Strade Bianche 2025 men’s Race LIVE - A bloodied Tadej Pogacar fights back from crash for third Tuscan title

He is saluted and welcomed by his team-mate. That was a real contribution from Wellens.

1'25 behind. Credit it where it's due. He made this a race, and gave his team a result.

Bloody, bruised but unbowed and ultimately unbeaten. Two in a row, three in total. First ever winner in the rainbow bands. One final turn and he'll have his name etched into the landscape. He wins when he wants.

Through the gate, accepting a few high fives, about to become the first back-to-back champion.

Fourth place looks to be his.

This is the less pretty bit of the race. Pogacar doesn't exactly look comfortable, but he is assured. Pidcock seems safe enough in second place. Even if Wellens can catch him, you'd think Pidcock would have the better of him on that final climb up to Piazza del Campo.

He should be a fair bit fresher than the Briton. He's got forty seconds to close and 10km to do so. Is a 1-2 on the cards for UAE?

Greeted by a crowd of jubilant Slovenians at the entrance to Le Tolfe for the second time. He just needs to take it easy through the downhill, which he does. It looks like this one is all over, but we've had far more of a race than last year.

In barely two kilometres. That's what you can do when you're the best in the world. In other news, his team-mate, Tim Wellens, has attacked the chasers with a view to joining him on the podium.

More intent from the Slovenian than we've seen in a while, on this the penultimate sector of sterrato, Colle Pinzuto. And that's the gap, on a 10-12% gradient, and it looks like he's riding away, without even having to get up out of the saddle. Pidcock won't give up that easily, though.

They've just gone through "that" corner again. Pogacar followed rather than led that time around.

And while no-one knows but him how he's feeling, there were points in the last couple of kilometers where Pogacar looked less than smooth, less like the rider we know he can be, for whom everything just clicks and flows. He gapped himself a couple of times and had to get out of the saddle to restore contact with Pidcock's wheel. We'll only really know the situation when one rider or the other makes a move, but the runes are readable if you want to...

Known as Montechiaro. It's only a two-star, and 3.3km long, but this one is mostly downhill. Could Pidcock apply a bit of a squeeze here?

Who are:

Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates)
Ben Healy (EF Education)
Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious)
Roger Adria (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe)

And the gap is getting any bigger, if anything the opposite, now at just over a minute. Presumably Wellens isn't contributing to any chase? This feels like a "whisper it" moment.

As you can see, Pidcock was going for a different line, presumably a better one, which is why he was completely clear of it.

Robbie McEwen sees a certain hesitation and a bit of a wobble as Pogacar follows Pidcock through a tight downhill hairpin and thinks he can read something into his current state of mind. Will Pidcock look to take advantage? Perhaps put him under more pressure in this final phase of the race?

Up and down, as 46 seconds back Connor Swift keeps fighting, rocking and rolling through a tunnel of tifosi.

He takes a swig from his bidon, free wheels a bit and looks behind. Robbie McEwen and Adam Blythe 'don't mind this' describing it as a 'gentlemanly show of respect' but I'm not so sure. The racing was on, which is why Pogacar was pushing it. Unless there's a tactical reason for Pidcock to halt his effort, thinking a few chess moves ahead, I don't see any reason why he should do that.