2026 Strade Bianche Donne Race Preview

Every year, the white roads of Tuscany do something that tarmac cannot. They expose riders who can manage discomfort and reward those who can impose it. The gravel sectors between Siena and the Crete Senesi have a way of compressing a race, forcing errors in positioning, punishing anyone who arrives at a sector out of place, and turning what looks like a controlled group into a fractured collection of individuals surviving on instinct. When the road eventually returns to cobblestones and rises into Siena’s old town, the only riders still with something left to give are the ones the race was always likely to belong to. Demi Vollering will be looking for her 3rd win after winning last season.

The 2026 edition covers 131 kilometres, slightly shorter than last year’s 136-kilometre route, with 32.6 kilometres of gravel spread across 11 sectors, down from 13 in 2025. The reduction in total gravel does not mean a reduction in brutality. The sectors that remain are demanding and well-placed, arriving before the legs have fully recovered from what came before. The key change for how the race may unfold is whether the shorter overall gravel distance allows a larger group to stay together deeper into the race, making the Via Santa Caterina climb into Siena a more decisive moment than the earlier sectors, or whether the positioning battle across 11 sectors still creates the kind of attrition that settles the result before the finale.

The race begins in Siena and heads south, hitting the first gravel sector within 10 kilometres, a flat 2.4-kilometre introduction that is immediately followed by the second sector, which climbs relentlessly for 4.8 kilometres with gradients reaching double figures. A third undulating gravel sector of 4.4 kilometres follows before the longest stretch of continuous asphalt provides a brief respite. The San Martino in Grania sector then arrives at roughly the 55-kilometre mark, 9.4 kilometres of predominantly uphill gravel ending with a steep, twisting climb. The Colle Pinzuto sector appears twice in the closing circuit, a 2.4-kilometre gravel climb that groups rarely survive intact. Le Tolfe is the final gravel road of the race, 1.1 kilometres that begins with a descent before a ramp of up to 18 per cent. After Le Tolfe, 12 kilometres remain to the finish in Siena, all on asphalt but far from flat. Via Santa Caterina climbs at 12 per cent over 500 metres with a 16 per cent ramp at the end, and the race concludes on the rough, steep cobblestones of the Piazza del Campo. If a small group survives Le Tolfe together, the Via Santa Caterina is where the winner is most often decided. If the gravel has already done the splitting, the winner is often already clear before the city gates.

Previous Winners

2025
Demi Vollering
2024
Lotte Kopecky
2023
Demi Vollering

2026 Strade Bianche Donne route

2026 Strade Bianche Donne live TV coverage

Race Date: Saturday 7th March 2026

Live coverage is available in the UK via TNT Sports and Discovery+, in Italy via Rai Sport and in Belgium via Sporza.

Broadcast images are expected from approximately 10:45 GMT

2026 Strade Bianche Donne startlist

2026 Strade Bianche Donne contenders

The clearest form line coming into this race belongs to Demi Vollering of FDJ United-SUEZ, who has won two of the last three editions here and arrives having already taken four victories in 2026, winning two stages and the overall at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana and then Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last weekend. The Omloop win in particular carried a tactical message, because she forced the decisive move on the Muur with teammate Franziska Koch setting up the launch, then held off Kasia Niewiadoma in the sprint to the line. That kind of racing, building pressure through a team and finishing it herself, is exactly what wins on the white roads. Elise Chabbey and Juliette Berthet give FDJ further depth, and both are capable of featuring if the race fragments in a way that suits a smaller group of attackers rather than a sprint. Vollering in this form, at this race, is the obvious place to start.

The most potent counter-threat comes from SD Worx-Protime, who bring two former winners to the start. Lotte Kopecky won here in 2024 and 2022 and is the only rider with as many victories at this race as Vollering, though her 2026 campaign has been interrupted by a mechanical that cost her any chance of contesting the Omloop finale. A rider of Kopecky’s quality rarely needs more than one good race to find her feet, and the gravel sectors here suit her ability to generate power over varied surfaces. Anna van der Breggen finished second in 2025, ten months on from announcing she would continue racing for another season, and that result demonstrated she retains the class to race at the front of the best field in women’s cycling. SD Worx can race aggressively in multiple scenarios because they do not need the result to arrive in one specific way.

The most intriguing rider on the start list is Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, who makes her 2026 season debut here, having won Paris-Roubaix and the Tour de France Femmes in her first road season back in 2025, adding a third-place finish at this race along the way. The cross-discipline background that makes her so difficult to categorise translates particularly well to a race that rewards both bike handling in technical conditions and explosive capacity on punchy climbs. She comes in after an altitude training block on Teide rather than race miles, which is a different kind of preparation to Vollering, and whether that matters on the day remains the key unknown. Marianne Vos also makes her 2026 road debut at the same race, and while her best results here have come from different circumstances, the addition of Vos to any front group changes the tactical arithmetic immediately. Sarah Van Dam makes her Strade Bianche debut having finished 5th in GC at the Tour Down Under in January, form that confirms she is in good condition even if this race presents an entirely new test. A rider arriving without the weight of previous results here can occasionally be an asset rather than a liability, because there is no history to defend and no pattern of finishing positions to manage.

The most in-form climber in the field is Elisa Longo Borghini of UAE Team ADQ, who won the UAE Tour Women in February, attacking solo on Jebel Hafeet to take the stage and the overall for the third time in four editions, dropping Kasia Niewiadoma in the process. She won this race in 2017 and finished second in 2024, and racing on home roads with a UAE team that controls the front of a race as effectively as any in the peloton gives her genuine winning credentials. Mavi Garcia was a top-five finisher here last season and provides a second option if the race splits in a way that favours a smaller group of attackers before the Via Santa Caterina. The outside bet in the UAE selection is Paula Blasi, who finished 3rd in GC at the Tour Down Under in January and arrives here with the kind of early-season form that suggests she is ready to measure herself against the best company on a course that suits her. This is an opportunity to find out exactly where her ceiling sits.

