Thomas Löfkvist is a Swedish former professional road bicycle racer who last rode for the UCI Professional Continental team IAM Cycling. Since 2015 Thomas Löfkvist is general manager of Swedish professional cycling team Team Tre Berg–PostNord. He became the youngest Swedish professional road bicycle racer when he started his professional bicycling career in FDJeux.com at the age of 19 in 2004. Löfkvist was a good time trialist with solid climbing abilities, winning the Monte Paschi Eroica in 2009 with a powerful attack during the steep final kilometer ascent. He has previously used, both within and outside of the cycling world, the surname spelling 'Lövkvist'. Beginning with the cycling season of 2010 he is using his legal surname Löfkvist throughout.
Gaiole in Chianti is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Siena in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast of Florence and about 15 kilometres (9 mi) northeast of Siena. Forbes named it number one in its list of "Europe's Most Idyllic Places To Live."
Alexandr Vasilievich Kolobnev is a Russian former professional road bicycle racer. His major victories include winning the 2007 Monte Paschi Eroica, a stage of the 2007 Paris–Nice and he is a two-time winner of the Russian National Road Race Championships. In 2011, he was provisionally suspended after testing positive for a potential drug masking agent. He was cleared of intentional doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in February 2012, and returned to Team Katusha in March 2012.
The Strade Bianche is a road bicycle race in Tuscany, Central Italy, starting and finishing in Siena. First held in 2007, it is raced annually on the first or second Saturday of March. The name Strade Bianche stems from the historic white gravel roads in the Crete Senesi, which are a defining feature of the race. One-third of the total race distance is raced on dirt roads, covering 63 km (39 mi) of strade bianche, spread over 11 sectors.
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. Siena is the 12th largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 53,062 as of 2022.
The 2013 Strade Bianche was the 7th edition of the international one-day cycling race Strade Bianche. The race was held on 2 March 2013, on the same route of the previous edition. The race started in Gaiole del Chianti and ended in Piazza del Campo in Siena.
The 2015 Strade Bianche was the first running of the Strade Bianche Donne, a one-day women's cycling race in Italy that was held on 7 March 2015. The race started in San Gimignano and finished on Siena's Piazza del Campo and was run entirely in the province of Siena, in the Chianti region of Tuscany. The inaugural edition was spun off the men's event, which started in 2007, and had a UCI rating of 1.1.
The 2015 Strade Bianche was the ninth edition of the Strade Bianche road cycling race. Held on 7 March 2015, it started in San Gimignano and ended 200 kilometres away in Siena. It was a 1.HC-ranked race that was part of the 2015 UCI Europe Tour.
The Strade Bianche Donne(Strade Bianche Women), also named Strade Bianche Rosa by Italian media, is an annual professional women's road bicycle racing event in Tuscany, Italy. Roughly a quarter of the route is raced on white gravel roads – unpaved country lanes winding through the countryside of the Chianti region – from which the event gets its name.
The 2008 Monte Paschi Eroica was the second edition of the Monte Paschi Eroica, later named Strade Bianche, held on 8 March 2008. It is a professional road bicycle race in Tuscany, Italy, starting in Gaiole in Chianti and finishing in Siena. The race was 181 km, including seven sectors of strade bianche, totaling 56,1 km of gravel road.
The 2009 Monte Paschi Strade Bianche - Eroica Toscana was the third edition of the Strade Bianche road bicycle race, held on 7 March 2009 in Tuscany, Italy. The race was 190 km, starting in Gaiole in Chianti and finishing in Siena, and included eight sectors of strade bianche, totaling 57,2 km of gravel road. Compared to the previous edition of the Strade Bianche, the race was 10 km longer and featured one more sector of sterrato.
The tenth edition of the Strade Bianche road cycling race was held on 5 March 2016, in Tuscany, Italy. Swiss Fabian Cancellara concluded his third win in the race. The race covered 176 km (109 mi), starting and finishing in Siena. It was part of the 2016 UCI Europe Tour, a 1.HC-ranked event.
The second edition of the women's Strade Bianche was held on 5 March 2016, in Tuscany, Italy. British world champion Lizzie Armitstead won the race, in bad weather, ahead of Katarzyna Niewiadoma and Emma Johansson.
The 2017 Strade Bianche was a road cycling one-day race that took place on 4 March. It was the eleventh edition of the Strade Bianche and was the fifth event of the 2017 UCI World Tour. It was the first time that the race was included in the UCI World Tour calendar.
The third edition of the women's Strade Bianche was held on 4 March 2017, in Tuscany, Italy. Elisa Longo Borghini won the race, in bad weather, ahead of Katarzyna Niewiadoma and the previous year's champion, Lizzie Deignan.
The 13th edition of the Strade Bianche was held on 9 March 2019. Starting and finishing in Siena, Italy, it was the fifth event of the 2019 UCI World Tour. It was won by Julian Alaphilippe, followed by Jakob Fuglsang. Wout van Aert was third.
The fifth edition of the Strade Bianche Donne was held on 9 March 2019. Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten won the race after breaking clear on the final gravel sector. Denmark's Annika Langvad finished second, Poland's Kasia Niewiadoma third. Starting and finishing in Siena, Italy, it was the opening event of the 2019 UCI Women's World Tour.
The seventh edition of the Strade Bianche Donne took place on 6 March 2021. The Italian race is the first event of the 2021 UCI Women's World Tour as the usual first race of season in Australia, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was won by Chantal van den Broek-Blaak.
The 2022 Strade Bianche Donne was an Italian road cycling one-day race that took place on 5 March 2022. It was the 8th edition of Strade Bianche Donne and the first event of the 2022 UCI Women's World Tour. The usual first race of the season, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Australia was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was won by the Belgian national champion Lotte Kopecky.
