Thomas Löfkvist staged a strong defence of his title at the Strade Bianche Eroica - one of the most picturesque races on the calendar.

Featuring the white dirt farm roads of Tuscany, with a finish in the famous Piazza del Campo in Siena, it is a strong man's race, in the style of Paris-Roubaix, but with the added challenge of a tough, narrow climb, with a gradient as steep as 16%, in the final kilometre.

It was on that final ascent in 2009 that Löfkvist made his race-winning move, and he was at the front again as the lead break tackled the hill this year, after 190km, 60km of them on the white dirt roads - or dust roads, as they become when the Tuscan sun shines, as it did on Saturday.

Löfkvist and his Team Sky teammate, Juan Antonio Flecha, the winner of last weekend's Het Nieuwsblad, both made the decisive 11-man break. Other big names in the race-winning move included Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia), Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) and Filippo Pozzato (Katusha), and Rogers was able to go with Löfkvist as he accelerated at the bottom of the climb.

This duo was joined by Maxim Iglinsky (Astana) and, briefly, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Transitions), though by the top, as they swung around the back of the Piazza del Campo, the order was Löfkvist, Iglinsky and Rogers, with Hesjedal having been dropped.

On the narrow streets, with their uneven surface, it seemed that Löfkvist would hold his position, but Iglinsky squeezed past him in the final 200 metres, and the Swede had to settle for second.

Though he had his heart set on defending his title, Löfkvist was pleased to have proved himself one of the strong men.

"I thought I could do the double, and I was first up the last climb," he told us. "But I was passed on the inside when the road narrowed, and there wasn't anything I could do - I couldn't squeeze him.

"I'm disappointed not to win, of course, but I felt strong, and the race gave me a good indication of my shape at the moment."

Flecha impressed

For Flecha, making his first appearance at the Tuscan race - which is a relatively new but already prestigious date on the calendar - eighth was a positive result after his victory the previous week.

"It's a very, very hard race, but the roads are also very pretty," said the Spaniard. "I liked it.

"I think Thomas and I did what we could in the front group - we were both strong, and we played our hand well. I think we can be happy."