The finish to Saturday’s Strade Bianche was stunning, a showdown for the ages on the cobbled climb into Sienna that saw Magdeleine Vallières Mill nearly podium on her way to Canada’s best-ever finish in the race. But several other pre-race favourites were left wondering what could have been when a motor cycle led them off course late in the race.
After some mechanical misfortune, both Demi Vollering, a past winner in Sienna, and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot were left chasing. Less than a minute behind the leaders, and in a high-octane group that included Anna van der Breggen, Lotte Kopecky, and Kim Le Court, there was a solid chance the race would come back together before the wall of Sienna.
“I don’t know how that could have happened.”
Any chance of catching the leaders evaporated when the group followed a motorcycle onto a gravel section, and off the race course. Instead of following the course left at an unsigned intersection, the bike went straight and onto gravel. It took several hundred metres before anyone realised what had happened.
After a hectic moment, and a near collision as the group reversed directions, the chase group returned to the course. But the leaders? They were long gone. A gap that was under a minute had become over three.
“I don’t know how this could have happened,” reigning Tour de France winner Pauline Ferrand-Prevot told Eurosport after the race. “There was a lot of dust. I saw the bike go right, the riders turned around two hundred meters in. I can’t say anything more about it.”
“I had no idea if the leading group had ridden correctly. I didn’t know anything,” Ferrand-Prevot said immediately post race. “I still don’t, actually. I’m curious to see what happened.”
PFP was among the leaders until a dropped chain forced her to wait for mechanical assistance. “It was completely jammed. I had no choice but to wait for the team car,” the Visma-Lease a Bike rider said of how she ended up in the chase, adding “I felt good until the misfortune. But oh well, next time!”
Vollering has a good day – and maybe a party – despite mis-direction
Another pre-race favourite to be mis-directed was past Strade winner, Demi Vollering. While the re-route left the Dutch star watching her chances of winning go up in a cloud of white dust, a victory by FDJ-Suez teammate Elise Chabbey gave Vollering reason to cheer as she crossed the line.
“I’m so proud of them. They raced absolutely perfectly,” a beaming Vollering said of Chabbey and Franziska Koch, the FDJ rider in third, to Eurosport after the finish. FDJ’s pre-race favourite was left chasing by an untimely flat tire before joining the unplanned detour onto some extra gravel.
“I thought I could still get back, but then they misdirected us. Everyone knew right then that it was over,” Vollering recounted. “It’s a shame for me, but the messages on my earpieces made me very happy.”
A teammate winning certainly makes a lost opportunity easier to take in stride. Vollering already seemed focused on sorting out the details of the celebration, not what happened on course.
“Tonight we’re going to Pisa, tomorrow we have a very early flight to Tenerife for a training camp. Maybe we’ll party all night!” Vollering said with a laugh.