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Monday, April 14, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
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Upcoming racing:
- April 15 - 18: Giro d'Abruzzo
- April 18: De Brabantse Pijl
Latest completed racing:
- April 12-13: Paris-Roubaix
- April 7 - 12: Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
- April 8 - 11: Region Pays de la Loire Tour
- April 9: Scheldeprijs
- April 6: Ronde van Vlaanderen
- April 5: GP Miguel Indurain
- April 5: Volta NXT Classic
- April 4: Route Adélie de Vitre
- April 2: Dwars door Vlaanderen
- April 2: Paris - Camembert Lepetit
- March 24 - 30: Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
- March 30: Gent - Wevelgem
- March 30: La Roue Tourangelle
We posted the race organizer's report with the results.
Second-place Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates posted this report:
World champion Tadej Pogačar enjoyed an almighty battle with Mathieu van der Poel in Roubaix debut, taking second place after giving blood, sweat and tears
On a ‘Sunday in Hell’ – as it is known – Tadej Pogačar became the first reigning Tour de France champion to podium Paris-Roubaix since Eddy Merckx in 1975. After a breathtaking battle with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the world champion finished second in the Roubaix Velodrome, writing his way into the history books.
As Van der Poel was able to celebrate a third victory in a row, Pogačar overcame mechanicals and an unfortunate crash to cross the line alone in second. Behind the race debutant, his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Florian Vermeersch secured fifth place after a gutsy ride that saw him continue his fine spring Classics campaign.
Throughout the course of the afternoon, Pogačar and Van der Poel enjoyed a ding-dong contest for the ages, with both men producing a plethora of attacks and ensuring this would become an edition remembered in perpetuity.
After Pogačar, Van der Poel and Lidl-Trek’s Mads Pedersen had blown the race to pieces heading into the Trouée d’Arenberg, it looked as though the winner might come from a select group. This became ever more likely as Pogačar and Van der Poel became a leading duo alone, but the world champion ran wide on a right-hand bend, allowing Van der Poel to take the initiative and ride to the finish alone.
Refusing to let the mishap damage his plans, Pogačar went full gas in pursuit of Van der Poel. Had it not been for a mechanical as the gap hovered at 20 seconds, the race might have drawn to a thrilling finale. As it was, the 26-year-old would have to change bikes and concentrate his efforts on securing second place. In doing so, he takes UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s best-ever finish in the Monument known as ‘the Hell of the North’
Pogacar getting a bike change with 20.8 kms to go.
Earlier in the race, UAE Team Emirates-XRG had already shown face at the front before the first sector of cobbles, with Nils Politt and Tim Wellens looking to force their way into a breakaway. In the end, an eight-man move went up the road and the Emirati squad looked to make the race hard from behind. As wind threatened the creation of echelons in the early knockings, Pogačar went through-and-off at the head of the peloton, keen to offer himself sanctuary from misfortune.
With 150km yet to race, the Queen of the Classics was already in pieces, with the likes of Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) all suffering crashes or mechanicals. It was some 20km later that the race came to a further boil, with Politt making an attack, teammate António Morgado stretching things out and eventually, Pogačar himself going on the front foot.
His first attack of the day came in advance of the legendary Trouée d’Arenberg, with the Slovenian quick to shirk any doubts as to how he would fare at the toughest one-day race of the season. Like a duck to water, the three-time Tour de France champion moved over the cobblestones with grace befitting of the man in the rainbow jersey.
As Pogačar made his first acceleration, Van der Poel tracked his move with the eyes of a hawk. Soon, the pair would trade blows as the peloton was buckled by the pressure. Once the breakaway was mopped up, the leading group on the road consisted of Pogačar, Van der Poel, Philipsen, Pedersen and Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), with Vermeersch riding strongly in the second group on the road.
With Pedersen the victim of a flat tyre, Pogačar went on the offensive once more, drawing out only Van der Poel at the head of the race. The pair would be joined by Philipsen and with 65km to go, the winner of this year’s race was clearly sitting within the trio. Determined not to come to the finish with the two Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates, Pogačar dropped the hammer on the iconic Mons-en-Pévèle sector, finishing Philipsen off for good.
