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.
Elizabeth Mary Deignan is an English professional world champion track and road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam Lidl–Trek. She was the 2015 World road race champion.
SD Worx is a professional cycling team based in the Netherlands, which competes in elite road bicycle racing events such as the UCI Women's World Tour. They have topped the UCI Women's World Tour team ranking in 2016–2019, 2021 and 2022.
Anna van der Breggen is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2021 for Team Flexpoint, Sengers Ladies Cycling Team, Rabo–Liv and SD Worx. She won the gold medal in the women's road race at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and has won the Giro d'Italia Femminile on four occasions. In 2018 and 2020, she won the women's road race at the UCI Road World Championships.
Katarzyna "Kasia" Niewiadoma is a Polish racing cyclist, who rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam Canyon–SRAM. Among her eighteen professional wins are the Amstel Gold Race in 2019, the Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio in 2018, and The Women's Tour stage race in 2017. She is a former national champion in both the Polish National Road Race Championships and the Polish National Time Trial Championships, winning both in 2016.
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 2007 Monte Paschi Eroica was the first professional edition of the Monte Paschi Eroica bike race, later called Strade Bianche. It was raced on Tuesday 9 October 2007 in the province of Siena in Tuscany, Italy. The race was won by Russian rider Alexandr Kolobnev, who completed a 40 km solo, narrowly staying ahead of his teammate Marcus Ljungqvist at the finish. It held a 1.1 UCI rating on the 2007 continental calendar.
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 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 2018 Strade Bianche was a road cycling one-day race that took place on 3 March 2018 in Italy. It was the twelfth edition of the Strade Bianche and the fifth event of the 2018 UCI World Tour.
The fourth edition of the Women's Strade Bianche was held on 3 March 2018. It was the first leg of the 2018 UCI Women's World Tour. The race was run in abysmal weather and was won by Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen of the Boels–Dolmans team, after an attack on the penultimate gravel sector of Colle Pinzuto at 17 km from the finish.
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.
The 2023 Strade Bianche Donne was an Italian road cycling one-day race that took place on 4 March 2023. It was the ninth edition of Strade Bianche Donne and the fifth event of the 2023 UCI Women's World Tour.