The most consistent recent performer at this race who is not a former winner is Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney of Canyon SRAM, who placed in the top four in four consecutive editions between 2016 and 2019 and finished second at Omloop last weekend after being outsprinted by Vollering from a two-rider move. That finish confirmed her condition is strong, and her willingness to commit to a move from far out is the quality that makes her dangerous here, because Strade Bianche rewards riders who attack before Le Tolfe rather than wait for the Via Santa Caterina. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig was third here in 2023 and adds a second credible attacking option to the Canyon SRAM selection, capable of animating the gravel sectors if the tempo drops enough to allow a move to establish itself.

The most compelling wildcard on the start list is Puck Pieterse of Fenix-Premier Tech, who makes her 2026 road season debut having come directly from cyclocross, where her World Championships campaign concluded in early February. The multi-discipline background suits Strade Bianche better than almost any other race on the WorldTour calendar: technical bike handling on gravel, explosive capacity on short climbs, and an ability to read chaotic, fast-changing situations that is harder to develop on the road alone. She was fourth here in 2023 and won La Flèche Wallonne in 2025, and while arriving without race miles may limit her in the final kilometres, she is exactly the type of rider who can appear in a small front group before the finish. Teammate Yara Kastelijn brings a reassuring consistency to the Fenix selection, having finished 6th in 2025 and never lower than 15th across four editions of this race. That kind of record does not come from luck; it comes from understanding how to position through the gravel sectors and stay attached to the front group when others are getting shelled. If Pieterse is not yet at full road sharpness, Kastelijn is more than capable of carrying the team’s ambitions into the finale.

AG Insurance-Soudal bring one of the most interesting stories of the early 2026 season in Kim Le Court, who finished fourth at the UAE Tour Women in February and has started 2026 with the kind of consistency that suggests she is ready to take a step towards a major one-day result. Strade Bianche is a race that tends to reward riders who can follow every move on the gravel without needing to lead them, then produce something on the Via Santa Caterina when the group finally splinters, and that profile suits Le Court-Pienaar well. Letizia Borghesi adds a second credible option to the AG selection, finishing 18th here last season and opening 2026 with 16th at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last weekend, a result that points to improving form rather than a ceiling already reached. Urska Zigart has the climbing profile that should translate well to the Colle Pinzuto laps and the Via Santa Caterina, even if her results here have not yet matched what her abilities suggest is possible. Lore De Schepper is the youngest name in the selection and one to watch as a rider still finding her feet in this kind of company, because the course rewards instinct and bike handling as much as accumulated experience, and occasionally a young climber produces something unexpected when the favourites are too focused on each other.

Liv AlUla Jayco arrive with a quietly compelling case built around Monica Trinca Colonel, who finished 11th here in 2025 and backed that up with 2nd overall at the UAE Tour Women this year, a result that firmly establishes her as a stage race GC performer capable of mixing it with the best. Strade Bianche is a different demand to a stage race, but a rider in that kind of form and condition rarely falls far short of a top result on a course she already knows. Caroline Andersson has finished 16th and 22nd in her two editions here and was 4th at Le Samyn mid-week, a result on a similarly punchy Belgian semi-classic that confirms her legs are in good shape and she arrives in Tuscany with recent racing in them rather than simply preparation kilometres.

Liane Lippert of Movistar arrives at this race with momentum after winning the Vuelta CV Feminas earlier in 2026 and adding further podiums in the weeks since. Strade Bianche is a race that has occasionally thrown up its result from a rider who attacks from further out than the favourites expect, and Lippert’s willingness to race aggressively when the situation opens up makes her the kind of outsider who can force the early decisive move on San Martino in Grania or Colle Pinzuto and arrive at Le Tolfe in a group that no longer includes all the obvious contenders.

Magdeleine Vallieres of EF Education-Oatly arrives as reigning world champion, with racing in Australia and Spain already in her legs. Her Kigali world title came from a well-timed attack that nobody had the legs to close, and if the race produces a similar moment of hesitation among the favourites, she is the type of rider who exploits it before anyone has made the decision to respond. Teammate Noemi Rüegg won the Tour Down Under overall in January 2026 and brings form that is harder to dismiss than her Strade Bianche record alone would suggest. Cédrine Kerbaol provides climbing support but arrives without a strong record here, her best finish of 33rd last season suggesting the course has not yet clicked for her, and her role is most likely one of setting up Vallieres in the crucial sectors rather than featuring in the front group herself.

The Lidl-Trek selection carries more genuine threat than a single name suggests. Shirin van Anrooij finished fifth here in 2024 and has the course profile and the cross-discipline background to be in the front group when it matters, while Riejanne Markus has been a consistent presence at this race, finishing 7th in 2024 and 8th in 2023, the sort of record that points to a rider who understands how to manage the gravel sectors and arrive at the Via Santa Caterina with something left. Niamh Fisher-Black was 8th in 2025 and is building a Strade Bianche record that increasingly suggests a higher finish is coming rather than a fluke already on the books. Lucinda Brand adds further depth and tactical experience to a selection that could produce a winner from multiple directions if the race fractures early and the front group remains unsettled through the Colle Pinzuto laps.

Top 3 Prediction

⦿ Demi Vollering
⦿ Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
⦿ Elisa Longo Borghini