Wrong Turn Disaster Costs Favorites the Win at Strade Bianche Donne

A costly wrong-way turn wiped out all hope for several top contenders at Strade Bianche Donne when a chasing group featuring Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky, and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot rode off course during the decisive phase of the Italian race.

The drama unfolded with about 33km to go as a select chase group tried to close the gap to the leaders on Tuscany’s gravel roads.

The riders pedaled off the official route and rode several hundred meters before realizing the mistake, apparently following a race motorbike that turned onto a side gravel track.

For Vollering, the mistake came on top of a difficult race that had already been disrupted by a puncture.

“I had a flat tire at the worst moment,” she said. “I thought, ‘don’t give up, I can still come back.’ But then they sent us the wrong way. All the riders knew in that moment that we were never coming back. It was a pity for me, but I could hear on the radio that it was a big battle.”

By the time they stopped and doubled back onto the correct road, their chances of rejoining the leaders were cooked.

The gap hovered at just over a minute, but after the wrong turn, it ballooned to roughly three minutes.

The group caught in the confusion included defending champion Vollering (FDJ-Suez), former world champions Kopecky and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), Tour de France Femmes champ Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal).

No chance of recovery

Several of the riders were already chasing after earlier setbacks on the brutal Le Tolfe sector with 42km to go at Strade Bianche.

Vollering and Ferrand-Prévot both suffered mechanical problems there, forcing them into a desperate chase of a front group of riders.

Ferrand-Prévot was also trying to recover after mechanical issues chasing in the cars when the confusion unfolded.

“I have no idea, I saw motos and people going to the right, so I also turned. We were quite far away. I didn’t know if the front group also went through wrong way,” she said.

“I think my form was good and I was waiting for the final lap to make a move — next time!”

Kopecky said everyone in the group immediately knew things were not going as planned.

“I didn’t realize it at first, but the gravel was in terrible condition, and I’d never seen that stretch before. Then I thought, ‘We’re not in the right place.’ But the motorbiker had gone that way in front of us,” Kopecky told Sporza.

“After that, I couldn’t do anything to put Anna (van der Breggen) in position. I have no idea how far behind we were at that point.”

Despite it perhaps being a mistake of the lead motorcycle, rules require riders to know the course. Kopecky admitted the situation unfolded too fast for anyone to react, she told Sporza.

“You follow, and if the whole group is confidently moving to the right, you don’t just go to the left,” she said.

“I didn’t realize it myself right away, and it didn’t really matter to me anymore.”

Riders who were already clear up the road stayed on course and delivered a thrilling battle that went to the final corner.