Tadej Pogacar Wins Van der Poel Duel At Cycling's Tour Of Flanders 2025
Tadej Pogacar Wins Van der Poel Duel At Cycling's Tour Of Flanders 2025
Tadej Pogacar won an epic see-saw showdown at the Tour of Flanders 2025 on Sunday, soloing home from 15 kilometers. It was his second win at the event.
Tadej Pogacar won an epic see-saw showdown at the Tour of Flanders 2025 on Sunday, soloing home from 15 kilometers, with Mads Pedersen edging Mathieu Van der Poel to second at the line a minute later and Wout van Aert fourth.
The duel between the Slovenian and defending champion Van der Poel played out across the 17 hills in bright sunshine, before Pogacar went solo.
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Principally a Grand Tour rider, world champion Pogacar won both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in 2024. On Sunday, he won his eighth Monument, moving ahead of one-day specialist Van der Poel on seven.
"The goal was to win, but at the end, it's hard to realize," said a beaming Pogacar at the end of the 270-kilometer slog before 750,000 boisterous roadside fans. "I cannot be more proud of the team."
The event is not only the key event on the one-day calendar, but something of a shared national experience in Belgium.
The race embarked under bright blue skies, for once, heading into the lush green Flanders Fields with windmills and happy weekend crowds gathered around beer tents.
Of the main contenders, Italy's Filippo Ganna, second at the Milan-San Remo in March, broke at 100 kilometers to go with fellow Italian Matteo Trentin.
But they were caught and overtaken by Pogacar and Van der Poel at 60 kilometers to go as the pair then began an infernal struggle to drop one another.
Van Aert redeemed himself from a flop Wednesday when he caught the pair and briefly dropped them both, a key moment in the struggle, as when Pogacar then retaliated the big Dutchman had nothing left in the tank.
The whole circus now moves on to the Paris-Roubaix mudfest next Sunday, where a similar set of contenders will scrap it out on the cobbled mining roads of the border region with Belgium and France.
There, Pogacar will be making his first appearance.
"Roubaix is a completely different race, but I will accept the challenge and try to do my best," Pogacar said. "Flanders suits me better, but with the shape I'm in now, I should give it a try."
There are five ultra-long one-day bike races known as the Monuments, and the Tour of Flanders is considered the greatest because of the constant steep, narrow climbs, coupled with crowds that even a 100 years ago began to tip over half a million.
The other four Monuments are Milan-San Remo, which calls for patience, the Paris-Roubaix with its perilous rough-hewn cobbles, Liege-Bastogne-Liege through the winding forested lanes of the Ardennes and the Tour of Lombardy, which is a climbers' classic.
Shuttle buses and extra trains have been laid on throughout Flanders for what is regarded by many as an unofficial world championship.
What Are The Races On The Flanders Classics Schedule?
- Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Men & Women; Saturday, March 1)
- Gent-Wevelgem (Men & Women; Sunday, March 30)
- Dwars door Vlaanderen (Men & Women; Wednesday, April 2)
- Tour of Flanders (Men & Women; Sunday, April 6)
- Scheldeprijs (Men & Women; Wednesday, April 9)
- De Brabantse Pijl (Men & Women; Friday, April 18)
New to the calendar for 2025:
- Ronde van Limburg (Thursday, March 27)
- Amstel Gold Race (Sunday, April 20)
- Brussels Cycling Classic (Sunday, June 8)
- Vlaamse Druivenkoers Overijse (Saturday, Aug. 16)
What Are The Cycling Monuments?
These are the most prestigious one-day races on the annual cycling calendar. Each race features a journey between 240 and 300 kilometers.
These races are challenging and steeped in history and tradition.
- Milan - San Remo
- Tour of Flanders
- Paris-Roubaix
- Liège–Bastogne–Liège
- Giro di Lombardia
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