A RACE FOR EVERYBODY

Is there any such thing as a Strade Bianche specialist? Virtually all kinds of riders have won it, and though three of the last seven have been won by current or former world cyclo- cross champions, other victors have included Julian Alaphilippe, a hilly one- day race specialist, and Fabian Cancellara, who was a multiple world TT champ and cobbled classics winner. At the same time, grand tour winners have been close to winning - Egan Bernal came third this year, and Romain Bardet was second in 2018.

If there is a theme to the winners, it seems to be that the best riders in the world at that time have a history of doing well. The race was a smaller affair in 2011 when Philippe Gilbert won, but that was the season he won the Ardennes classics and Amstel Gold, and wore the yellow jersey at the Tour. Kwiatkowski’s best seasons have been 2014 and 2017, when he won the Worlds and Milan-San Remo respectively, and he won Strade Bianche in both those years. Tiesj Benoot might not be the best in the world… except when conditions are really really cold and wet, and that’s how the weather was when he won in 2018.