| 2007 UCI Europe Tour | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race details | |||||||||||||
| Dates | October 9 | ||||||||||||
| Distance | 181 km (112.5 mi) | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 4h 42' 10" | ||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
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]
- ^ "Kolobnev wins Monte Paschi Eroica". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Brown, Gregor. "First Monte Paschi Eroica presented". Cycling News. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
- ^ "Bettini "padrino" della Monte Paschi Eroica". Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 2 October 2007. Retrieved 29 November 2015.