Strade Bianche

The 12th edition of the Strade Bianche classic -maiden WorldTour one-day event for the Movistar Team in 2018- increases its share of ‘sterrato’ sectors on the route to over one third of the race’s length: no less than 63km on dirt road on a course that is barely over 180km long.

Eleven sections are featured in a race divided into two parts. The opening phase is softer, with six long ‘sterrato’ stretches, even though there are some longer climbs, like the one to Montalcino -finish of a brutal stage in the 2010 Giro d’Italia, when rain made the gravel become mud- and the hill of Ville di Corsano (sector 2, 25km). In fact, sections five and six (Lucignano d’Asso and Pieve a Salti, 76 to 98km) are basically together and make for a long 20km of ‘sterrato’.

The second half of the race, after the village of Monteroni d’Arbia (111km), is a series of short climbs and fast descent that make the race go wild. There are two long sectors -Asciano, 121km; and the famous Monte Sante Marie, km 130 to 141-, but it’s the last three, short and uphill –Monteaperti (-24km), Colle Pinzuto (-19km) and Le Tolfe (-13km)– which often make the final selection before the finish. After those, the race goes downhill towards the city before the short, steep ramp of Santa Caterina takes the riders to the Piazza del Campo, one of the most beautiful finishes in the UCI calendar.