When is a Classic not a Classic?  Tomorrow’s Strade Bianche possesses many of the characteristics of cycling’s greatest one day races: it’s run in spring in stunning Tuscan countryside, over challenging terrain that makes the race unpredictable, difficult to control and exciting to watch.  Strade Bianche literally means “white roads”, referring to the stretches of white gravel roads scattered throughout the course that evoke Paris-Roubaix in the way the peloton are either choked with dust or coated in filth depending on the weather (check out footage of stage 7 of the 2010 Giro d’Italia, which used some of the same roads, for a graphic illustration of the latter).  The race has been won by Classics superstars such as Philippe Gilbert and Fabian Cancellara, who was done over in last year’s edition by the Cannondale double act of his nemesis Peter Sagan and Moreno Moser, nephew of Italian cycling legend Francesco Moser.

Moreno Moser on his way to victory in 2013

Although it has all the hallmarks of a Classic and is sometimes referred to as such, in reality Strade Bianche has only been running since 2007, when Alexandr Kolobnev won the inaugural race (the less said about him the better).  The professional race evolved from the Eroica, a popular event for amateur cyclists who dress in vintage cycling gear (think wool rather than lycra) and ride old school steel-framed bikes (strictly no carbon) for up to 209km along the strade bianche in and around Gaiole in the Chianti region, home of the famous red wine in a basket beloved of fictional cannibalistic serial killers everywhere.

Is it worth the trip?

Are you kidding?  The race is held in Tuscany – the scenery is beautiful, the food and wine is amazing and the finish line is in Siena which is a wonderful place to while away a weekend.  It’s worth making the trip even without the race, but as Tuscany is unbelievably popular with tourists and no doubt horrifically crowded in summer, March is a great time to visit the area and see world-class cyclists at a comparatively low-key and uncrowded event. The main issue for the time-deficient (like me) is how best to spend your time here given that a lifetime would not be long enough to explore everything worth seeing in the region.

Where to watch

There are two schools of thought when it comes to watching road racing live – either you dash from point to point trying to see the race pass as many times as possible, or you hang around at a single (ideally strategic) point along the course with access to a television, so you can actually follow the race but also experience the roadside atmosphere and see the riders whiz by in person.

I’m a proponent of the latter approach, given that I don’t have a car, don’t have local knowledge of the course and enjoy settling in to drink copious amounts of beer when watching races.  The most obvious place to base yourself is usually either the start so you can see the riders sign on or the finish, which for this race is in Siena and was the option we chose last year.

Getting there

Most websites and travel guides will advise flying to Pisa to visit Siena or just about anywhere else in Tuscany.  There are no direct trains to Siena from Pisa, you either need to change at Empoli or take a bus.  Either way be prepared for at least a two-hour journey.

We decided to spend a few days in Siena’s rival Florence, which needs no introduction.  There are direct flights to Florence’s from London City airport, so this was a much better option for us and one I would do again, as I don’t think I could ever have enough of Florence.

I won’t dwell on our stay there as we didn’t do any cycling; all I will say is that Florence was so beautiful I cried when I got home and remembered I lived in Tooting!  One thing worth mentioning though is that we went to a fantastic exhibition of cycling at the Fortezza da Basso, featuring all sorts of vintage steeds and memorabilia including the rainbow jersey of the legendary Alfredo Binda, cycling’s first ever world champion in 1927.

World champion Alfredo Binda’s rainbow jersey

Every guidebook you read about Florence will tell you to book tickets to the most famous sights like the Uffizi in advance to avoid the queues.  If you visit in March this isn’t an issue – you can waltz straight into everywhere without waiting at all.

It’s easy to get to Siena from Florence by bus, which takes about an hour.  Buses run from the coach station just over the road from the Stazione di Santa Maria Novella train station.  The bus station in Siena is just on the edge of town – Siena isn’t very big and it’s possible to walk to most places if you’re fit and like hills!  In fact most of the city is pedestrianised so you don’t have a lot of choice.    If you arrive the day before the race and are lucky like we were, you might see some pros out and about in town checking out the route – we saw Taylor Phinney, Greg Van Avermaet and a couple of other BMC guys looking decidedly lost not far from our hotel.

