Daniele Bennati

Daniele Bennati - Strade Bianche 2012

Daniele was always in pursuit of a strong result at Strade Bianche, but he never achieved something close to it. He is a sprinter who became team-leader with the experience, but his phisical capabilities were not matching with this race, which is brutal and great at the same time.

Daniele is a local rider, living few kilometers far from Siena; he usually rides this gravel, not for technical reasons but just because he really enjoys those sceneries and those roads. The Strade Bianche are his environment, his home, and that's the reason why I enjoyed so much the edition 2012, when he tried the long break at more than 50 km to go. He went out in favor of his team-mate Cancellara (who won, at the end), but he really tried to make it possible (for himself). He was out together with Oss (another Daniel), but he dropped him and went solo. At 25 km to go he was still out, but the best were at less then a minute, just enough to overcome Colle Pinzuto climb, but not for Le Tolfe. At 15 km to go his dream was over and the race of the bests started. His sacrifice made Cancellara win possible. And the picture above is the most strong memory I have, from that afternoon.