Strade Bianche - Stats

Strade Bianche. Personally my favourite one-day race after Tour of Flanders. The scenery, the Tuscan-hills and the amazing finish at the Piazza del Campo in Siena. Pure beauty! Well, enough romantic talk, it's time for some facts. Who participated most often in Strade Bianche? How many riders finished on time? You will read it her, at WielerOrakel.

By Daniël (@StatsOnCycling)

More DNF than finishers

401 out of the 784 participants in Strade Bianche between 2018 and 2022 did not finish on time: more than half. Therewith, Strade is the big one-day race with the largest share of DNFs. In the entire period of Strade-existence (2007-2022), 47% of all participants did not finish the race on time in Siena. The share of finishers is only smaller in Lombardia. Both races are difficult to finish on time.

The 2020 summer-edition of Strade Bianche was most extreme in terms of DNFs: only 25% of all starters reached the Piazza del Campo within the time-limit. Two races had a larger share of DNFs: windy Gent-Wevelgem 2015 and rainy Lombardia 2010.

Strarlist quality a little lower in recent years

Looking at the startlist-quality published by ProCyclingStats is a nice way to evaluate the strenght of the startlist in a race. Up onto 2021 Strade Bianche was becoming 'stronger' and had about the 4th strongest startlist. In past 2 editions the SQ dropped significantly, one of the reasons being van Aert (2022+2023), van der Poel (2022) and Pogacar (2023) not starting the race. Riders high at the world-ranking contribute a lot to the SQ of a race.

Greg Van Avermaet and Giovanni Visconti with most starts

Again it is Greg Van Avermaet who has most experience in a big one-day race. After Omloop Het Nieuwsblad GVA also tops the list of riders with most starts in Strade Bianche: 13. Giovanni Visconti also participated 13 times, but only finished 10 editions. Behing them, Oss and Gatto are at 12 starts. Among active pros, Schär and Sagan follow in the raning of most starts in the 'Sixt Monument'.

Cancellara only one with 3 victories

Fabian Cancellara is the rider with most victories in Strade Bianche: he won in 2008, 2012 and 2016. Next to Cancellara Michal Kwiatkowski is the only rider with multipe wins. Other former winners that are still active are Alaphilippe, Benoot, Stybar, van Aert, van der Poel en Pogacar. Riders with many top-results without a win? Sagan, Valverde  and Van Avermaet finished 4 times or more often top-10, without a victory. It's most unlikely that one of them will add his name to the list of Strade-winners

Even though van Aert will not participate on Saturday, he is the rider with most consistent results in 'The race across the white roads'. He finished top-4 (!) in all his 4 participations. Incredible track-record for the Belgians superstar. Tim Wellens is consistent in Strade as well: his 13th place in 2021 was his worst result in 4 starts.

Best worst result in Strade Bianche:
4th | van Aert (4 starts)
13 | Wellens (4)
19 | Cancellara (8)
21 | Trentin (3)
21 | Dumoulin (4)
28 | Reichenbach (3)
30 | Pogacar (4)
31 | Küng (5)
36 | Fuglsang (5)
41 | Van Avermaet (12)

A final remarkable fact: Strade Bianche is the only classic which was won by Alaphlippe, van Aert ánd van der Poel. Which big name will be added to the list of winners this year? Will it be a surprising new winner, or will Kwiatkowski win for the 3rd time. In that case the riders will ride across the 'Settore Michal Kwiatkowski in 2024.

No doubt we will have a great race with amazing sceneries and, possibly, an even greater race.