Elise Chabbey triumphs in Strade Bianche as top favorites fall short due to amateurism

Elise Chabbey has won the 2026 Strade Bianche for women. The 32-year-old Swiss rider from FDJ United-FDJ was the best on the final climb Via Caterina in an elite group. In Siena, she outpaced her fellow breakaway companions Kasia Niewiadoma and Franziska Koch, who finished second and third, respectively. Chabbey succeeds her teammate Demi Vollering, who was out of contention after her group was misdirected.

The section of Vidritta (also somewhat shortened) traditionally kicked off the Strade Bianche just south of Siena. It was the first time of ‘jostling’ towards a gravel sector, but certainly not the last. The longest of them all came around halfway through the race: a 9.5-kilometer stretch across the Crete Senesi, perhaps the most beautiful part of the course. The sector of San Martino in Grania constantly rolled and ended with a tough climb.

Riders who have participated in previous editions know that Monteaperti is followed by Colle Pinzuto and Le Tolfe. For a long time after, the race headed straight towards the finish, but in recent years an extra loop has been added. Via the Strada del Castagno and Montechiari, the riders again came out at Colle Pinzuto and Le Tolfe before heading truly towards Siena. There, the Via Santa Caterina awaits, a finale with a maximum gradient reaching 16%. Once at the top, you’re not quite finished yet, as there’s still a good half kilometer to the finish line.

Many crashes
The race started off nervously right from the beginning. On the first gravel sector there was an immediate big crash, splitting the peloton into three groups. The shock was palpable; it took a while before the first attacker of the day appeared. That was Maud Rijnbeek for VolkerWessels. However, her adventure didn’t last long.

Because of the crash, Kim Le Court was immediately dropped. The Mauritian champion would never return to the front of the race. In the peloton, it was mainly EF Education-Oatly, Visma | Lease a Bike, and Lidl-Trek who dictated the pace. With about eighty kilometers to go, another crash happened, delaying Anna van der Breggen.

Tension rises in the penultimate phase
It was total chaos in the Tuscan countryside. When there was briefly a breather with around sixty kilometers to go, the outline of a first elite group became visible: among them were Demi Vollering, Elisa Longo Borghini, Kasia Niewiadoma, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Shirin Van Anrooij, Lucinda Brand, Liane Lippert, Magdaleine Vallieres, Lotte Kopecky, and Puck Pieterse.

On the first climb of Colle Pinzuto, the door in that group was wide open. For riders like Lotte Kopecky, the pace was too high. The Belgian had to drop back but rejoined just before the next sector. Up front, we saw an attack from Elise Chabbey (FDJ United-SUEZ) and Dominika Wlodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ), who gained about 30 seconds by Le Tolfe.

Top favorites doomed after going off course
On the steep sectors of Le Tolfe, the chaos escalated. Letizia Borghesi crashed into the crowd, Ferrand-Prévot suffered bad luck and had to wait a long time for assistance, and Vollering surprisingly had to drop back on accelerations up front due to a puncture. She fell back into a group with Kopecky and Ferrand-Prévot, after which Van der Breggen and Le Court suddenly appeared from far behind.

This strong group was riding with a gap of a few tens of seconds to the race leaders. Gradually, they closed in—until they were hit by a disaster. About 32 kilometers from the finish, a race motorcyclist took a gravel road straight ahead that was not part of the race route. The group containing Vollering, Kopecky, Le Court, Van der Breggen, and Ferrand-Prévot followed the motorbike and only realized hundreds of meters later that they had gone the wrong way.

Best riders in the finale get caught out
Because the chasing group suddenly lost minutes, it became clear the winner was up front. With Colle Pinzuto and Le Tolfe still to come, all energy was saved to attack there. Just before Pinzuto, Italian champion Longo Borghini stirred things up. Pieterse couldn’t follow among others, but Marianne Vos did.

On the Pinzuto, Longo Borghini and Chabbey appeared to be the strongest riders. They rode away and had a small gap at the top. On the descent and its approach, the rest of the former breakaway group returned. On Le Tolfe, it was again Chabbey who attacked, this time followed by Pieterse. However, they were countered by Longo Borghini and Niewiadoma.

The two didn’t want to do work for each other. Just past the top, Pieterse managed to bridge the gap. With three women, they seemed to be heading for Siena, but the cooperation was poor. At six kilometers to go, the chasers—Chabbey, Koch, Vallieres, and Vos—caught back up again. This made eight riders passing under the arch for the last kilometer, as Monica Trinca Colonel had also returned.

Then it was world champion Vallieres who ignited the fuse. This was too much for Colonel and Vos, leaving the final test of the day at Via Santa Caterina. Longo Borghini seemed strongest there, but Niewiadoma, Koch, and Chabbey were able to keep pace. The first three nearly went off the road at 250 meters to go as they fought through the corner. Chabbey gratefully slipped through underneath and held onto that lead until the finish.

🚴🇮🇹 | No Vollering? No problem! Teammate Elise Chabbey takes the win in Siena after an amazing final climb and a three-wide cornering! 🙌🇨🇭 #StradeBianche

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— Eurosport Netherlands (@Eurosport_NL) March 7, 2026