Strade Bianche to go ahead despite new Italian Lockdown

The one-day Italian classic is set to go ahead despite Siena, where the race is held, becoming a red zone. Peter Sagan will miss this year's race due to a positive COVID19 test

Italian officials have introduced measures to control what is now the worst outbreak of the coronavirus in Europe.

There are strict quarantine restrictions in two northern "hotspot" regions close to Milan and Venice, in the Lombardy and Veneto regions.

This year’s edition serves as a reminder that Europe is not out of the woods just yet with regards to the coronavirus pandemic.

Coronavirus cases are increasing once more in Italy, with residents not allowed outside unless they have work or for medical reasons, with school closed, as well as non-essential shops.

Both the men’s and women’s editions of Strade Bianche are scheduled for this coming Saturday, March 6, and will go ahead as planned,  unless the local authorities change their mind in the coming days.

Peter Sagan will not ride Strade Bianche on Saturday, preferring to delay his season debut until next week’s Tirreno-Adriatico.

The former three-time world champion, his brother Juraj and Bora-Hansgrohe teammate Erik Baška tested positive for COVID-19 in early February during a privately organised training camp in Gran Canaria. 

They were obliged to quarantine for ten days under Spanish COVID-19 regulations, with the riders only allowed to do some core work while obliged to stay indoors. Sagan stayed in Gran Canaria to reboot his training but he and Bora-Hansgrohe realised there was little sense in starting his season on the dirt roads and steep climbs of Strade Bianche. 

“Peter is on the way to recovery. He will not be taking part in Strade Bianche, with his season commencement planned for Tirreno-Adriatico, as long as his recovery remains on track over the coming days,” the Bora-Hansgrohe team told Cyclingnews. Emanuel Buchmann is now expected to lead Bora-Hansgrohe at Strade Bianche.

The men’s start lists for the race are still not certain but the usual big names are expected, including defending champion Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck – Quick-Step), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) as well as several exciting debutants including British rider, Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers).

In the shorter women’s race, it is expected that the usual big names of Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx), Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-Sram), Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) Lizzie Deignan and Elisa Longo-Borghini (both Trek-Segafredo) will be on the start line in Siena.

Strade Bianche 2021 start list (men)

All 19 WorldTour teams are eligible to race, and six Wildcard teams have also been invited to complete the 184km in 2020.

Astana-Premier Tech
FUGLSANG Jakob
FELLINE Fabio

AG2R-Citroën
VAN AVERMAET Greg
CALMEJANE Lillian
PETERS Nans
VAN HOECKE Gijs
VENDRAME Andrea
VENTURINI Clément
SCHÄR Michael

Bahrain Victorious
MOHORIC Matej
CARUSO Damiano
TRATNIK Jan

Bora-Hansgrohe
KONRAD Patrick
ZWIEHOFF Ben

Intermarché-Wanty Gobert Matériaux
VLIEGEN Loïc
ZIMMERMANN Georg

Deceuninck – Quick-Step
ALAPHILIPPE Julian
ŠTYBAR Zdenek
BALLERINI Davide

EF Education-Nippo
DOCKER Mitchell

Groupama-FDJ
MADOUAS Valentin
KÜNG Stefan
GENIETS Kevin
MOLARD Rudy

Israel Start-Up Nation
WOODS Michael

Jumbo-Visma
VAN AERT Wout
FOSS Tobias
VAN HOOYDONCK Nathan

Lotto-Soudal
WELLENS Tim
VAN MOER Brent

Movistar Team
VALVERDE Alejandro

Team Qhubeka-Assos
YATES Simon
STANNARD Robert

Team DSM
TUSVELD Martijn
BARDET Romain
NIEUWENHUIS Joris
COMBAUD Romain
ARENSMAN Thymen
VERMAERKE Kevin
HAMILTON Chris

Ineos Grenadiers
PIDCOCK Tom
BERNAL Egan
SIVAKOV Pavel

Trek-Segafredo
MOLLEMA Bauke
BRAMBILLA Gianluca
SIMMONS Quinn
SKJELMOSE JENSEN Mattias

UAE-Team Emirates
HIRSCHI Marc
POGACAR Tadej
FORMOLO Davide
MCNULTY Brandon

Alpecin-Fenix
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
MEURISSE Xandro
VERMEERSCH Gianni
RICKAERT Jonas

Arkéa-Samsic
ROSA Diego

Androni-Giocattoli Sidermec
PELLAUD Simon

Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè
Vini Zabù

Strade Bianche 2021 start list (women)

The 23 women’s teams taking on the 136km elite women’s course:

Movistar Team
VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek

Team SD Worx
VAN DER BREGGEN Anna

Team BikeExchange
BROWN Grace

Canyon-Sram
NIEWIADOMA Kasia

Team DSM
LIPPERT Liane

Alé-BTC-Ljubljana
BASTIANELLI Marta

Trek-Segafredo
DEIGNAN Lizzie
LONGO-BORGHINI Elisa

Team Jumbo-Visma women team
VOS Marianne

Liv Racing
KOPECKY Lotte