Photo gallery: Strade Bianche, road cycling’s sixth Monument?

Is it time we added Strade Bianche to the exclusive list of road cycling’s Monuments? Is it time we put it on the same lofty pedestal occupied by Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Il Lombardia? There’s little doubt Strade Bianche has grown to become one of cycling’s most loved races, and its popularity only seems to be increasing.

Those beautiful white gravel roads, the sweeping Tuscan hills, the thrilling battles it’s played host to in the past 13 years — there’s a lot to like about Strade Bianche. But at “only” 184km (the Monuments are between 240 and 300km long), and with its rather young history (the youngest Monument is the Tour of Flanders, at 106 years old) Strade Bianche isn’t quite in the same league as the world’s biggest one day races.

Or is it? Does it really matter that it’s younger and shorter? Or maybe stacking Strade Bianche up against the Monuments is simply a distraction — maybe all that matters is that it’s one of the coolest races on the planet and a joy to watch, every single year.

The gallery below documents both the women’s race (shot by Jojo Harper for Kristof Ramon) and the men’s race (shot by The Grubers and Kristof Ramon), both of which were raced this past weekend. Follow the links for video highlights from the women’s and men’s races.

May we be talking about Strade Bianche for many many years to come.