Strade Bianche: Tadej Pogacar won the Italian one-day classic for a record fourth time

Strade Bianche starts and ends in Siena and features uneven cobblestones on Tuscany’s famous chalky white roads, including the Monte Sante Marie section.

Pogacar made his decisive move there, just as he had done two years ago, and when Seixas attacked some 18 kilometers from the finish, del Toro just went with him, refusing to help the young French star chase down his team-mate.

Jan Christen finished ahead of Briton Tom Pidcock to ensure there were three Emirati riders in the top six.

“I am very happy,” Pogacar said. “I was chasing really hard on the steepest part of the climb at St Mary’s.

“But I told myself: I will go to the top and then see if it is possible or not [Seixas] It can bridge or create a gap. In the end, I saw that this was enough, and I knew that Isaac and Jan [were there] Also, so that helped a lot.”

In the 133km women’s race, seven riders arrived together on the Via Santa Catarina, the final climb to the end of the Piazza del Campo, and were soon reduced to four.

Elisa Longo Borghini led most of the way up the climb but entered the penultimate corner alongside Franziska Koch and Katarzyna Niwiadoma, before 32-year-old Xavi surged on the inside to take victory ahead of Niwiadoma, with Koch in third.