The tenth edition of the Strade Bianche road cycling race was held on 5 March 2016, in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Swiss Fabian Cancellara concluded his third win in the race. The race covered , starting and finishing in

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

. It was part of the

2016 UCI Europe Tour The 2016 UCI Europe Tour was the twelfth season of the UCI Europe Tour. The 2016 season began on 28 January 2016 with the Vuelta a Mallorca, Trofeo Santanyí-Ses Salines-Campos and ended on 23 October 2016 with the Chrono des Nations. French rid ...

, a

1.HC The UCI 1.HC and UCI 2.HC are the second tier classification of road cycling races by the UCI, after the UCI World Tour (or its predecessor, the UCI ProTour). The races are part of the various UCI Continental Circuits. The 1.HC events are one-day ...

-ranked event.

Route

The race started and finished in the

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, marking a shift from previous editions, which started in

San Gimignano San Gimignano () is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of ...

. Because of its new start location, the distance is scaled back to 176 kilometres, run entirely within the southern Tuscan

province of Siena The province of Siena ( it, provincia di Siena, link=no, ) is a province in Tuscany, Italy. Its capital is the city of Siena. Geography The province is divided into seven historical areas: * Alta Val d'Elsa * Chianti senese * The urban area o ...

. The Strade Bianche is particularly renowned for its sectors of white gravel roads (''strade bianche'' or ''sterrati''), which comprise large sections of the route. The course ran over the hilly terrain of the Chianti region and included nine sectors and a total of 52.8 km (32.8 mi) of dirt road. The first sector was addressed just 11 km after the start; the longest and most arduous sectors were the ones in Lucignano d’Asso (11.9 km) and Monte Sante Marie (11.5 km). The last stretch of gravel road came at from the finish in Siena. The race finished on Siena's illustrious

Piazza del Campo Piazza del Campo is the main public space of the historic center of Siena, Tuscany, Italy and is regarded as one of Europe's greatest medieval squares. It is renowned worldwide for its beauty and architectural integrity. The Palazzo Pubblico and i ...

, after a narrow ascent on the roughly-paved Via Santa Caterina in the heart of the medieval city, with steep stretches of up to 16 % gradient. L'Eroica (cicloturismo)

Pre-race favourites

Previous year's laureate, Czech Zdeněk Štybar, lined up for the 2016 event. World champion Peter Sagan, runner-up in

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and

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, and twofold winner Fabian Cancellara expressed they targeted a victory in the Strade Bianche. Other riders among the favorites were Vincenzo Nibali, Alejandro Valverde, Michał Kwiatkowski and Greg Van Avermaet.

Participating teams

18 teams took part in the race: twelve UCI WorldTeams and six

UCI Professional Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

Route

Pre-race favourites

Participating teams

Results

See also

References

External links