Just as it looked like nothing could seperate the winners of this year’s Milano-Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders, Pogačar suffered a fatal blow. Carrying too much speed into a right-hand bend, the 26-year-old overshot the corner and ended up on the ground. Forced to change his bike in the midst of the chaos, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man was given a sizeable task to remake contact with Van der Poel at the front.
This challenge was made all the more difficult by a further front-wheel puncture suffered by Pogačar, which proved the final blow in the battle for the day’s victory. Alas, to his credit, the world champion marched on and left every ounce of energy on the road, as he came across the line in second. As the Slovenian fell to the ground inside the Roubaix Velodrome, he just had time to watch his teammate Vermeersch sprint to fifth place.
The Belgian had been involved in his own thrilling battle, but this one with Van Aert and Pedersen, with the three proving the strongest of the chasers behind. Coming to the finish alongside two men known for their sprinting prowess, Vermeersch did his best to show them a fresh pair of heels inside the final 20km, but it was not to be. Crossing the line in fifth, he could be proud of another fantastic display in what has been a mightily impressive debut Classics campaign in UAE Team Emirates-XRG colours.
Speaking to the media after the finish, the second-placed Pogačar reflected on a memorable debut outing at the Queen of the Classics.
Pogačar: “Today was a great race for our team, with two guys in the top five. We can come back next year with a strong team again and be motivated to fight for victory over the next few years.
“[In regard to the crash] When you go full gas and motos are in front of you and they don’t turn, you also think there is no turn. But suddenly they are just standing still… I should have known there was a corner coming. No excuses.
“Mathieu is a great champion and one of the best riders in the world. To race against him is a big honour. If I was a kid, he would be my idol. Racing against him is a strong motivation.
“You think it’s a flat race, but in terms of power this is one of the hardest races I’ve ever done. This adds up with the cobbles and the stress to make it a very tough race. This experience will be useful in the future, for the race to feel less exhausting.
“When I was at the front with Mathieu and Jasper, I was thinking that it was not a good idea to come into the velodrome with two of the fastest riders in the world. So I was trying to make something happen.”
Here's the report from third-place Mads Pedersen's Team Lidl-Trek:
Mads Pedersen came into ‘The Hell of the North’ as one of the pre-race favorites and made his intentions clear from the first cobbled sector, sitting up at the front of the bunch on the first cobbled sector before Lidl-Trek helped take control of the race.
As the sectors were quickly ticked off, a stretched out bunch hit the five star sector, Trouée d’Arenberg and it was clear that it was game on!
Mads Pedersen finishes third. Sirotti photo
Pedersen was sitting third wheel at the end of the sector and was reacting to every move made by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) and the eventual solo winner, Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck).
However, bad luck struck with just over 70 kilometers of racing to go, with a bike change causing the Danish rider to lose contact with the other key race leaders but, this was perhaps the moment when Pedersen’s grit and determination shone the brightest.
Once he found himself in a group of chasers, the 29-year-old former world champion, showed his class before forcing a split after deciding he wanted to press on to keep trying to close the gap to the leading duo but, on the Carrefour de l’Arbre, it looked certain that the first two spots would go to van der Poel and Pogačar.
Pedersen was locked in a battle for third with Wout van Aert (Visma Lease-a-Bike) and Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates XRG) on the final sectors of the day and, despite all the work he had done previously, looked to still be strongest.
Pedersen was on the front as the trio made the turn onto the iconic Roubaix velodrome and was the first to start his sprint, going long and, as we have come to expect at the end of a hard day’s racing, he was able to maintain his power to hold off the others to take the final step on the podium for a second consecutive year.
Mads’ Reaction:
"I felt really good and I had a good feeling and the team did impressive work the whole day to keep me out of trouble and get me into the sectors in a good position and pulling at the right moments so everything went really well until the moment. You never know what might’ve happened if I didn’t puncture that’s the beauty in this race, sometimes it hits you and sometimes it hits others. It’s nice to watch and anything can happen but sadly today I was the unlucky one with the puncture at a really bad moment, which kind of decided the race for me. When Tadej attacks, it’s really not ideal to puncture.
