Hello and welcome to the 2026 men's Strade Bianche!
He’a back! Almost five months since rounding off another historic season by winning Il Lombardia, Tadej Pogačar is back racing again, and the expectation is for him to pick up from where he left off and start terrorising the opposition once more.
Strade Bianche is also a race Pogačar knows down to a tee, and he’s proven to be unstoppable here in recent years, winning all three of the editions he has started since 2022.
Will this year’s edition be quite so straightforward for Pogačar? Not necessarily. As sublime as the Slovenian has been these past two seasons, those standards he has set are impossibly high to maintain for too long, he inevitably must peak eventually - could that peak have already come?
And then there’s the factor of the other riders catching up, especially a new generation ready to rise - epitomised by 19-year-old Paul Seixas. Today the stunningly-talented teenager makes his Strade Bianche debut, and is braced for a duel against Pogačar in what could become a great new rivalry.
Also potentially playing against Tadej Pogačar’s strengths are changes made to the route. After years of getting harder and harder, the organisers have this time tweaked it to make it shorter, feature less gravel sectors, and therefore less brutally difficult - which will (in theory at least) make it harder for the Slovenian to ride away from the rest of the field as he has in previous editions.
Strade Bianche 2026 route cuts race distance and number of gravel sectors after years of Pogačar dominance
We’re still waiting for the men to get going, but the women’s race is already well underway and into the gravel sectors. You can follow along with all the action here with Cyclingnews.
The men are on the move - they're making their way through Siena towards the official start, which is only a matter of minutes away.
Tadej Pogačar at the start, about to begin his mission to get his hands on that trophy once more.
Early predictions of it being a mild, dry day have come into fruition, and so the peloton are set to take on the infamous gravel roads in their dry form, rather than the wet mud that has been the case in some recent editions.
Pogačar at the start, with some of the peloton's national champions - most notably Quinn Simmons in his American champion's jersey.
There’s been a crash already, and we’re not even onto the gravel roads yet. About half a dozen riders have gone down.
None of the fallers seem badly hurt, and all are back riding again.
The peloton is through the second gravel sector, but still remains together with no break having gone clear yet.
Unfortunately, we already have news of abandonments - Albert Withen Philipsen, Kim Heiduk and Robbe Dhondt are all out of the race. It’s unclear if they were involved in a crash.
A first glimpse of the peloton up close on the road today. The weather is dry, which will make for a duty race over the white gravel roads.
The riders at the front of the peloton, engaged in the battle to form the day's break.
Another abandoned to report - Luca Paletti of the Bardiani team.
Here's a small group that tried, but failed, to get away.
While we wait for a break to form, let’s have a look at some of the favourites, the men most likely to take the race to Tadej Pogačar today.
'If I can battle with Tadej for a little or for a long time, that's a positive' - Tom Pidcock prepares to again take on Pogačar at Strade Bianche
A group of about ten has gone clear, and it’s got some impressive names in it, including young talent Tibor Del Grosso.
That group has over a minute on the peloton. It seems we have our break of the day!
There are nine riders in this breakaway group:
In the absence of Mathieu van der Poel - who deems the Strade Bianche route to be too demanding for his attributes - Tibor Del Grosso is leading the Alpecin-Premier Tech team, and is a dangerous man to let into the day’s break.
Further up the road, it’s all kicking off in the women’s Strade Bianche - a reminder that you can follow along with all of the action in that race with us too.
Strade Bianche Women LIVE - Chabbey and Włodarczyk lead as riders take on key gravel sectors
Tadej Pogačar riding safely in the peloton on the gravel roads.
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Here are the nine riders up the road in the day's break.
Back to looking at some of today’s favourites.
As well as Tadej Pogačar and Tom Pidcock, Wout van Aert is another former winner taking part today. It’s been a long time since his triumph here in 2020, and changes in the route to make it more difficult, in addition to a decline in his form, has made him a less likely winner. But you can’t write off a man of his quality, even if the Belgian himself is unsure how well he can challenge.
'I’ll arrive at the start with more question marks than I had hoped' - Wout van Aert prepares for voyage into the dark at Strade Bianche
The riders have crested the Montalcino climb, which is a rare obstacle in this race in that it is a climb, but over a tarmacked road.
The nature of the race and the chaos of the gravel means there are plenty of incidents that go unreported. Here’s Quinn Simmons being held up by an incident earlier. Each rider will have their own individual stories with ups and downs, and we’ll only learn the full picture in the race’ aftermath.
The riders present in the break demonstrates how, although a one-day classic known for its road surfaces, Strade Bianche is these days a climber-friendly race. Jack Haig and Patrick Konrad are both riders better known for their exploits in the mountains and stage race GC battles than as classics men.
UAE Team Emirates XRG leading the peloton.
Though he’ll be riding in service of his teammate Tadej Pogačar, Isaac del Toro has a chance to get a strong result for himself too today. The Mexican is on electrifying form already this year, taking overall victory at the UAE Tour, and, having excelled at the gravel stage of last year’s Giro d’Italia, looks well-suited to Strade Bianche.
'I’m excited to get stuck in myself again and finally race' – Tadej Pogačar primes for season debut at Strade Bianche with Isaac del Toro in support
