The Strade Bianche one-day race is one of the most memorable in the cycling calendar, despite only being in it's 12th edition in 2018.
The white gravel roads of Tuscany and the gruelling ups and downs of the parcours make it a sapping and arduous Classic despite falling well short of the distance of many of the northern Classics with just 184km for the men and 134km for the women.
The 2018 edition had added drama with it however, as much of Europe continued to suffer through arctic conditions, the course was turned into a mud bath by the rain and cold in the week beforehand.
The women's race sets ahead of the men's race, however both finish with a climb into Siena and descent into Piazza del Campo where the winner would be crowned.
Defending champions Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) both return to try and take another victory.
Catch-up with highlights of both the men's and women's races in the video above or read the full reports for each race here and here.
Next up on UCI WorldTour calendar will be Paris-Nice for the men which begins on Sunday, while the women will take on the one-day Ronde Van Drenthe next weekend in the Netherlands.
-
-
Track sprint: How the Tokyo 2020 Olympic track sprint works
The need to know about the sprint competition at the Olympic Games
By Richard Windsor •
-
Jolanda Neff criticises rival’s riding after Tokyo 2020 Olympic mountain bike incident
Gold medallist Neff said Pauline Ferrand-Prévot almost caused her to crash on the rock drop
By Alex Ballinger •
-
Vincenzo Nibali says riders should switch off bike computers following Mathieu van der Poel’s Strade Bianche win
Vincenzo Nibali has said riders should avoid looking at their power meters in races, after Mathieu van der Poel’s phenomenal victory in Strade Bianche.
By Alex Ballinger •
-
Strade Bianche Strava times obliterated as Mathieu van der Poel takes final 25km KOM
Wout van Aert's fourth-place effort also saw him lop two minutes of the time that gave him the win in 2020
By Jonny Long •
-
Crowfunding campaign shows our races deserve to broadcast, says Anna van der Breggen
More than €26,000 was raised to add to the prize pot of the women's Strade Bianche, but the world champion rails against the fact only the last 22km were broadcast
By Jonny Long •
-
Five talking points from Strade Bianche 2021
The Dutch dominated, winning both men's and women's races
By Stephen Puddicombe •
-
Rivals quake as Mathieu van der Poel hopes Strade Bianche 'is just the start' this spring
The Dutchman's repeated explosive attacks towards the Piazza del Campo went unanswered by the world's best riders
By Jonny Long •
-
'I'll be there soon' says Tom Pidcock after impressing once more with top five at Strade Bianche
'I was thinking, yeah this is quite cool,' says the Brit after making the selection containing the world's top riders on the Tuscan gravel roads
By Jonny Long •
-
Lift off for Mathieu van der Poel as Dutchman powers to Strade Bianche victory
No-one could match the Dutchman after he put in an explosive attack to dislodge Julian Alaphilippe up to the finish line in the Piazza del Campo
By Jonny Long •
-
SDWorx continue to rule, with Chantal van den Broek-Blaak winning Strade Bianche
The former world champion out-kicked Elisa Longo Borghini to win the first Women's WorldTour race of the year
By Owen Rogers •
