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The ghostly faces of Strade Bianche

The 2018 edition will be remember for it's brutally muddy conditions

March 3, 2018
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In what will surely be one of the most memorable editions of Strade Bianche, Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) and Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) stamped their authority on the white gravel roads of Tuscany both with solo wins. On wet and muddy sterrati roads, the riders became caked in dirt as the race progressed.

With over 63 km on the mucky gravel for the men and 30 km for the women, there was plenty of mud getting flung up by riders wheels into each others faces over the sectors. As the race progressed riders peeled off dirt layers to briefly reveal clean ones but those were quickly soiled as well. Riders with notable masks in the men’s race came to the fore when live images became available with 50 km still to race. Alejandro Valverde sported a particularly amazing visage as he accelerated from the pack.

As attacks flew off the front the big race favourites neutralized each others moves allowing world cyclocross champion Wout Van Aert (Veranda’s Willems Crelan) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondial) to forge clear. Benoot would eventually take off in pursuit with Peter Serry (Quci-Step Floors). Benoot would dispatch Serry and catch the two race leaders before launching the winning move on the step pitches of one of the final gravel sectors. His face covered in mud, Benoot got a lot of the remaining camera time as he drew out his lead to 39 seconds by the finish.

The women’s race winner van der Breggen also launched her race winning move on the gravel with 20 km remaining and quickly had a convincing margin. While less covered in mud, the women faced slightly colder temperatures and remained bundled up right to the line unlike Benoot who only wore a vest when he rolled into Piazza del Campo.

Following the race, as riders finished the treck across Tuscany there was a lot of dirt to wash off. Stybar got a rinse with a power washer while the likes of Valverde posed proudly covered in his Tuscan mud mask before surely hitting the showers to freshen up.