Strade Bianche: not a race like any other

You say Strade Bianche, and you say many things at once. 

First of all, you say World Tour: the first class of cycling, the dates where the history of the sport has been written and the most beautiful scenery, the most important races that everyone dreams of racing and few manage to win.

You say beauty. Because the Strade Bianche lives in the lands that make this country wonderful, where Tuscany manages to give its best by playing with spaces, colors, landscapes, and smells. From start to finish, there is not a meter that does not tell a story or that does not deserve to be observed.

And then you say fatigue. Eleven stretches of dirt road that give this race its name and make it tough and grueling, the final climb before swooping into Siena’s Piazza del Campo (ah, beauty again), the desire everyone will have to win that will lead to experiencing dizzying, breathless rhythms.

Being there for us is a victory. Trying to make our mark – and last year we succeeded, with Bevilacqua’s breakaway and Albanese’s run – is a promise.

And this is, also, a race about a boy: Andrea Pietrobon. Because we have not forgotten the fear we all felt that day, when during the Tour of Veneto he had fallen ruinously and we had all held our breath. In these months Andrea gritted his teeth, worked, suffered, fought with only one goal: to come back. And coming back to the Strade Bianche, is the most beautiful way to close this very difficult period: he deserved it, he really did.

Stefano Zanatta: “First of all, it is a World Tour, a race to which we have been invited, and this is a great honor for us, a huge satisfaction. As always, we will try to honor the race and deserve the invitation by bringing a combative team that will try to be present in the crucial stages of the race, trying to anticipate the strongest and trusting in Fetter who raced very well two years ago. For sure, we will race with an open mind against everyone. “

Erik Fetter: “I am really looking forward to this race every year, because it is one of my favourite race and the one I was watching the most when I was younger. Every year this race is a big goal for me, because this type of race suits me really well, so this year I was also preparing hard to be ready. This will be my 3rd participation, so I would like to use my experience from the last years to do an exciting race. Together with my teamates we will race hard to show our ambitions as a team”.

Lineup: Simone Bevilacqua, Erik Fetter, Andrea Garosio, Mirco Maestri, Andrea Pietrobon, Diego Sevilla, Samuele Rivi