Everyone’s new favorite bike race, Strade Bianche, is growing this year and will be a hefty 215km long. This is a significant increase in distance (and gravel sectors) over previous years and is starting to address the question everyone had about when this race would become one of the Monuments of the cycling season. Monuments are old and they are long (250km to 300km usually) and Strade Bianche is neither…yet.

Weirdly, the women’s race distance hasn’t changed, or if it has, by just a few kilometers. Maybe they’ll be next if it works for the men. Regardless, this is a good first step. Considering that the race, first run in 2007, is 100+ years newer than Milan-Sanremo, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders and Il Lombardia, by the time your grandkids are old enough to retire, we might just see a 6th Monument.