'A great start to the season' – Tadej Pogačar solos 78km to record-breaking Strade Bianche victory

Tadej Pogačar made a 78km solo and record-breaking fourth Strade Bianche victory look like a simple café ride, as he opened his season masterfully on Saturday.

The world champion attacked on the Monte Sante Marie gravel sector – as he did in 2024 – shortly after the midway point of the Italian one-day Classic.

For a moment, last year’s runner-up Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) followed, but fell victim to an untimely chain drop. Nineteen-year-old French phenom Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) then tried to chase, marked by Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG team-mate Isaac del Toro, before the Slovenian kicked again and floated away alone.

Immediately after he crossed the line in Siena's Piazza del Campo, Pogačar climbed off his bike, punched the air, and bowed.

His victory – clocked at a race record average speed of 42.7kph – means he is now the only rider in Strade Bianche's two-decade history to win four times. In doing so, he surpassed a record he previously shared with Fabian Cancellara, a three-time winner. Pogačar has also won the event three years in a row.

In the duel for second, Seixas dropped Del Toro on the Via Santa Caterina climb into the piazza to round out an impressive Strade Bianche debut.

Asked about the moment he rode away from the young Frenchman, Pogačar said: "I saw that he was chasing really hard on the steepest part of the climb on Sante Marie. I said to myself, 'I will go all-out to the top, then I will see if he can bridge; either he will come or he will explode, make a gap.' In the end, I saw it was enough.”

Seixas was the last rider to see the rainbow bands before the podium ceremony. As he rampaged across Tuscany's sterrati, Pogačar's advantage stretched to almost two minutes; it only fell to one minute at the very end, by which time the world champion had slowed to savour the final climb, high-fiving his old coach at the bottom, and smiling as he scaled the empty road, flanked by thousands of fans.

"Probably I always say this, but chapeau to my team-mates today. Everyone did an incredible job," Pogačar said.

The world champion's next goals lie in a run of Monuments, two of which – Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix – remain bucket-list races for him.

"It’s a great start to the season," he said of his history-making Strade Bianche victory. "Today was the first day of the year. We go day by day, race by race, and see how it goes."

The last time Pogačar opened his season with a win at the Italian Classic, in 2024, he went on to enjoy his most successful year to date, winning the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and UCI World Championships – cycling's Triple Crown. Another year of supremacy surely awaits.

Results

Strade Bianche (203km): Siena > Siena

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:45:15
2. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +1:00
3. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:09
4. Romain Grégoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, +2:04
5. Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-hangrohe, at same time
6. Jan Christen (Sui) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:07
7. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Pinarello Q36.5, +2:14
8. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:20
9. Andreas Kron (Den) Uno-X Mobility, +3:46
10. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time