2025 Strade Bianche Odds and Predictions 

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On Saturday, March 8, the 19^th edition of Strade Bianche gets underway in Siena, Italy, as riders try to conquer the white gravel roads of Tuscany. 

Many of the cycling’s top Classics stars are taking the starting line in Siena this weekend. However, none bigger than Tadej Pogacar who is looking to defend his title from last year. 

Pogacar aims to win this Italian Spring Classic for the third time in the last four years. If he can secure a second consecutive victory, Pogacar will tie Fabian Cancellara with the most all-time Strade Bianche wins. Also joining Pogacar at the start line is Tom Pidcock, the man who won in 2023. 

Let’s take a look at the latest cycling odds, courtesy of the top sports betting sites, and make our Strade Bianche predictions.

How To Watch Strade Bianche?

In the UK, TNT Sports will air this race. However, for North American viewers, you will have to subscribe to FloBikes for their stream or wait until highlights are posted to YouTube after the race. Australians can watch the Strade Bianche on SBS. 

Strade Bianche Route

Last month, race organizers held a special ceremony to unveil the 2025 Strade Bianche route. Although there were no changes to the finish, which includes the final steep climb of Via Santa Caterina into the Piazza del Campo, the organizers did make some small modifications throughout the rest of the race. 

Per tradition, the race will start in Siena near the stadium. The route spans roughly 213km throughout the region with a handful of short steep climbs and over 81.7km of white gravel racing. That marks the most kilometers of white gravel ever included in a Strade Bianche race. 

The first gravel sector comes after 14km of racing and spans roughly 4.4km. The last gravel sector comes with 10km left of racing. The longest sections of gravel come at sector 5 (11.9km) and sector 9 (11.5km). The toughest sectors are 8 and 9 as they’re both rated five stars each.

In total, there are the following 16 gravel sectors in this year’s race:

• Vidritta (4.4km in length)
• Bagnaia (4.8km in length)
• Radi (4.4km in length)
• La Piana (6.4km in length)
• Lucignano d’Asso (11.9km in length)
• Pieve a Salti (8km in length)
• Serravalle (9.3km in length)
• Grania (9.4km in length)
• Monte Sante Marie (11.5km in length)
• Montaperti (0.6km in length)
• Colle Pinzuto (2.4km in length)
• Le Tolfe (1.1km in length)
• Strada del Castagno (0.7km in length)
• Montechiaro (3.3km in length)
• Colle Pinzuto (2.4km in length)
• Le Tolfe (1.1km in length)

Strade Bianche Odds

Check out the latest Strade Bianche odds:

Strade Bianche Favorites

Let’s take a look at the pre-race favorites for the 19^th Strade Bianche event:

Tadej Pogacar (-300)

While rumors are swirling of Tadej Pogacar racing in Parix-Roubaix and the Vuelta a Espana this year, he’s focusing on winning a third Strade Bianche this weekend:

“Strade is a race where I have some great memories. My track record there is pretty good and I hope to be up at the pointy end of the action again on Saturday. We can expect some strong rivals – the startlist is always on a high level for these big races and it should make things exciting both for us and for the fans.”

Pogacar doesn’t have the strongest of teams supporting him at Strade Bianche this weekend, but he doesn’t need them. While stars like Juan Ayuso are leading other UAE teams in smaller events, Pogacar still has some firepower alongside him like Isaac Del Toro and Tim Wellens. 

However, the sport’s top cyclist is more than capable of winning this race without any help. Last year, he took off on a solo attack with over 80km left in the race. And guess what, he won it in dominant fashion. 

Pogacar has already started off the year with a win. In his only event of 2025, Pogacar easily won the UAE Tour. He scored two firsts in the seven stages and took the GC by 74 seconds over Giulio Ciccone. He also finished second in the points competition, which only furthers his dominance in this event. 

Saturday’s appearance will mark his sixth entry into the Strade Bianche. His first three years ended with a 30^th, 13^th and 7^th in 2021. He then won in 2022 and 2024, which were his two most recent starts. 

Pogacar is clearly the favorite this weekend and should probably have larger odds. 

Tom Pidcock (+650)

The 2023 Strade Bianche winner comes into this weekend’s race as the second leading betting favorite. However, Pidcock is in a completely different scenario than he was in 2023, when riding with INEOS. 

This past winter, Pidcock left INEOS for Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, which is a much smaller squad. Even though he had modest success by winning the AlUla Tour and finishing third in the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta, Pidcock took a step back in last weekend’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad race. 

Following that event, Pidcock summed up his performance and moving forward:

“Yeah, I mean there was a lot of guys I’ve never raced with before. You always to learn how each other work. Unfortunately, Frederik Frison crashed in the feed zone, so I hope he’s alright. So yeah, a positive day, but we’ve got some improving to do.”

Pidcock would also say in his post-race comments that everyone seemed to have good legs in the final portions of the race, which isn’t the norm for previous editions of the Omloop. 

The talented British cyclist will face the same level of competition as he did in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. In fact, he will face the best rider in cycling. So, unless he saved some energy for this race, or greatly improved over the last week, it’s going to take a crash from Pogacar for Pidcock to win on Saturday. 

For Pidcock, this will mark his 4^th Strade Bianche start. He was 4^th last year, won in 2023, and was 5^th in his 2021 debut. 

Maxim Van Gils (+1000)

The 25-year-old Belgian cyclist is making his 4^th appearance in the Strade Bianche. He debuted in 2022, with a 52^nd place result. Van Gils improved on that mark in 2023, with a 23^rd place result. However, his best finish came last year when he was third behind Pogacar and Toms Skujins. 

