Elise Chabbey (FDJ United - SUEZ) claimed the biggest victory of her career at Strade Bianche Donne on Saturday. After an elite eight-rider group splintered on the steep final climb, Chabbey won the sprint finish on Piazza del Campo to take her first Women's WorldTour one-day title.
Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing zondacrypto) finished second on the same time, with Chabbey's teammate Franziska Koch (FDJ United - SUEZ) behind her in third.
Strade Bianche Donne Results
Siena - Siena • Mar 7 • 133km
| Pos | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Elise Chabbey | TFSFDJ United - SUEZ | 3h 35' 42" |
| 🥈 | Katarzyna Niewiadoma | CSZCanyon - SRAM Zondacrypto | s.t. |
| 🥉 | Franziska Koch | TFSFDJ United - SUEZ | +0:03 |
| 4 | Elisa Longo Borghini | UADUAE Team ADQ | +0:06 |
| 5 | Magdeleine Vallieres | EFOEF Education - Oatly | +0:16 |
| 6 | Puck Pieterse | FPCFenix-Premier Tech | +0:34 |
| 7 | Marianne Vos | TVLTeam Visma - Lease a Bike | +0:37 |
| 8 | Monica Trinca Colonel | LIVLiv-AlUla-Jayco | +1:21 |
| 9 | Shirin van Anrooij | LTKLidl - Trek | +1:47 |
| 10 | Niamh Fisher-Black | LTKLidl - Trek | +2:29 |
| 11 | Noemi Ruegg | EFOEF Education - Oatly | +3:07 |
| 12 | Dominika Wlodarczyk | UADUAE Team ADQ | +3:28 |
| 13 | Liane Lippert | MOVMovistar Team | +3:50 |
| 14 | Mie Bjorndal Ottestad | UXMUno-X Mobility | +5:44 |
| 15 | Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset | UXMUno-X Mobility | +5:57 |
| 16 | Flora Perkins | FPCFenix-Premier Tech | +6:02 |
| 17 | Cedrine Kerbaol | EFOEF Education - Oatly | +6:15 |
| 18 | Anna van der Breggen | SDWTeam SD Worx - Protime | +6:15 |
| 19 | Paula Blasi | UADUAE Team ADQ | +6:15 |
| 20 | Demi Vollering | TFSFDJ United - SUEZ | +6:15 |
| 21 | Justine Ghekiere | AGSAG Insurance - Soudal Team | +6:15 |
| 22 | Kimberley Le Court | AGSAG Insurance - Soudal Team | +6:18 |
| 23 | Riejanne Markus | LTKLidl - Trek | +6:21 |
| 24 | Eleonora Ciabocco | TPPTeam Picnic PostNL | +6:25 |
| 25 | Femke de Vries | TVLTeam Visma - Lease a Bike | +6:28 |
| 26 | Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig | CSZCanyon - SRAM Zondacrypto | +6:28 |
| 27 | Clemence Latimier | MPEMa Petite Entreprise | +6:37 |
| 28 | Silvia Persico | UADUAE Team ADQ | +6:37 |
| 29 | Pauline Ferrand-Prevot | TVLTeam Visma - Lease a Bike | +7:06 |
| 30 | Lotte Kopecky | SDWTeam SD Worx - Protime | +9:58 |
| 31 | Lucinda Brand | LTKLidl - Trek | +9:58 |
| 32 | Nienke Vinke | SDWTeam SD Worx - Protime | +9:58 |
| 33 | Mavi Garcia | UADUAE Team ADQ | +10:01 |
| 34 | Millie Couzens | FPCFenix-Premier Tech | +12:56 |
| 35 | Lea Curinier | TFSFDJ United - SUEZ | +12:56 |
| 36 | Sarah van Dam | TVLTeam Visma - Lease a Bike | +13:01 |
| 37 | Amber Kraak | TFSFDJ United - SUEZ | +13:10 |
| 38 | Josie Nelson | TPPTeam Picnic PostNL | +14:10 |
| 39 | Urska Zigart | AGSAG Insurance - Soudal Team | +14:49 |
| 40 | Morgane Coston | MPEMa Petite Entreprise | +14:54 |
| 41 | Ella Wyllie | LIVLiv-AlUla-Jayco | +14:58 |
| 42 | Alison Jackson | AUBSt Michel - Auber93 | +14:58 |
| 43 | Laura Molenaar | VWTVolkerWessels Cycling Team | +15:03 |
| 44 | Francesca Barale | MOVMovistar Team | +15:03 |
| 45 | Arlenis Sierra | MOVMovistar Team | +15:03 |
| 46 | Sara Martin | MOVMovistar Team | +15:06 |
| 47 | Lore De Schepper | AGSAG Insurance - Soudal Team | +15:13 |
| 48 | Sophie von Berswordt | VWTVolkerWessels Cycling Team | +15:46 |
| 49 | Steffi Haberlin | SDWTeam SD Worx - Protime | +15:46 |
| 50 | Erica Magnaldi | UADUAE Team ADQ | +15:49 |
Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) and Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), two of the pre-race favourites for the 2026 women's Strade Bianche, were effectively removed from contention on Saturday after a race motorbike led their chasing group off the official 133km course in Tuscany at around 33km to go. Other misdirected riders included Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx - Protime), and Kim Le Court (AG Insurance - Soudal).