"In the moment it happened I felt good and I was also in the right spot. We all tried to come back but it’s not that easy to close the gap on Tadej [Pocagar] and Mathieu [van der Poel] and I also can’t go with everything with 6 or 7 guys on my wheel but we all tried and the whole group was working quite ok. We knew we were racing for third and that was just something we needed to do. You do have have to make your head ready for something else and even in that moment we weren’t even racing for a podium but in this race you never know what happens so keep fighting and yeah, you can end up on the podium anyway.
"Another podium in a Monument, I shouldn’t complain about that but I came to win today and with a puncture in a really bad moment you never know what could’ve happened. It took me out of the chance of fighting for a win. I’m not saying that I would’ve been able to win but at least I could’ve given it a better shot. All in all I finished with a podium in a Monument and it was a good classic campaign.
"At that moment [after the puncture] you try and get the best out of it because you never know what can happen. We heard that Tadej crashed and we thought maybe we will make it back to him but you never know with this race. Anything can happen so keep fighting and maybe it turns around, but this year it didn’t, it was not my day. Shit happens. Mathieu was so impressive to win three times in a row. You have to take your hat off to him. The way he’s racing is really, really impressive so congrats. After I punctured, I tried everything to come back at that moment. There were still three guys ahead so we weren’t even racing for the podium so we did everything we could to fight and make it back and fight for a podium.
"I heard [Wout van Aert & Florian Vermeersch] talk together and I’m not stupid. I don’t speak Flemish but I can use my ears and my brain and I had the feeling they wanted to attack, but I tried to keep the speed high and give them the impression that I was ready for anything. I tried to keep them on one side so they only had one side to attack on and use the track as much as possible. I learned this on the track with Michael Mørkøv."
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Here's the Paris-Roubaix report from fourth-place Wout van Aert's Team Visma | Lease a Bike:
Wout van Aert finished fourth in Paris-Roubaix. The Belgian rider from Team Visma | Lease a Bike spent much of the race chasing, fought his way back into contention impressively, but ultimately missed the podium.
The 2025 edition began in rather chaotic fashion. Even before the first of the race’s thirty cobbled sectors, there were several crashes and delays. Team Visma | Lease a Bike wasn’t spared either, but team leader Van Aert was brought back into the peloton by his teammates.
The race truly ignited on the cobbles of the Trouée d’Arenberg. The favorites opened the throttle. Matthew Brennan, who delivered a commendable first Paris-Roubaix at just 19 years old, and Van Aert were initially well-positioned but soon had to let go of a group of five. In that breakaway group, Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar were the driving forces.
Wout van Aert (in yellow jersey) on the Arenberg cobbles. Sirotti pjhoto
Eventually, it was those two who remained up front. They gradually extended their lead over Van Aert’s group. Van der Poel ultimately rode solo to victory. Van Aert, with Mads Pedersen on his wheel, managed to fight his way back, but was left contesting the battle for third place.
On the Roubaix Velodrome, Van Aert faced off against Florian Vermeersch and Pedersen. The latter came out on top, throwing his bike just ahead of Van Aert at the line, meaning the Belgian had to settle for fourth—just as he did in the Tour of Flanders.
“It’s a shame I couldn’t grab third place”, said Van Aert afterwards. “Mads was stronger. He launched early and I couldn’t get past him. On the Trouée d’Arenberg, I had to let a gap open to the competition. I’d already spent some energy earlier in the race after a minor crash. That cost me at that crucial moment on one of the toughest sectors of the race.”
Van Aert, as always, was honest. “I’m glad I could still fight for the podium in the end. Matthew and I were stuck in chase mode. Matthew rode a phenomenal race. It was great to see. Today, Mathieu, Tadej, and Mads were stronger than I was. Fourth place was the maximum I could do. I think it’s a realistic reflection of how the race unfolded. The Gravaa system worked flawlessly today. That gave us a real advantage over the competition. It’s ideal for races like this”, Van Aert concluded.
