Cycling, great anticipation for the Strade Bianche Crédit Agricole

Siena, 4 March 2025 – The stars of men's and women's cycling are ready to offer their Strade Bianche Crédit Agricole, the usual great show, full of emotions, preceded on Friday 7 March by the presentation of the teams, which will take place starting at 16 pm at the Fortezza Medicea in Siena.

Men's race

The most anticipated and biggest favorite is world champion Tadej Pogacar, winner in 2024 and 2022, who showed he is in good form by triumphing in the first outing of 2025 at the UAE Tour. Both he and Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski are chasing a third win that would guarantee them the dedication of a milestone along the route, a feat achieved in the past only by Swiss Fabian Cancellara. Among the other favorites are Pidcock, winner in 2023 and a great protagonist of the start of the season with four wins in his new team, the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, Van Gils, third in 2024 and already winner in the Vuelta a Andalucia. Other notable names include Madouas, Hirschi, Healy, our own Formolo and Van Eetvelt.

Women's race

Among the Elite women, the champion Lotte Kopecky, first in 2024, is absent. Among the registered athletes are Deignan, Elisa Longo Borghini, first in 2017, Van der Breggen and Vollering (2023). Good chances also for Niewiadoma, Moolman-Pasio, Garcia, Ludwig, Ferrand-Prévot, Faulkner, Olympic road champion in Paris 2024.

The path of men

Very undulating and rolling, without long climbs, but full of steep sections on dirt. There are approximately 82 km of dirt roads divided into 16 sectors (of which 13 are shared with the women's race). Departure from Siena (Fortezza Medicea area at 11,20) and final kilometers on wide roads and long straights up to 2 km from the finish line when you will have to tackle the Via di Fontebranda with gradients of up to 9%. At 900 m from the finish line you pass the Porta di Fontebranda and the paved road begins with a gradient that exceeds 10% until reaching peaks of 500% around 16 m from the finish line, in Via Santa Caterina, before the very last stretch that leads to Piazza del Campo after 213 kilometers.

The women's path

The women's race starts at 9,45:50 from the Fortezza Medicea area. There are about 13 km of dirt roads divided into 136 sectors (all in common with the professional race) with a beaten surface. The finish is the same as the men's race and the scheduled kilometers are XNUMX.