By the time the riders realised the mistake and navigated back to the correct gravel route, they had lost close to three minutes to the leaders, a deficit that proved impossible to close before the finish in Siena's Piazza del Campo.
Vollering finished 20th at +6:15, Kopecky 30th at +7:06.
How the finale played out
Eight riders emerged from the second loop through Pinzuto and Le Tolfe: Chabbey, Niewiadoma, Koch, Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education - Oatly), Puck Pieterse (Fenix - Premier Tech), Marianne Vos (Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women), and Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco). FDJ's two-rider presence in the group gave them the tactical luxury usually associated with SD Worx, while SD Worx themselves had no rider in the front eight, their best-placed finisher was Anna van der Breggen, who finished 18th.
Following a splintering of the group on the 12% inclines Via Santa Catarina, Chabbey made it to the final right hand corner on the Piazza del Campo first, from a leading group of four, and held off Niewiadoma to the line.
The major threads from the race's dramatic misdirection
Lotte Kopecky's reaction
Kopecky was notably self-critical rather than deflecting blame toward the organisation. "I was simply not strong enough," she told reporters including DHnet, adding that the wrong turn was not the decisive factor for her personally – she had already been struggling before the misdirection. "I had the feeling that more blood was going to my stomach than to my legs," she told HLN. She finished 30th at +7:06.
Kopecky also acknowledged the wrong turn itself, explaining after the finish: "I didn't realise it at first, but the gravel was in terrible condition... Then I thought, 'We're not in the right place.' But the motorbiker had gone that way in front of us," she told Sporza.
Demi Vollering's reaction
"After suffering an untimely puncture on the Le Tolfe gravel sector that dropped her into the chase group, Vollering was actively fighting her way back toward the front when the motorbike misdirected them off course – a double misfortune that ended any lingering hopes. "I had a flat tire at the worst moment... I thought, 'don't give up, I can still come back.' But then they sent us the wrong way," she said in the post-finish flash interview."
But rather than dwelling on her own bad luck of a double-misfortune, Vollering celebrated Chabbey and Koch's result. "No matter how bad my day was, this is brilliant," she said, calling herself the proudest woman on the Piazza del Campo. "Chabbey and Koch didn't need my instructions," she added in comments made to WielerFlits.
Race organisation under scrutiny
The Strade Bianche route crosses numerous unmarked gravel tracks, and the responsibility for directing riders correctly falls squarely on the race organisation and their moto marshals.
Coverage and social reaction squarely levelled blame at the organisers. Technically, 1.2.064 of the UCI regulations states that “Riders shall study the course in advance", shifting the liability onto them. But incidents like this clearly put the organisers' ability to direct riders properly into focus. The question is whether RCS Sport will face any scrutiny or sanction from the UCI, and whether this puts pressure on the organisers to change how they marshal a route that threads between dozens of similar-looking gravel tracks across the Tuscan hills.
Cover image credit: Thomas Maheux/SWpix.com
