World Champion Julian Alaphilippe will make his fourth consecutive outing at the Italian one-day race.
Running its 16th edition this year, Strade Bianche sticks to the course that has made it a fan favourite since 2007. Starting and finishing in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Siena, famous for its dirt roads, rolling hills, steep gradients, picturesque landscapes and one of the best finish venues in the sport, Strade Bianche will once again see the riders take on more than 60 kilometers of sterrate on their way to glory in Piazza del Campo, one of Europe’s greatest medieval squares.
Winner here in 2019 and runner-up last season, Julian Alaphilippe will return at the start of the 184km competition together with a strong and experienced Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team. Also Kasper Asgreen will be back on Tuscany’s famous gravel roads, one week after a pair of solid outings at the Opening Weekend, where the Wolfpack once again took a victory. Dries Devenyns, Mikkel Honoré, Mauro Schmid – the winner of last year’s famous Giro d’Italia sterrate stage – Pieter Serry and Louis Vervaeke complete our squad for the first Italian World Tour race of the season.
“Strade Bianche is a race we love, one of the most beautiful and toughest on the calendar. We were always protagonists there and the team is motivated to do it again and get a good result Saturday, when we’ll be at the start with a solid squad. We are proud to have the World Champion in our ranks, it will be great to see the rainbow jersey on those roads, and this only adds to the motivation we have”, said sports director Davide Bramati.
Photo credit: ©Billy Ceusters