This year, the Red Bull – BORA – Hansgrohe rider has showed some promise early on. He finished 4^th in the Andalucia Ruta after fading on the final stages. He was beat out by Pavel Sivakov, Clement Berthet and Tom Pidcock. Yet, Van Gils did score one stage win and had four Top 6 finishes in the five-stage event. 

MVG certainly has the bike talent to win a race like this one. However, it’s hard to imagine the BORA rider beating out Pogacar in a sprint. He might be better suited for a cycling prop bet than picking Van Gils to win the race. 

Toms Skujins (+2000)

Last year, Toms Skujins stunned the field by finishing second in the Strade Bianche. After crashing and falling behind, he was able to beat the rest of the field to finish second. On that day, nobody was catching Pogacar. 

With that said, I don’t expect Skujins to take the starting line for the 2025 Strade Bianche. As of this writing, he has not been confirmed for the Lidl-Trek team. Instead, it looks like his teammate Mathias Vacek could be getting the leadership role for Saturday’s race in Italy. 

Mathias Vacek (+2800)

Mathias Vacek was one of the pre-race favorites to win the Omloop last weekend. Unfortunately, he along with the rest of the field, were stunned when Soren Warenskjold won the race. However, Vacek tried to shake things up but ultimately succumbed to the teams with sprinters:

“The sprint teams didn’t want to go full gas on the climbs, and although I gave it a shot, everything kept coming back together. Because of my efforts, I maybe didn’t have the legs I wanted for the sprint.”

Vacek would end up finishing 16^th in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The result continued an early theme of coming close, but fading at the finish line. Vacek also did this in the Figueira Champions Classic where he finished 3^rd and in the Volta ao Algarve where he finished 12^th. 

Despite those results, the 22-year-old is still a rider to watch this weekend. Although he might not have the legs to take down Pogacar, a podium finish isn’t a far-fetched idea for the Czech cyclist. 

The Best Strade Bianche Betting Value

The following cyclists offer the best betting value according to their current Strade Bianche odds and their previous success in this race: 

Marc Hirschi (+4000)

The 26-year-old March Hirschi left one of the best teams in cycling – UAE Emirates. The team and the rider decided to part ways despite Hirschi’s obvious talents. But when you have a team filled with young stars, it’s hard to keep everyone. 

It was a big move for the Swiss rider who clearly took a step down when joining the Tuder Pro Cycling Team. However, you can’t fault the talented cyclist for making this move. In fact, he makes a lot of sense after breaking down the change:

“I’m 26 now and I didn’t want to say anymore: learn now and try later. For me it was clear I had to change, even though I liked the team,” he said at a recent team camp. I look back on UAE as four nice years, I definitely don’t regret going there, but it was the right moment to move on, to go to another team where I can be the leader in the biggest races, and not have to fight internally for any leadership.”

Hirschi has not had much success at Strade Bianche in the past. He finished 72^nd in his 2019 debut, scored a DNF in 2020, and was 68^th last year. So, you might be wondering why I think he offers value for this weekend’s race when he has yet to crack the Top 50.

Simply put, Hirschi has all of the skills and talent to win a race like this. He just never had the opportunity to do so. 

Now that Hirschi is the leader of a team, I expect better results for the Swiss rider. In 2025 so far, Hirschi has three Top 5 finishes and four Top 8 results in six races. He was 4^th in the Faun Drome Classic last weekend, which saw him competing against some of the peloton’s most talented riders. 

There’s plenty of value with Hirschi this weekend, yet he could be better suited for a prop bet wager than the outright winner. 

Leonard Van Eetvelt (+6600)

Lennert Van Eetvelt could find himself in the position of leader for Lotto on Saturday. The 23-year-old had a solid performance in the UAE Tour this year, which saw him finish 11^th overall and 6^th in the youth classification. He had two 4^th place finishes in the first three stages of the event. 

It was a solid showing for the Belgian cyclist who aims to build off of last year’s Strade Bianche performance. Van Eetvelt finished 11^th in the 2024 edition of this race, which is his lone appearance for the Italian Spring Classic. 

If his form has improved since the conclusion of the UAE Tour, I think we could see LVE emerge as a podium contender or at least a Top 5 finish. It will take some luck to win this race, but other cycling prop bets could be better suited for a wager. 

Top Strade Bianche Longshot

Anytime you can get Richard Carapaz (+8000) at these large of odds, you have to serious consider him as a longshot flier. The Ecuadorian is too good to pass up on at these odds. 

His 2025 season has gotten off to a modest start. He recently competed in the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes where he finished 9^th. Rumor has it that Carapaz will race in the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France this year. So, that means he needs to get in form and improve his racing legs for the lead up to those two Grand Tours. 

Carapaz has four previous appearances in the Strade Bianche. His best result was 30^th in 2022. Carapaz finished 70^th last year. 

This weekend’s event is a great chance to really get those legs fired up. Plus, Carapaz is the kind of cyclist that would love to stick it to Pogacar. Although the odds are against this happening, stranger things have occurred out on the roads of UCI racing. 

Strade Bianche Predictions

In reality, this is Tadej Pogacar’s race to lose. The best cyclist in the sport today, always aims to win a race whenever he puts a numbered jersey on. 

This year, I expect the teams to mark Pogacar throughout the entire route. I don’t expect teams to let Pogacar go on a solo attack at any point in the race. 

With that said, I don’t see anyone in the field being able to keep up with Pogacar once he decides to go for the win. The only question is when will he decide to attack. 

These odds are still offering small betting value considering how much better Pogacar is over the rest of the peloton in this race. Jump on them all the way up to -500. 

Bet: Tadej Pogacar (-300)

Strade Bianche Results

The following is a list of the previous Strade Bianche winners: