You don’t win Strade Bianche just by having good technical skills. That’s something that anyone who has watched the race, or competed in it, knows for certain. However, being able to finesse the loose gravel and carry speed into key technical sections of off-road terrain is a key ingredient to success on Tuscany’s white roads. Being the best bike handler in the bunch isn’t the golden ticket to the podium in the Italian one-day race, but if you can combine this with good luck and good legs, you have a recipe for success.
There are proven examples of this over the years: Mathieu van der Poel, for a start, won Strade in 2021, a rider who is known for his supreme skills on the bike, having performed in gravel racing, cyclo-cross and mountain biking during his career. Likewise, 2023 Strade winner Tom Pidcock is the current Olympic champion in cross-country mountain biking, and 2020 winner Wout van Aert is known for his ability in the cyclo-cross field over the winter. On the women’s side of the sport, mountain bike world champion Puck Pieterse had a breakthrough ride at Strade in 2023, announcing herself on the road scene by finishing in fifth place, There’s a real correlation between those who spend their winters in muddy fields or split their season between mud and tarmac and those who relish the unique challenges of a race like Strade.
In 2025, there’s more riders than ever starting the race who have off-road experience at the very highest level. Alan Hatherly of Team Jayco AlUla – the current cross-country mountain bike world champion – has been touted as a dark horse on Saturday after an impressive start to his career on the road already this season. He argues that using his technical skills is going to be imperative if he wants a strong result in Tuscany.
“I’m definitely not in my best form for this one and I will rely on the gravel sectors to help me out. I’m a bit more relaxed than the other guys and able to carry more speed, I'm going to need the legs to position well too though,” Hatherly told Rouleur at the team presentation ahead of the race.
“The effort here is similar to mountain biking with rolling hills and quite punchy, it suits me well so fingers crossed I have a good day. It’s rougher than I expected seeing it in person and more technical than I thought which suits me well. Apparently this year’s edition is looser and rougher than in the past which will lead to crazy racing tomorrow.”
Hatherly believes that a positive mindset will be crucial if he wants to have a chance at beating stand-out favourite for the race, Tadej Pogačar: "I haven’t really raced against him yet but I think it just takes everyone working together. From the outside it seems everyone is racing for second place. We need to break that mindset and from then on everything will change. We’re just looking for that person who can follow him. I’m going to try my best,” the South African rider commented.
He wasn’t the only off-road rider in Siena on Friday with high hopes for their performances on Italian gravel. Israel Premier-Tech’s Joe Blackmore, who finished fifth in the 2022 Commonwealth Games men's mountain biking cross country race, was also optimistic that his experience would be invaluable during technical sections of Saturday’s race.
“I’m excited to get it going in this race, I did the recon yesterday and there’s so much gravel, I didn’t realise quite how much there was in that 90km section. I’m looking forward to it and can’t wait to start tomorrow,” the 22-year-old said. “I’d hope my mountain bike background is going to help. I’m confident on the gravel and back my bike handling ability which takes one edge off – you can race more naturally on the gravel. It’s going to be a hard race but hopefully being confident on the gravel helps me. If you’ve got the skills and power as a mountain biker - why not give it a shot on the road?”
Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Sam Gaze shared a similar view on the race to his colleagues. The Kiwi rider was the 2023 short track world champion and finished second behind Tom Pidcock in the cross-country race the same year and has been excelling on the road this season already.
“It all helps the more comfort you can feel on the gravel sectors the better especially as you go throughout the day on them. I think the positioning going into the sectors is the most important and the physical requirements for a race like this. Being a mountain biker helps but there are a lot of other things you need for this race too,” the 29-year-old said pragmatically at the start in Siena.
Gaze also pointed out that the extremely impressive performances of mountain bikers is a signifier of the current level in off-road disciplines. He argued that there’s a steady trend of more mountain bikers switching to the road, and for good reason: “Any cyclist, road or mountain bike, wants to achieve the best they can. Once the Olympic cycle is done then guys who have more ambition can branch out into other things,” Gaze said.
“Alan had a stellar season on the mountain bike and can really make a dent in the road so I’m excited to see how he gets on but it also speaks loudly for the quality of mountain bike which is super important. We work hard. It's cool to be a part of it.”
Hatherly added that the changing dynamics of mountain bike racing is bringing it closer to road, meaning it makes more sense for riders to dabble in both: “I think the way that mountain biking is evolving, it is lending itself to the benefits from road racing. Road racing is quite punchy and you really have to go over the limit and when you go back to mountain biking you are able to ride in control all the time. I think that the two different types of efforts work well together and it’s great prep for the mountain bike season.”
While all three riders were realistic about their tentative chances of beating a flying Pogačar on the gravel roads on Saturday, there’s a clear sign that mountain biking can play a big part in success in Strade and in road racing generally. Is this a trend we could see continuing in seasons to come? World champion Hatherly says it’s possible, and he hopes so.
“The mountain bike level is getting higher and higher, we come into the road to try and push ourselves even more,” he stated. “The level will keep lifting and I think it’s nice that mountain bikers come to the road now to show we also have big engines.”
