2007 Monte Paschi Eroica

2007 Monte Paschi Eroica
2007 UCI Europe Tour
Race details
DatesOctober 9
Distance181 km (112.5 mi)
Winning time4h 42' 10"
Results
  Winner  Alexandr Kolobnev (RUS) (Team CSC)
  Second  Marcus Ljungqvist (SWE) (Team CSC)
  Third  Mikhaylo Khalilov (UKR) (Ceramica Flaminia–Bossini Docce)
2008 →

The 2007 Monte Paschi Eroica was the first professional edition of the Monte Paschi Eroica bike race, later called Strade Bianche. It was raced on Tuesday 9 October 2007 in the province of Siena in Tuscany, Italy.[1] The race was won by Russian rider Alexandr Kolobnev, who completed a 40-kilometre (25-mile) solo, narrowly staying ahead of his teammate Marcus Ljungqvist at the finish.[2] It held a 1.1 UCI rating on the 2007 continental calendar.

The professional race was spun off the granfondo L'Eroica, a recreational bike race for vintage bikes, on the white gravel roads around Siena, an event that continues to this day.[3] The inaugural edition was the only time the race was held mid-week and in autumn; before moving to early March in 2008. 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 - Gazzetta dello Sport asked local Tuscan cycling icons Fiorenzo Magni and Paolo Bettini to promote the event.[4]

  1. ^ "Kolobnev wins Monte Paschi Eroica". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  2. ^ Brown, Gregor. "1st Monte Paschi Eroica - 1.1 Italy, October 9, 2007. Kolobnev becomes the first to conquer Eroica". Cycling News. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  3. ^ Brown, Gregor. "First Monte Paschi Eroica presented". Cycling News. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  4. ^ "Bettini "padrino" della Monte Paschi Eroica". Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 2 October 2007. Retrieved 29 November 2015.