Mathieu van der Poel beats Alaphilippe and Bernal to take Strade Bianche victory
Mar 06 2021 11:31 pm CET
Photo of Mathieu van der Poel (c)Alpecin-Fenix
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) has taken the victory of Strade Bianche after launching a last-kilometre attack.
The race of the white roads was 184 kilometres long with a start and finish in Siena, Italy, and featured 63 kilometres of gravel divided in eleven sectors. There were several attacks during the first part of the race until one first group was created by riders like Rudy Molard, Loïc Vliegen, Tosh Van Der Sande and Tom Bohli, among others.
But kilometres later, the situation changed again and with around 60 kilometres to go, the peloton broke in pieces and a strong chase group was formed and featured names like Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Egan Bernal, Tom Pidcock (Ineos-Grenadiers), Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
Behind them a group that included names like Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech), Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), tried to contact the front but unsuccessfully. With around 20 kilometres to go, Van Aert and Pidcock lost terrain to the rest of the group and started chasing while Trek-Segafredo's Quinn Simmons crashed in a curve.
Van Aert returned to the front a few kilometres later before facing the final stretch of the competition. With 12 kilometres to go, Van der Poel launched a strong attack and the only rider that managed to stay at his wheel was Alaphilippe while the others were left struggling behind.
A couple of kilometres later, Bernal joined the front duo while Van Aert led the chasers group. Van der Poel tried to escape before entering the Via Santa Caterina, but the other two managed to reel him back in.
But the story was different on the last climb, when the Dutch national champion made an acceleration that left his companions behind and allowed him to cross the finish line by himself. Alaphilippe was second and Bernal finished in the third position.
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