Participants Strade Bianche 2025 | Pogacar's challengers revealed, and who will succeed Kopecky?

Are you ready for entertainment on the Tuscan gravel roads? On March 8, we will once again be racing on the white roads of Strade Bianche, but which riders will the team select? Defending champion Tadej Pogacar will be there for UAE Team Emirates, but who will challenge him? IDLProCycling.com has the list of participants, which includes the ambitions of Pogacar's challengers

Unlike many other races, RCS Sport does not beat around the bush when it comes to its races. The official list of participants was announced on the Monday before Strade Bianche, although it may change if riders drop out or are added last minute. So we already know that Pogacar will be there with UAE, with a powerful team surrounding him, including Isaac Del Toro, Tim Wellens, and his buddy Domen Novak.

Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) and Michal Kwiatkowski (INEOS) will be at the start as former winners of 2023 and 2017, but the Italians won't be happy that former winners like Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert are absent. In our detailed preview, we already stated that it is questionable how exciting the race will be, but if Pogacar has an off day, bad luck, or waits too long, a huge group of other great riders will be right behind him.

Read more below the photo.

In 2024, Pogacar won supremely, after an 80-kilometer solo

Participants and ambitions of favorites for Strade Bianche 2025 - elite men

• Soudal-Quick Step (Mikel Landa and Mauri Vansevenant)
• Picnic-PostNL (Max Poole and Frank van den Broek)

Kopecky gets a successor at Strade Bianche for women

A new winner will be crowned in the women's race on Saturday. Defending champion Lotte Kopecky is skipping Strade Bianche to be fitter for the Flemish classics and the Tour de France Femmes in the summer. Last year's second and third place finishers, Elisa Longo Borghini and Demi Vollering, will be there for their new teams, UAE and FDJ-SUEZ. With Kopecky absent, SD Worx-Protime will count on Anna van der Breggen.

This bodes well for a spectacle, especially since behind the 'big three,' a whole group of women could surprise us. Kristen Faulkner (EF) and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma) have been big fans of the Tuscan roads for years, Puck Pieterse has already competed twice on behalf of Fenix-Deceuninck in the final of the last two editions, and Canyon//SRAM and Lidl-Trek have put together a powerful team.

Read more below the photo.

Elisa Longo Borghini (in red) already won this year's UAE Tour

Participants and ambitions of favorites for Strade Bianche 2025 - elite women

Read also

Gravel in the Giro means Soudal Quick-Step focuses on Landa at Strade Bianche; Picnic PostNL ready to attack

Preview of Strade Bianche 2025 | Pogacar can show off his skills again, Van Aert, Van der Poel, Evenepoel and Vingegaard are absent

Meanwhile in the peloton | Pogacar could become the best athlete in the world, Pidcock also nominated

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