The 2007 Monte Paschi Eroica was the first professional edition of the Monte Paschi Eroica

bike race Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling sports in ...

, later called ''

Strade Bianche The Strade Bianche (; ) is a road bicycle race in Tuscany, Central Italy, starting and finishing in Siena. First held in 2007, it is raced annually on the first or second Saturday of March. The name stems from the historic white gravel roads in ...

''. It was raced on Tuesday 9 October 2007 in the

province of Siena The province of Siena (, ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Siena. It has 259,826 inhabitants. Geography The province is divided into seven historical areas: * Alta Val d'Elsa * Chian ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

, Italy. The race was won by Russian rider

Alexandr Kolobnev Alexandr Vasilievich Kolobnev (; born 4 May 1981) is a Russian former professional road bicycle racer. His major victories include winning the 2007 Monte Paschi Eroica, a stage of the 2007 Paris–Nice and he is a two-time winner of the Russi ...

, who completed a solo, narrowly staying ahead of his teammate

Marcus Ljungqvist Marcus Ljungqvist (born October 26, 1974, in Falun) is a Swedish former professional road bicycle racer. He turned professional in 1998, and retired from racing after the 2009 season. He worked for as a sporting director from 2010 until 2013. He ...

at the finish. It held a 1.1

UCI UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

rating on the 2007 continental calendar. The professional race was spun off the granfondo

L'Eroica L'Eroica is an annual non-competitive cycling event which has taken place since 1997 in the province of Siena, Italy. The theme of the event is vintage cycling, with participants using vintage bikes (up to and including 1987), accessories and clot ...

, a recreational bike race for vintage bikes, on the white gravel roads around

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

, an event that continues to this day. The inaugural edition was the only time the race was held mid-week and in autumn; before moving to early March in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. Monte dei Paschi, the world's oldest still existing bank and headquartered in Siena, served as the race's title sponsor. As a newly created race, organizer

RCS RCS may refer to: Organizations Arts and entertainment * Radio Corporation of Singapore * Radcliffe Choral Society, a choral ensemble at Harvard University *RCS MediaGroup (Rizzoli-Corriere della Sera), an Italian publishing group *Royal Conserva ...

Gazzetta dello Sport (; English: "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any type in Italy (in 2018). History and profile was founded by Eliso Riv ...

asked local Tuscan cycling icons

Fiorenzo Magni Fiorenzo Magni (; 7 December 1920 – 19 October 2012) was an Italian professional road racing cyclist. Biography Magni was born to Giuseppe Magni and Giulia Caciolli, and had an elder sister Fiorenza.#Bulbarelli, Bulbarelli, pp. 14–15 ...

and

Paolo Bettini Paolo Bettini (born 1 April 1974) is an Italian former champion road racing cyclist, and the former coach of the Italian national cycling team. Considered the best classic cycle races, classics specialist of his generation, and probably one of th ...

to promote the event.

Route

The race started in

Gaiole in Chianti Gaiole in Chianti is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Siena in the Italy, Italian region Tuscany, located about southeast of Florence and about northeast of Siena. ''Forbes'' named it number one in its list of "Europe's Most Idyl ...

and ended in

, and was run entirely within the boundaries of the

, in southern

. The course ran over the undulating hills of the

Chianti Chianti is an Italian red wine produced in the Chianti (region), Chianti region of central Tuscan wine, Tuscany, principally from the Sangiovese grape. It was historically associated with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a ''fia ...

region and included seven sectors of gravel roads (''strade bianche'' or ''sterrati''), totaling 60 kilometres of dirt roads on a 181 km distance. The race finished on

's illustrious

Piazza del Campo Piazza del Campo is the main piazza, public space of the historic center of Siena, a city in Tuscany, Italy, Its name comes from the Italian language, Italian word ''campanilismo,'' which translates to "local pride" and ''campanile'' "bell tower." ...

; the finish came after a particularly steep and narrow ascent over a roughly-paved road into the heart of the medieval city.

Report

Eight riders forced the decisive break on the ''sterrato'' climb to

Montalcino Montalcino is a hill town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. The town is located to the west of Pienza, close to the Crete Senesi in Val d'Orcia. It is from Siena, from Florence and from Pisa. Monte Amiata is l ...

at 107 km from the finish, facing the remaining four sectors of dirt road.

and

(Team CSC),

Eros Capecchi Eros Capecchi (born 13 June 1986) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . He took four professional wins during his career, including a stage of the 2011 Giro d'Italia. Career Born in Castiglione d ...

(Liquigas),

José Alberto Benítez José Alberto Benítez Román (born 14 November 1981) is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who competed professionally between 2006 and 2011 for the and teams. He raced with the Spiuk continental team 2005, before turning profes ...

and

Manuele Mori Manuele Mori (born 8 September 1980 in Empoli) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2019 for the , and teams. He won the Japan Cup in 2007. Major results ;2001 : 3rd Gran Premio di Pog ...

(Saunier Duval-Prodir),

José Enrique Gutierrez José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

(Team LPR),

Jure Golčer Jure Golčer (born July 12, 1977 in Maribor) is a Slovenian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2018 for the Corratec World MTB Team, , , , , , , (three spells), , and . Major results ;2001 ...

(Tenax-Salmilano) and Ricardo Serrano (Tinkoff Credit Systems) were the men to fight out the race as it wound its way back north to Siena. Kolobnev used his Worlds' form to attack and drop his companions on the penultimate sector. The Russian kept his bike upright on the technical gravel descents that comprised the final ''strada bianca''. After the final sector, 11 km from Siena, he held a 40-second advantage over the chase. Saunier put the most into the chase with two men but were discouraged by Ljungqvist sitting on. The Swede used his stored strength on the final stretches into Siena to attack and take second place behind his teammate Kolobnev.

Results

References

External links

* {{Strade Bianche 2007 in road cycling

Strade Bianche