Pogacar clinches third consecutive Strade Bianche win as Chabbey sprints to victory.

Tadej Pogačar secured a record‑breaking fourth Strade Bianche victory, launching his 2026 campaign in style, while teenage French rider Paul Seixas finished runner‑up. The world champion launched a powerful long‑range attack about 80 km from the finish, then coasted to the line in Siena for his third consecutive win.

By doing so, the four‑time Tour de France champion showed once more that his hunger for victory – and to do so emphatically – remains undiminished despite his many triumphs. One of the 27‑year‑old Slovene’s principal objectives this season is the Milan‑San Remo classic two weeks away, one of only two of the five Monuments that still elude him.

Nineteen‑year‑old Seixas claimed second place, with young Mexican Isaac Del Toro completing the podium after 207 km of racing across the rolling Tuscan landscape speckled with white gravel tracks.

Pogačar executed his decisive surge – echoing his move two years earlier – on the Monte Sante Marie gravel sector. His UAE Team Emirates teammates had set a high tempo into that stretch, and once Pogačar launched on the steep climb he quickly left his rivals behind.

Seixas was the rider who held on the longest, even briefly pulling Pogačar back, before the champion accelerated once more and vanished from view.

The Frenchman then found himself in a chase group that featured Del Toro – who was riding with his UAE teammate at the front – former Strade Bianche winner Tom Pidcock of Britain and American two‑time Paris‑Nice victor Matteo Jorgenson, yet they were already more than a minute back 20 km after Pogačar’s attack.

Seixas made another move about 18 km from the finish, with only Del Toro accompanying him; the Mexican declined to assist the Frenchman in pursuing Pogačar, who crossed the line with ease. Seixas, tipped by many as the rider who could end his nation’s 41‑year wait for another Tour de France champion, finally shed Del Toro on the Via Santa Catarina climb to claim what is likely his most notable result to date.

“Tadej was clearly stronger,” Seixas said. “When he attacked I saw him, he saw that I was coming back, he turned around, accelerated again. I think he was managing his effort whereas I was at my limit. He’s one of the best riders ever, you have to respect that.”

In the women’s event, Swiss champion Elise Chabbey prevailed in a dramatic finish. Seven riders arrived together on the Via Santa Catarina, the final ascent to the Piazza del Campo, before the group was whittled down to a leading quartet.

Italian Elisa Longo Borghini led most of the climb, but German Franziska Koch and Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma caught up, and the three entered the penultimate corner side‑by‑side. They nearly touched as they drifted wide, allowing Chabbey to surge through the inside and take the lead just 100 m from the finish. Niewiadoma secured second place, with Koch third.

“This victory brings so many emotions that it’s”