Strade Bianche, March 8 2014 **Warning, unmasked spoilers**

dastardly00

Live coverage on Eurosport2 at 1.30pm

The 2014 Straaaaaade Bianche will be the eight version of the race, but it's quickly turned into a modern day Classic and a fan's favourite. The race features some of the best Classic riders and climbers, the amazing scenery of Tuscany, fantastic dirt roads, loads of short steep climbs, and a finish in the beautiful Siena...... what more could you want.

The official website is here. The start list is here.

There are 10 sections of dirt road in total, covering 54.4km of the overall 197km route. The weather is predicted to be dry, so expect plenty of dust, but no mud!







Betting odds: P Sagan 9/4; F Cancellara 9/2; A Valverde 6/1; D Ulissi 10/1; M Kwiatkowski 12/1; and M Moser 18/1.

dastardly00

Nico posted this pic of himself and Daniele Bennati training in Siena .....
there's just something I love about it.

Diggabot

Love this one of Moser from last year.

sy

Diggabot wrote: »

Love this one of Moser from last year.

The last km is savage. First big showdown between Cancellara and Sagan.
With Boonen in great form at the moment it looks like April will be fun. Bring it on

Love the photo

TheBlaaMan

Fantastic. I've watched this race each year since the roads featured in that famous stage in the Giro and its always been a cracker. The only problem is the dilemma tomorrow between the cycling and the rugby.

Hmmm, I think it will be rugby on the telly and cycling on the laptop with earphones plugged in and one left up, and one down, ..........yeah, that should work

goose06

There doesn't seem to be any early coverage of this or am I mistaken?

TheBlaaMan

Looks like 1pm is the earliest video stream, and that may not be accessible from here.

godtabh

What kind if set up will the be cycling today? Any special bikes/wheels/tyres for the dirt sections?

Diggabot

godtabh wrote: »

What kind if set up will the be cycling today? Any special bikes/wheels/tyres for the dirt sections?

Nico Roche & Kreuziger said they're riding the Roubaix today but other than that I have seen or heard anything else.

Craig06

Cannondale are riding the synapse.

TheBlaaMan

65km to go, group of four out front (no real contenders) with the peleton at 4min 20

EDIT. Now 2m 30 @ 54k to go

dastardly00

50km to go and the riders are going through the longest of the gravel sections at the moment. The breakaway only have a 1 minute advantage.
Saxo-Tinkoff leading the peloton.

dastardly00

Ha! Super Mario Cipollini spotted on the side of the road.

Morrisseeee

Some tough section there now :eek::)

dastardly00

Evans, Stannard, Valverde, and 2 Saxo riders are on the attack.

It's so dusty I haven't a clue who is who! :pac:

ednwireland

cracking race so far

Morrisseeee

Alot of big names there now, not sure about Roche ?!

Edit looks like he's not:
The leaders include: Peter Sagan (Cannondale), Franco Pellizotti (Androni Venezuela), Damiano Cunego e Diego Ulissi (Lampre Merida), Michal Golas, Michal Kwiatkowski, Wout Poels, Matteo Trentin e Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma Quick Step), Warren Barguil, Tom Dumoulin, Simon Geshcke e Georg Preidler (Giant Shimano), Angel Vicioso (Katusha), Salvatore Puccio e Ian Stannard (Sky), Daniele Bennati, Christopher Juul Jensen, Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff Saxo), Fabian Cancellara (Trek), Angelo Pagani (Bardiani), Alejandro Valverde and Andrei Amador (Movistar).

Darkglasses

C'mon Barguil!

dastardly00

Good move by OPQS to send one of their riders on the attack. They are in a very strong position.

Darkglasses

Sagan and Kwiatkowski showing some interest in an attack with 20km to go

Morrisseeee

Damn, I haven't enough TV's for all the sporting action ! :pac:

Darkglasses

Yup Sagan and Kwia have stayed away. Not much of a gap but they've made it stick. Fabian will be happy to let him away I'd say.

wirelessdude01

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Damn, I haven't enough TV's for all the sporting action ! :pac:

Tv with the rugby and laptop with the cycling

Morrisseeee

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Tv with the rugby and laptop with the cycling

Yes, but what about the football, horse-racing & golf later :p

wirelessdude01

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Yes, but what about the football, horse-racing & golf later :p

Leave the nags and golf to the side and football on the lappie as well.

wirelessdude01

Bunch have sat up. Sagans to lose now really.

Darkglasses

Cunego, Kreuziger, Valverde and Cancellara all chasing together. 55 seconds and 7.7km, this should be fun

Darkglasses

Darkglasses wrote: »

Cunego, Kreuziger, Valverde and Cancellara all chasing together. 55 seconds and 7.7km, this should be fun

Didn't do too much damage to the gap in the end, pity.

Borderfox

Polish guy lining up

Darkglasses

Obvious disappointment there for Sagan, had no response for Kwiatkowski's attack at the end.

Borderfox

Polish guy took it well

wirelessdude01

Sagan had zero left in the legs.

denbatt

Lol @ "Polish guy", strong finish, that is a seriously tough race.

ednwireland

amazing the race has only been going 7 years feel like it should be 107

buffalo

wow, eurosport player hit a twenty second blip inside the last kilometre, and Sagan vanished from the race. Some acceleration!

Borderfox

denbatt wrote: »

Lol @ "Polish guy", strong finish, that is a seriously tough race.

Couldn't spell his name

Dr. Bre

The Polish starting to produce some good riders now with kwiatkowski and Majka

letape

Dr. Bre wrote: »

The Polish starting to produce some good riders now with kwiatkowski and Majka

They could certainly podium in a GT this year - would that be their first since zenon jaskula?!

dastardly00

I only got to see the last 20km this afternoon...
Kwiatkowski (I even have to look up the spelling every time! :pac:) was very strong, he's in fantastic condition at the moment. As another poster said, Sagan had nothing left in the tank.

It's a great race, it should be on the calendar for a long time to come. I wish that there were more fixed TV cameras for the last kilometre. It was hard to see what was going on.

dastardly00

Nico finished 54th, 12min 15sec behind the winner. He finished alongside his team mates Benatti and Tosatto, and along with Uran.

I'm presuming he didn't have to do too much work during the race (as he would have been helping Kreuziger closer to the finish of the race) and he was taking it easy enough because of the upcoming Tirreno-Adriatico.

MPFG

Saw Nico working quite hard at front about 60km to go....TS were backing Bannatti for the race but he must have blown or punctured or something ...he was up there at that point and then disappeared

I think Nico is still looking for form...he was out of action along time with knee

MPFG

For those who didn't see - last 1hour 35 mins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPomEbKDpQk&feature=youtube_gdata