A postcard from Strade Bianche
White roads, a masterclass from Pogačar and slicing salami with a press card
by Lionel Birnie
Audio: Listen to A Postcard From Strade Bianche 2022
It’s funny what comes to mind when I think back to last year’s trip to Strade Bianche. It’s not the sight of the race winner Tadej Pogačar in full flight during his blistering 50-kilometre solo attack. Nor is it the memory of Julian Alaphilippe in the rainbow jersey doing a head-over-heels somersault into the grass verge after a freak wind-assisted crash in the peloton early in the race.
Instead, my first thought is my attempt to hack through some salami with an old press card.
Simon the Photographer and I were sitting in our little hire car at the top of a hill, gazing down at the ribbon of white road lying across the Tuscan hillside. Simon described it as looking like a crumpled duvet. We had a few brief minutes to refuel before the race arrived.
We thought we’d been so well organised. As we darted between sectors of gravel we spotted a little delicatessen and bought slices of pizza, some artichoke tart, some bread and cheese, and a big hunk of salami.
It was the salami that was the problem because we didn’t have a knife with which to slice it. Neither of us fancied taking turns gnawing at it like cavemen.
‘We’re survivors. We’ll find a way,’ said Simon, optimistically.
And find a way, I did. I sat with the roadbook on my lap as a makeshift plate and hacked through the salami with an old press card from my wallet until we were left with a few crudely cut, well-handled chunks.
‘Salami?’ I said.
‘Er, no thanks,’ replied Simon.
Strade Bianche evolved from a gran fondo ride called the Eroica, an event open only to riders on pre-1987 steel bikes with gear shifters on the downtubes, brake cables looping over the handlebars, wheels with at least 32 spokes, and pedals with toe-clips and straps. It was a celebration of everything that was traditional about cycling, harking back to the era of Coppi and Bartali. I’ve often said that if Paris-Roubaix did not already exist, Modern Cycling would not find a need to invent it. The idea would be dismissed as extreme. In a way Strade Bianche disproves that theory.
It made gravel racing trendy before gravel racing was trendy.
When it was announced that the first edition of the Montepaschi Eroica would be held for professional riders in October 2007 I mistakenly thought that they’d have to use old fashioned equipment too. Imagine that – Fabian Cancellara and co racing on vintage bikes on dusty roads, spare tyres wrapped around their shoulders like in the good old days.
By the time the race was rebranded Strade Bianche – literally, White Roads – in 2009 it was already a modern classic. Cancellara’s victory in 2008 – the first edition to be held in spring – bestowed upon it instant credibility. The roll of honour since confirms its prestige – Gilbert, Cancellara again twice, Stybar, Benoot, Alaphilippe, Van Aert, Van der Poel, Pogačar. In a way, it has overtaken Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as the first major battle ground of the season. Heresy, I know, but there’s a case to be made because every March there’s a call to anoint Strade Bianche as the sixth Monument.
Actually the race does not need official recognition to be considered an equal of the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and the rest. In truth, it does not match those events either in terms of difficulty or historical significance but that does not make it any less dramatic or beautiful. It says as much about rural Tuscany as De Ronde says about Flanders or the Hell of the North says about northern France.
Within a couple of hours of recording last week’s episode, Wout van Aert revealed on social media that he would not be riding Strade Bianche after all. A minor illness had disrupted his training, causing him to miss a few days on the bike, so he has decided to stay in Tenerife to train rather than risk being in anything less than ideal condition for the white roads of Tuscany. The Jumbo-Visma rider’s season debut will come instead at Tirreno-Adriatico on Monday, meaning we will have to wait a little longer to see the resumption of the rivalry between Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel.
It got me thinking about how rarely we get to see these two giants go head-to-head on the road – with them both in peak form, at least. Of course, their rivalry defines the winter cyclo-cross season but their showdowns on the road have been comparatively rare. I think back to the European road race championships in Glasgow in 2018 when they were both beaten by Matteo Trentin as the first high-profile showdown. Since then, they have really only gone toe-to-toe at the 2020 Tour of Flanders when they almost ground to a halt seeking an edge over each other, Milan-Sanremo, and a couple of editions of Paris-Roubaix. The prospect of a true showdown between the pair is becoming almost as mythical as the anticipation surrounding two great heavyweights getting into the ring. We will have to wait a couple of weeks, at least, to see them clash on the biggest stage.
The absence of Van Aert and Pogačar undoubtedly robs the race of a certain something but there’s still plenty to look forward to from both the men’s and women’s races.
The Race to the Sun
Television’s Daniel Friebe will be on ITV duty next week meaning I’ll be joined on the podcast by Lizzy Banks of EF Education-Tibco and Edward Pickering, the editor of Rouleur magazine, to help us see clearly through the dust thrown up by Strade Bianche. I’ll also check in with François Thomazeau, who will be somewhere on the road between Paris and Nice, for some French flavour and a summary of the opening stages of the Race to the Sun.
It’s a hotly anticipated edition of the race because the past two Tour de France champions – Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard – will face each other for the first time this season.
Both riders are already off to prolific starts. Pogačar has crossed the line first in four of the six races he’s started so far and Vingegaard has a 100% record having won all three stages of O Gran Camiño in Spain.
In the meantime, Friends of the Podcast subscribers can listen to Paris-Nice and the King, an episode I wrote and recorded a couple of years ago. It covers the origins of the race and then focuses on Sean Kelly’s record-breaking streak of seven consecutive wins between 1982 and 1988 – a run that’ll probably never be equalled.
Paris-Nice and the King was released for Friends of the Podcast in March 2021 and can be found by scrolling back through the subscriber feed on your podcast app.
Friends of The Cycling Podcast
Last year, Daniel and I paused collecting Friends of the Podcast subscription fees to allow us to catch up on releasing episodes for our subscribers. Over the winter we added several episodes to the archive of more than 80 on the Friends of the Podcast feed and drew up plans for the 2023 programme of episodes.
The support of our Friends has never been more important than in the last year and we are very grateful to all our subscribers for continuing to back us. Your subscription fee does not just allow us to make the additional episodes. It ensures we can continue to deliver the rest of our output – weekly shows, episodes of Arrivée during the Classics, our daily grand tour coverage, plus The Cycling Podcast Féminin, Service Course and Explore. Your support keeps our regular coverage free for all.
So, thank you for sticking by us and giving us the security to embark on our tenth season of coverage.
If you’re not a Friend of the Podcast, you can sign up here.
Recent episodes
La Marseillaise – a five-part series exploring Marseille’s cycling history and culture with François Thomazeau
Ryder on the Storm & Rebirth of a Team – two-part interview with former Dimension Data, now Q36.5 Pro Cycling, manager Doug Ryder
When Orla Met… The Backstedts – Orla Chennaoui catches up with the ultimate cycling family
The Summer of 2012 – Lionel looks back at the 2012 Tour de France in the company of press room colleagues Edward Pickering and Owen Slot
Record of Records – Daniel heads to the indoor cycling stadium in Grenchen to witness Filippo Ganna’s World Hour Record attempt
Girovagando – the 2022 Giro d’Italia road trip, recorded on location by Daniel, Lionel and Brian