Strade Bianche: Tom Pidcock wins prestigious classic with superb solo effort

1 year ago 68

Britain's Tom Pidcock holds up the Strade Bianche trophy aft winning the one-day classic

Britain's Tom Pidcock claimed a superb solo triumph successful the prestigious Strade Bianche one-day classical successful Italy.

Ineos Grenadiers rider Pidcock, 23, attacked from the peloton with astir 50km remaining to articulation a breakaway radical up the road.

He kicked wide with 20km to spell and held disconnected the chasers to transverse the enactment unsocial successful Siena, becoming the archetypal British victor of the men's race.

"It's going to instrumentality immoderate sinking in," helium said.

"This week I had the feeling thing bully was going to happen, I benignant of knew contiguous was my time and that it really paid disconnected is beauteous incredible."

The Netherlands' Demi Vollering won the women's contention connected Saturday, conscionable edging retired SD Worx team-mate Lotte Kopecky successful a melodramatic photograph finish.

Britain's Lizzie Deignan won the 2nd variation of the women's Strade Bianche successful 2016.

Olympic upland motorcycle champion Pidcock utilized his good descending skills to clasp disconnected his rivals successful the contention containing 11 sections of achromatic gravel roads successful Tuscany.

After making his determination connected a pugnacious gravel sector, helium caught the pb radical 5km later, leaving 3 riders astatine the beforehand - Pidcock, Alessandro de Marchi and Sven Erik Bystrom.

Bystrom dropped distant earlier Pidcock rode wide of De Marchi, lone for his pb to beryllium chopped to conscionable six seconds with astir 5km remaining by a chasing radical including Matej Mohoric, Tiesj Benoot and Valentin Madouas.

But Pidcock stretched his vantage connected a descent arsenic helium approached Siena, with Madouas claiming 2nd conscionable up of Benoot.

It is the 2nd large triumph of Pidcock's roadworthy racing career, pursuing his signifier 12 triumph successful past year's Tour de France.

"When I went, that was wholly not the plan," said Pidcock. "But that assemblage is simply a decisive place, truthful I was conscionable riding hard, I got a spread connected the descent and conscionable carried on.

"A fewer times they came adjacent and I thought I'd messed it up, gone excessively aboriginal and wasted my changeable but it was accelerated each time truthful I knew if I got a spread it was going to beryllium hard to bring it back."

Cyclist Demi Vollering is forced to brake owed to a equine connected the Strade Bianche course

In the women's race, American Kristen Faulkner went wide with 32km to spell and led into the last stages.

Vollering attacked from a radical of the main contenders and held her nervus erstwhile a equine ran connected to the people successful beforehand of her.

Kopecky bridged crossed to her team-mate and they worked unneurotic to reel successful Faulkner earlier passing her connected the last emergence into Siena.

In a frantic finale, Belgian Kopecky initially passed her team-mate with 300m to spell earlier Vollering drew level and timed her motorcycle propulsion to assertion the title, lone being informed she had won successful a TV interrogation afterwards.

"It was a brainsick final," said Vollering. "We did precise good arsenic a team, the different girls rode ace beardown contiguous and did everything.

"I spoke to Lotte, and she was truly happy, I came into the structure wherever we change, and she said, 'You won, I'm so, truthful happy'. No hard feelings."

Men's result