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Pro Log: Strade Bianche results; Laura Kenny becomes Commonwealth Games England president; Zwift Academy winners crowned
Welcome back to another edition of Pro Log. Here’s a rundown of the latest results before we get started:
- Paris-Nice, Stage 2, Mon 10th March: 1st Tim Merlier, Soudal Quick-Step, 4h 11min 29sec; 2nd Emilien Jeannière, Team TotalEnergies, +00sec; 3rd Mads Pedersen, Lidl-Trek, +00sec.
- Tirreno-Adriatico, Stage 1 ITT: Mon 10th March: 1st Filippo Ganna, Ineos Grenadiers, 12min 17sec; 2nd Juan Ayuso, UAE Team Emirates XRG, 23sec; 3rd Johan Price-Pejtersen, Alpecin-Deceuninck, +28sec.
- Paris-Nice, Stage 1, Sun 9th March: 1st Tim Merlier, Soudal Quick-Step, 3h 32min 03sec; 2nd Arnaud Démare, Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +00sec; 3rd Alberto Dainese, Tudor Pro Cycling, +00sec.
- Men’s Strade Bianche, Sat 8th March: 1st Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates XRG, 5hr 13min 58sec; Tom Pidcock, Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +1min 24sec; Tim Wellens, UAE Team Emirates XRG, +2min 12sec.
- Women’s Strade Bianche, Sat 8th March: 1st Demi Vollering, FDJ-Suez, 3h 49min 04sec; Anna van der Breggen, SD Worx-Protime, +18sec; Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Visma-Lease a Bike, +1min 42sec.
- Vuelta Extremadura Féminas, Overall, Sat 8th March: 1st Ellen van Dijk, Lidl-Trek, 6h 23min 57sec; 2nd Mie Bjørndal Ottestad, Uno-X Mobility, +02sec; 3rd Greta Marturano, UAE Team ADQ, 29sec.
- Vuelta Extremadura Féminas, Stage 4, Sat 8th March: 1st Imogen Wolff, Visma-Lease a Bike, 1hr 39min 31sec; 2nd Mie Bjørndal Ottestad, Uno-X Mobility, +00sec; 3rd Ellen van Dijk, Lidl-Trek, +00sec.
Tadej Pogačar solos to Strade Bianche victory
Tadej Pogačar notched his third win at Strade Bianche this weekend despite a nasty crash leaving him with a bloody shoulder and ripped skinsuit. The world champion attacked on the Monte Sante Marie sector – the same place he went clear last year. Instead of going solo early, he was joined by Tom Pidcock.
The duo soon caught up with the last remaining breakaway rider, Connor Swift, who managed to stick with them. It was at the 49.8km to go mark on the Colle Pinzuto sector that Pogačar slid out on a bend, flipped over and tumbled into brambles. Pidcock was then alone at the head of the race but Pogačar worked his way back on.
On the second passing of Colle Pinzuto Pogačar dropped Pidcock and rode on alone to the Piazza del Campo. His UAE Team Emirates XRG teammate Tim Wellens finished a minute behind Pidcock in third.
Pogačar now stands alongside Fabian Cancellara as the men with the most victories in the race (3) and he’ll be honoured with his name on milestone on one of the gravel sectors, just like Cancellara has on Monte Sante Marie.
Demi Vollering wins second Strade Bianche
After an impressive shift by new teammate Juliette Labous, Demi Vollering attacked in the last 12km of Strade Bianche and only SD Worx-Protime’s Anna van der Breggen could follow. The pair have worked in such close proximity over the past few years, first as teammates then as colleagues after Van der Breggen became a DS post-retirement. Now she’s come out of retirement and this student vs master face-up has become the battle to watch this season.
Sticking together under the flamme rouge, Van der Breggen led onto the final climb, Via Santa Caterina, but Vollering put in a blistering attack that went unanswered. Van der Breggen finished 18 seconds down on her compatriot, while her fellow comeback queen Pauline Ferrand-Prévot completed the podium.
Laura Kenny becomes Commonwealth Games England president
It has been announced that Dame Laura Kenny, Britain’s most successful Olympian, has been appointed president of Commonwealth Games England, taking over the title from Dame Denise Lewis.
Kenny said, ‘I have devoted my life to cycling and while that sport will always be my passion, it is great to have the opportunity to pass on some of my experience to athletes from a wider range of sports.’
The 2026 Commonwealth Games was thrown into doubt when Australia withdrew from hosting the event. It will now take place in Glasgow, albeit it a scaled down version with 12 sports cut from the programme including road racing. Track cycling still has a spot alongside athletics, swimming, 3×3 basketball, artistic gymnastics, boxing, judo, lawn bowls, netball and weightlifting.
Zwift Academy winners crowned
Emily Dixon and Noah Ramsay have been awarded contracts with Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto Generation and the Alpecin-Deceuninck Development Team respectively after winning the Zwift Academy talent identification and training programme, beating out three other riders in the finals, which can be watched on GCN.
Zwift said 18-year-old Australian Dixon ‘distinguished herself by combining strong and efficient power numbers, first-class riding technique, and experience beyond her age’ while 22-year-old Canadian Ramsay ‘impressed the Zwift Academy coaches and team staff with his stand-out bike handling skills, impressive power data, and the room left for him to improve with their input’.
See you next week.
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