoping to be again in the mix and have a shot at defending his title, but he was constantly struck by bad luck throughout the day. This cavalcade of mechanicals began just ten kilometers into the race, when a broken rear wheel forced him to chase so he could return in the pack, and ended on the Monte Sante Marie gravel sector, where Alaphilippe had his fifth puncture, at a moment when he was part of the main group.

Despite this, he carried on, battling the insane temperatures, which hit 40 degrees Celsius, and the heavy dust on the course, and concluded the race in 24th position, a remarkable result giving the circumstances: “

It was impossible today, I lost track how many times I stopped and came back. The mechanicals made it very difficult, as if the race wasn’t hard enough, but out of respect for this race which I love, I wanted to finish it. It was my first appearance since Paris-Nice and a useful test as I get my season back on track, despite all the bad luck I faced.”

Result
1 Wout Van Aert Team Jumbo – Visma 4:58:56
2 Davide Formolo UAE Team Emirates @ 30 secs
3 Maximilian Schachmann Bora-Hansgrohe @ 32
4 Alberto Bettiol EF Pro Cycling @ 1:31
5 Jakob Fuglsang Astana Pro Team @ 2:55
6 Zdenek Stybar Deceuninck-Quick Step @ 3:59
7 Brent Bookwalter Mitchelton-Scott @ 4:25
8 Greg Van Avermaet CCC Team @ 4:27
9 Michael Gogl NTT Pro Cycling Team @ 6:47
10 Diego Rosa Team Arkea-Samsic @ 7:45
11 Gregor Muhlberger Bora-Hansgrohe @ 8:11
12 Michal Kwiatkowski Team Ineos @ 10:03
13 Tadej Pogacar UAE Team Emirates @ 10:03
14 Stefan Küng Groupama-FDJ @ 10:03
15 Mathieu van der Poel Alpecin-Fenix @ 10:06
16 Diego Ulissi UAE Team Emirates @ 10:09
17 Gorka Izagirre Astana Pro Team @ 10:09
18 Loic Vliegen Circus-Wanty Gobert @ 10:11
19 Matej Mohoric Bahrain-McLaren @ 10:30
20 Andrea Vendrame AG2R La Mondiale @ 13:41
21 Valerio Conti UAE Team Emirates @ 13:46
22 Jack Bauer Mitchelton-Scott @ 14:11
23 Marcus Burghardt Bora-Hansgrohe @ 14:46
24 Julian Alaphilippe Deceuninck-Quick Step @ 15:06
25 Philippe Gilbert Lotto Soudal @ 15:06
26 Josip Rumac Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec @ 15:06
27 Daniel Oss Bora-Hansgrohe @ 19:27
28 Michael Schär CCC Team @ 19:27
29 Hugo Houle Astana Pro Team @ 19:27
30 Michael Valgren NTT Pro Cycling Team @ 19:27
31 Olivier Le Gac Groupama-FDJ @ 19:27
32 Giulio Ciccone Trek-Segafredo @ 19:27
33 Alessandro De Marchi CCC Team @ 19:27
34 Alex Dowsett Israel Start-Up Nation @ 19:27
35 Lawson Craddock EF Pro Cycling @ 19:27
36 Michael Woods EF Pro Cycling @ 19:27
37 Cyril Gautier B&B Hotels-Vital Concept @ 19:27
38 Amund Grøndahl Jansen Team Jumbo – Visma @ 19:27
39 Rui Costa UAE Team Emirates @ 19:27
40 Simon Pellaud Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec @ 19:27
41 Davide Gabburo Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec @ 20:53
42 Edvald Boasson Hagen NTT Pro Cycling Team @ 21:16