Tadej Pogačar became the first ever rider to win back-to-back editions of Strade Bianche at the weekend. He's now a three-time winner, also finishing first in 2022. Pogačar was of course the runaway favourite for this year's race, but things didn’t quite go to plan after he slid off on a fast, downhill left-hander while pushing the pace in front of 2023 Strade winner Tom Pidcock and former British national champion Connor Swift with 50 kilometres to go. However, he sprang up from the ditch, seized his bike, remounted and chased Pidcock who, observing crash etiquette, eased off and allowed his rival to ride back up beside him. “He was back on his bike so I waited. It's the right thing to do,” said the Briton.
James Startt photographed Pogačar’s Colnago V4RS in Siena before its spectacular somersault into the verge (subsequently Pogačar changed bikes although he initially chased Pidcock on the one that crashed). It’s remarkably similar in setup to his 2024 Strade Bianche-winning bike. Choosing the all-rounder V4RS over the new Y1RS aero bike seemed logical. Despite dominating the UAE Tour in February on the Y1RS, the rider and team clearly aimed to stick with a proven winning formula for Strade Bianche.
The biggest difference visually is that this year’s bike is gleaming white with subtle silver accents decorated with the rainbow bands instead of matte black with red, white and green trim.
As last year, the groupset is Shimano Dura-Ace with upgrades by Carbon-TI. The 54/40 X-Carboring EVO chainrings, according to the Italian brand, have a "structural carbon-fibre body and feature CNC-machined and shaped Grade 5 titanium pins to allow lightning-fast and precise shifting." Last year Pogačar used Carbon-TI rotors as well as chainrings, but this year he runs the original Shimano Dura-Ace, perhaps reflecting that this year UAE Team Emirates and Shimano entered an official four-year technical partnership running until the end of the 2028 season. So clearly an exception has been made for Pogačar to run non-Shimano chainrings with the aim of saving weight and bringing his bike closer to the minimum 6.8kg limit. As for the chainset itself, he uses relatively short 165mm cranks – a trend that we’re seeing really take off this year.
ENVE is another partner of the team and, as last year, the SES 4.5 wheels were deployed. Originally designed for Paris-Roubaix, these were redesigned to “deliver more speed in a lighter package,” according to ENVE. They have a claimed weight of 1,432g, an internal rim width of 25mm, rim depths of 50mm on the front and 56mm at the back and are a favourite of the Slovenian – he used them in the 2024 Tour de France, in which he won five stages. ENVE released a special limited-edition version with custom yellow Tour decals to honour the achievement – but here the decals celebrate his World Championship win and match the frame.
Pogačar runs tubeless Continental Grand Prix 5000S TR tyres in a 30mm size. The ENVE SES 4.5 wheels are aero optimised for 27-28mm tyres, but the 30mm gives better vibration absorption and therefore speed over the white gravel roads.
ENVE also supplies the integrated cockpit – now released to the consumer as the SES Aero Pro one-piece bar (last year it was a team-only component). Attached to it is a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt head unit via a K-Edge mount. With Peter Sagan now retired, Pogačar has co-opted the Incredible Hulk as his mascot: this season on the front of the cockpit he has a custom Hulk sticker featuring trunks with rainbow bands instead of the traditional plain purple.
Topping off the build, this season Fizik took over saddle sponsorship of Team UAE Emirates, Pogačar here using a 3D-printed Adaptive model, with the custom One-to-One saddles also available.
See more of James Startt's photographs from the race in our exclusive gallery.