Siena

Palazzo Pubblico, Piazzo del Campo and a marvellous travelling companion

It’s not surprising they’re rivals – Siena is a completely different city to Florence, so it’s definitely worth visiting both to see the contrast.  A maze of narrow, twisting streets tumble between towering medieval buildings to converge on the impressive Piazza del Campo, the vast main square presided over by the enormous clock tower of the Palazzo Pubblico (well worth the 500-step climb to the top of this if you have cyclist’s thighs (naturally) and a head for heights).

View of Il Campo from the tower of the Palazzo Pubblico

The Campo is most famous for the Palio, a bonkers horse race held on two nights in the summer, where rival contrade (town districts) race their nags bareback at full pace three times around the edge of the square. Wandering the streets of Siena (which never gets old), the locations of the different contrade can be identified by their mascots such as caterpillars, owls, snails and so on that decorate the relevant streets.

Contrade mascot

While strolling about make sure to walk up Via Di Fontebranda – it’s a steep flag-stoned climb that the pros must scale at the end of the race as they enter the city.  It would break the knees of you or me (well, me anyway) but is not considered significant enough to even mention in the road book or the commentary.

Back to the race…

Like the Palio, the finishing line of Strade Bianche is located in Il Campo.  As I mentioned earlier, the Strade Bianche is much more low key than other spring races like the Tour of Flanders, so you don’t have to get there particularly early if you want a place along the finishing straight.

The not-so-hectic finish line in Siena

The Campo is lined with restaurants and bars, many of which have televisions, but don’t make the mistake we did and assume they will be showing the reasonably prestigious bike race about to finish on their doorstep.  We tried several but no joy – I guess in a region where cycle racing is so much a part of the fabric that a local TV channel shows clips of the achievements of Gastone Nencini on continuous loop, bike races finish here all the time.  I would suggest scoping out a few places the day before elsewhere in the city and ask if they plan to show the race.

Anyway, we were fortunate that the organisers RCS had hired Anthony McCrossan to provide commentary in English that was relayed by loud-speaker over the square, where we sat in the early spring sun and enjoyed a couple of beers before bagging a spot at the finishing straight barrier next to an elderly Italian gentleman who almost had a coronary with joy when Moser crossed the line first.

The podium ceremony was suitably chaotic, with the press and spectators congregating in the finishing straight whilst most of the field were still coming in.  In fact we accidentally found ourselves kettled with the paparazzi when someone finally attempted to control the situation, which made for a good photo opportunity.

The podium l-r: Peter Sagan (2nd), Moreno Moser (1st), Rinaldo Nocentini (3rd)

Are there other ways to see the race?

With a 197km route through glorious countryside there are plenty of other places you could choose to try and catch the race whilst enjoying what Tuscany has to offer. It’s worth downloading a copy of the road book to check out the full route, as it changes a little each year.  In fact it’s worth downloading a copy anyway so that you can enjoy the Google-translated introduction, which last year featured the following description of the race:

“It can be considered as the earthliest, the most terrestrial, territorial and ground-to-ground race…The “Strade Bianche” is a maze of country, rustic, peasant roads which never met asphalt, far from traffic, silent or grumbling, dusty or muddy, all at the same vegetal and mineral, bestial and animal, two-wheeled or four-legged.”

Couldn’t have put it better myself!

Last year the race passed through the outskirts of Siena early on so we attempted to catch the race twice although we botched our timing and only saw the briefest flash of fluo-yellow lycra from about half a mile away. This year the race starts in San Gimignano, famous for its medieval towers built by competing families and somewhere I have never been, so if I was going again I’d be tempted to head there for the sign-in.

Another way to experience the route, which is definitely on my to-do list, is to have a go at the Eroica.  The event is held in October and there are four routes varying from 38km to 209km in length.  Alternatively the route is signposted all year round, so there’s nothing to stop you tackling it any time at any pace you fancy.  Seems like a good excuse to go back to Tuscany some time, not that I need one.

I’ll let the road book have the last line about this terrific race: “In a word: timeless cycle racing”.  Amen.

Next time

It’s only four weeks until the Tour of Flanders, my favourite race and one I’ve been to a few times, so I’ll try to get some top tips out a little earlier rather than the day before.