“It is so much emotions, I still can’t realise it”: Chabbey Wins Chaotic Strade Bianche

The Swiss rider from FDJ-SUEZ held her nerve in a tense finale in Siena, sprinting to victory on the steep Via Santa Caterina before the iconic finish on the Piazza del Campo. Chabbey beat our own We Love Cycling expert Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney in second, while her teammate Franziska Koch completed the podium to seal a double top-three for the French squad.

But the race’s decisive moment came much earlier. With around 33km remaining, a large chase group containing many of the favourites including Demi Vollering, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Lotte Kopecky followed a race motorbike onto the wrong road through vineyards. By the time they rejoined the course, the gap had stretched to around three minutes and their chances were effectively gone.

At the front, the race remained aggressive across the final gravel sectors. Repeated attacks whittled the leading group down before the brutal climb into Siena, where the race exploded one last time. Chabbey entered the final metres slightly behind but carried more speed through the final corner and launched her sprint with around 250 metres remaining.

After crossing the line, the Swiss rider struggled to process the magnitude of the moment.

“It is so much emotions that I cannot realise it for now,” Chabbey said. “I was really on the limit so many times. In my head I wanted to give up.”

Instead, she kept riding for her teammates, particularly team leader Demi Vollering, who had suffered bad luck earlier in the race.

“I thought, no, I have to do this for Demi… and for all the work my teammates did.”

The victory marks Chabbey’s first win in a WorldTour one-day classic and adds another milestone to a career that has steadily risen in recent seasons.