Strade Bianche 2023: Superb Tom Pidcock creates history as first British male winner of Tuscan classic

If ever there was a road race perfectly suited to the strengths of an Olympic mountain-bike gold medallist and former cyclocross world champion, it’s one that includes 63 kilometres of Tuscan gravel. And Britain’s Tom Pidcock added the race dubbed the “Sixth Monument” to his swelling palmares on Saturday with a fantastic solo raid over the famous white roads to win Strade Bianche with a brutal display of uphill prowess, downhill dexterity, courage and confidence.

Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) responded to a series of attacks on the key Monte Sante Marie section of gravel with around 50km remaining of the 184km race before zipping clear of his adversaries on a fast and technical downhill section. Ad After sweeping past the remnants of the day’s three-man breakaway, Pidcock soloed towards his second win of the season despite a stellar chase group closing the gap to just seven seconds on the outskirts of Siena.

Strade BiancheWatch Pidcock receive trophy on podium after Strade Bianche triumph11 MINUTES AGO But Pidcock kept his calm while his increasingly desperate chasers started looking at each other, last year’s conqueror of Alpe d’Huez hitting the double-digit gradient of the via Santa Caterina with the luxury of a 30-second cushion to play with amid the roaring sea of spectators lining the road. Pidcock crossed the finish line in the historic Piazza del Campo to take an emphatic victory by 20 seconds over Frenchman Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ).

A somewhat forlorn Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo-Visma) of Belgium completed the podium ahead of Portuguese veteran Rui Costa (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert), Hungarian champion Attila Valter (Jumbo-Visma), and the Slovenian Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious). «Honestly, it's going to take some