Client: Team Jumbo-Visma
Location: Tuscany, Italy
Strade Bianche is a relatively new World Tour race, but has already become infamous. Ridden through the heart of Tuscany, the race takes riders across the region’s iconic white gravel roads. When the weather is dry, a peloton racing across these roads causes a major dust cloud obscuring pretty much everything in its path. But when it rains, the roads are transformed into horrendous stretches of wet and muddy surface. Wout van Aert is well familiar with these conditions, seizing 3rd place in the previous year’s edition.
This year, conditions were sunny, so smiles were plentiful. I tagged along with the team from a couple of days before the actual event, covering their recon of part of the course and the actual race itself. In the end, Wout did magnificent by finishing 3rd again.