They do not speculate. They don’t warn either. they win. And they earn well, at the first change. She did it Tadej Pogacar in Andalusia, replied Remco Evenepoel in the Emirates and Jonas Vingegaard put the icing on the cake in Galicia. This Saturday, in one of the first great classics of the season, already Another of cycling’s stars has shone: Tom Pidcock. The Briton, in true ‘Pogacar style’ in 2022, put in a stellar performance to win the first Strade Bianche of his record. He moved with about 50 km to go, leaving the rest of the favorites behind -especially a Mathieu van der Poel who tried, but had no legs- in a dangerous descent and finished off the escapees with an imperial rhythm in the last sectors of sterrato. The pearl of Ineos (23 years old) reaches two victories in the same season for the first time and wins integers for his next challenges, also in Italian territory: Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo. Valentin Madouas and Tiesj Benoot accompanied him on the podium, while bilbao hair He finished as the best Spaniard (7th).
We had to wait for the arrival of the first sectors of sterrato to make up the getaway, the one in which Spanish cycling was well represented by the young brilliance that Iván Romeo (19 years old) gives off. The one from Movistar, accompanied by Sven Erik Bystrom (Intermarché) and Alessandro de Marchi (Jayco), made his way, consented to by the peloton, until reaching a maximum income of almost 6 minutes. With 70 km to go, with the arrival in the demanding five-star sector of San Martino in Grania, the race began to explode. The Soudal Quick-Step hardened the march and in those first meters of earth came a fall that left Carlos Rodríguez completely off the hook, one of the best Spanish assets. Fortune does not smile on the man from Granada at this start of the course, since he had been injured by a fall on the Ruta del Sol.
The master class de Romeo in the elite of this sport finished 52 km from the end, when he could not keep up with his other adventure companions at a time when the Jumbo decided to toughen the march even more. Alberto Bettiol, from so far, he made his bet next to Andrea Bagioli, while the peloton stood by. Seconds later, on this dirt slide, the third in discord arrived: Pidcock. It was not one of his viral workouts, but the Briton again displayed his expertise on the descent to leave the two Italians behind and catch up with Bystrom and De Marchi. A half-minute gap opened up and Van der Poel saw the wolf’s ears. He attacked, but he was unable to leave and they left him all the ‘toast’ in pursuit. The horse had gone…
Pidcock, without the relief of Bystrom and De Marchi, was gaining ground, while behind Van der Poel’s dwarfs grew. A new cut was generated, with big names like Mohoric, Bilbao, Benoot, Valter, Kron, Simmons, Madouas, Rui Costa, Formolo… Wellens (untimely breakdown) and Alaphilippe (missing legs) had said goodbye to their options long before. When the last sectors of sterrato arrived, as expected, Pidcock left alone, a maneuver to which Benoot tried to respond from a distance with an attack 22 km from the end. Even though there was regrouping behind the British, lacked organization and nobody took the glove. Following his huge win last year in the Tour de France at the top of Alpe d’Huez, Pidcock continues to make strides forward.
Results of the 17th Strade Bianche
1º Tom Pidcock (Ineos) – 4h 31:41
2nd Valentin Madouas (Groupama) – at 20″
3rd Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo) – 22″
7th bilbao hair (Bahrain) – 1:04
