Strade Bianche

The Strade Bianche was run today over the famous "Strade Bianche" white gravel roads of Tuscany. The race has become a modern classic contested by the top pro teams. 60% of the route was on the gravel dirt roads, made even more dangerous because of afternoon rains. Greg Avermaet, a Belgium riding for the American BMC team won today, covered in mud. Here is the story from VeloNews: http://www.velonews.com/2017/03/news/van-avermaet-really-old-school-today_431764

Does anyone know what wheels and tires these guys were using? Wonder if any of the bikes were sporting disc wheels?

Winner was Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) in a long breakaway out of the lead group. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) was second. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) withdrew with 70km. to go because of illness.  If by disc wheels we are talking about disc brakes I highly doubt anyone was using them.  The pros don't want to see a mixture of disc brakes and rim brakes in the peloton due to differing braking rates in corners.

sterlingpass wrote:Winner was Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) in a long breakaway out of the lead group. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) was second.  If by disc wheels we are talking about disc brakes I highly doubt anyone was using them.  The pros don't want to see a mixture of disc brakes and rim brakes in the peloton due to differing braking rates in corners.

OOOps - yes. my errors. I guess I was taken by the photo of the mud covered Van Avermaet crossing the line 2nd. Yes - I meant disc brakes. Here is a picture of Tom Bonen's first pro win on a bike with disc brakes in Jan : http://www.velonews.com/2017/01/news/tech-milestone-boonen-wins-first-race-with-disc-brake-bike_429063

Unfortunately, a day later there was a controversial accident where another pro claimed his shoe was cut by a disc. This was later disputed by video evidence. None the less -rightfully so IMHO, the pro racer association is protesting the use of disc brakes and trying to get them banned until a safer version is available. I'm hoping to see more about the bike tech used at Strade Bianche as this promises more tech development and eventually trickle down to us. Of course, fickle me - last year I was moaning about the possible commercialization of gravel bikes racing.

My guess was off, there were two riders equipped with disc brakes.  As the linked article states most riders were on standard road bikes with 25mm tubular tires.  http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/strade-bianche-tech-gallery/

sterlingpass wrote:My guess was off, there were two riders equipped with disc brakes.  As the linked article states most riders were on standard road bikes with 25mm tubular tires.  http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/strade-bianche-tech-gallery/

Thanks for the link. Nice to see dirty pro bikes. Strade Bianche isn't DK; and pro riders are all great bike handlers; but nice to see what you can do with 25mm tubular tires on some slick and bumpy gravel. I think the guys from Compass may have some support here for supple/ wide/ soft tires on gravel. Just saying .....

A few of the riders will go with 27's as well, as in the Roubaix.