Strade Bianche (2019) Photos March 9

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UCI Road World Champion and Strade Bianche women's winner, Anna van der Breggen and last year's men's winner, Tiesj Benoot		Photo-op with last year's winners
Pre-race press conference
Tiesj Benoot, 2018 Men's race winner, said: “I had a bad crash last week, but the wounds are healing very well. I feel like I’m ready to defend my title. Compared to the weather conditions we had last year, the race will be less hard but it’s a course that doesn’t need bad conditions to be demanding, because there are a lot of climbs. In 2016, when I did it for the first time, it was also dry and the bunch exploded. There’s less wind than last year and this is maybe the most important factor on the dirt sections.”	Anna van der Breggen, 2018 Women's race winner, said: "This is really special race. We can’t compare it with any other one. The town is beautiful. Every cyclist likes to ride in Italy. Here with the gravel roads, the ups and downs, it’s a great race to start the WorldTour season with. I always love to compete here. The gravel sectors feel so different than last year. It will change the racing 100%. One year ago, because of the cold I had to wear gloves, this year it’s nice and sunny. There are more and more competitive teams in women cycling. It’ll make the race even more exciting tomorrow."

Stage 2:    Full Results and Report

	Marianne Vos	Last year's winner Anna van der Breggen (NED) signing in
Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned/Mitchelton-Scott) riding to the finish in Siena after successfully attacking on the final dirt sector	Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned/Mitchelton-Scott) wins the women's Strade Bianche	Your 2019 Women's podium: 2nd Annika Langvad (Den/Boels Dolmans) + 37s, 1st Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned/Mitchelton-Scott) 3:48:49, 3rd Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon-SRAM) + 40s

Stage 3:  Men's Race  Full Results and Report

Tour of Oman winner, Alexey LUTSENKO (Astana)	Last year's winner, Tiesj BENOOT (LOTTO SOUDAL)	Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner, Zdeněk ŠTYBAR (DECEUNINCK - QUICK-STEP)
Rollout from the outskirts of Siena
	Diego ROSA (SKY)
The late successful three man break, Wout Van Aert (BEL/Jumbo - Visma), Jakob Fuglsang (DEN/Astana) and Julian Alaphilippe (FRA/Deceuninck - Quick Step)		Julian Alaphilippe (FRA/Deceuninck - Quick Step) and Jakob Fuglsang (DEN/Astana) dropped Van Aert
		Van Aert rejoins for the finishing 17% climb to Piazza del Campo
As expected, given the make-up of the final three riders, Julian Alaphilippe (FRA/Deceuninck - Quick Step) won the hill climb finish to Piazza del Campo		Julian ALAPHILIPPE (FRA/DECEUNINCK - QUICK-STEP) wins the 2019 Strade Bianche in 4:47:14, 2nd Jakob FUGLSANG (DEN/ASTANA PRO) + 2s
Julian Alaphilippe, said in the press conference: “Strade Bianche was my first big goal of the season. I started pretty well in South America but I wanted to win here. I was very motivated with a strong team. It wasn’t easy to be the favorite of a race I never took part in previously but I’m quite used to the pressure now and I handle the situation pretty well. I felt heavy legs in the finale and Jakob Fuglsang was fresher than me. I had to arrive with him at the bottom of the San Caterina. I’m super happy that I made it. A cycling season is not only about the Flèche Wallonne and the Tour de France for me. I needed something new to motivate me, and that was Strade Bianche.”	3rd Wout VAN AERT (BEL/JUMBO - VISMA) + 27s	4th Zdeněk ŠTYBAR (CZE/DECEUNINCK - QUICK-STEP) + 1:00, 5th Tiesj BENOOT (BEL/LOTTO SOUDAL), 6th Greg VAN AVERMAET (BEL/CCC) + 1:01, 7th Alexey LUTSENKO (KAZ/ASTANA PRO) + 1:04, 8th Simon CLARKE (AUS/EF EDUCATION FIRST) + 1:08, 9th Toms SKUJINS (LAT/TREK - SEGAFREDO) + 1:12
Julian Alaphilippe (FRA/Deceuninck - Quick Step) celebrates with teammate Yves Lampaert who was 11th	Your 2019 Strade Bianche winner, Julian Alaphilippe (FRA/Deceuninck - Quick Step)	Your 2019 podium, 2nd Jakob FUGLSANG (DEN/ASTANA) + 2s, 1st Julian ALAPHILIPPE (FRA/DECEUNINCK - QUICK-STEP) and, 3rd Wout VAN AERT (BEL/JUMBO - VISMA) + 27s
Julian Alaphilippe won Strade Bianche having never ridden the race before. Impressive, but actually not that unusual. Eight of the 13 editions have had debut winners. — @CyclingAlmanack