“It was an exceptionally tough race”, said debutant Brennan. “It really exploded on the Trouée d’Arenberg. From that point, it was all about chasing. Even though it was incredibly hard, I did enjoy the experience. Unfortunately, I faded a bit towards the end. But I’ll definitely be back in the future.”
Head of Racing Grischa Niermann reflected on the team’s performance after Paris-Roubaix. “Wout didn’t have the ideal start to the race but managed to recover impressively during it. In the end, he rode a very strong race. By the time he got into his rhythm, the strongest guys were already gone. It’s admirable how he fought his way back. Fourth place isn’t what we came for, but it was the best possible result today. We always aim to win, but we have to acknowledge that a few riders were simply stronger”, Niermann concluded.
Filippo Ganna's Team INEOS Grenadiers posted this Paris-Nice report:
Filippo Ganna put in a gutsy performance to lead the team home in 13th place at Paris-Roubaix.
The Italian battled hard to come back from early issues on the cobbles, before finishing as part of a chasing group at The Hell of the North.
Josh Tarling was another rider who rebounded from a puncture to fight his way into the lead group following the Arenberg. The Welshman once again showed great promise on the cobbles but would slip back late on.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin – Decuninck) claimed a third victory in a row in the Roubaix Velodrome, leading home Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) following another exciting battle between the duo.
Van der Poel was able to solo to the finish for the final 38 kilometres after Pogacar crashed briefly on the entry to a corner.
Filippo Ganna leads on the first cobbled sector, Troisvilles a Inchy.
Earlier, Kim Heiduk did a great job to ride his way into the race’s initial eight-man breakaway, giving the team an extra tactical card to play up the road.
Heading into the opening cobbled sector the team were brilliantly placed, but bad luck struck early, with Ganna forced to stop and change his bike following an issue.
Connor Swift was also taken out of contention early, with Ganna joined by Ben Turner and Ben Swift in a chasing group. Tarling also punctured following sector 29, and eventually slotted back into the same group to help his teammates overcome a gap of one minute.
The catch was made with 128km to go, bringing the groups back together after Sam Watson had held his own well up front.
The Arenberg proved to be a decisive factor, as is often the case. Prior to the five-star sector Heiduk dropped out of the break to help position Tarling. Pogacar pushed on in the lead-up, and Tarling was able to weather a storm of accelerations from the likes of Van der Poel and Pogacar again following the Arenberg. The Welshman would ultimately slip out of the chasing group ahead of the finale phase of the race.
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Here's the Paris-Roubaix report from Stefan Küng's Team Groupama-FDJ:
Before the 2025 edition, the years followed each other and kind of looked alike for Stefan Küng at Paris-Roubaix. Unfortunately, his streak of three top-5 finishes in a row in the Queen of the Classics got interrupted this Sunday, especially due to a puncture and a crash in the final sixty kilometres. His fellow countryman Johan Jacobs was eventually the first Groupama-FDJ rider to reach the Roubaix velodrome, in 21st place. A frustrating conclusion to this 2025 cobbled Classics campaign.
Stefan Küng on the Arenberg cobbles. Sirotti photo
Since the beginning of the spring, the Monuments follow one another. After the first thrills of Milan-Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders, the Classics campaign reached a kind of apotheosis this Sunday with Paris-Roubaix, perhaps the most beautiful of all, but undoubtedly the most unique. For this 122nd edition, no fewer than thirty cobbled sectors were in store for the riders, which represented fifty-five kilometres of unpaved roads out of the two hundred and sixty that made up the route from Compiègne to Roubaix.
Competing for the tenth time in his career in the Hell of the North, Stefan Küng had legitimate ambitions given his consistency in previous years, but he first tried to get through the first part of the race as safe as possible, surrounded by his teammates. A breakaway of eight riders formed before the first sectors, but never benefited from a serious lead. Within the peloton, the selection first occurred from the back on the cobblestones, and Groupama-FDJ still had six riders in a peloton that was reduced by half at mid-race.
Stefan Küng could therefore enjoy a perfect escort approaching the Haveluy sector, a crucial one as it preceded the Trouée d’Arenberg. Following an initial burst of acceleration, twenty riders went away, and the Swiss rider was still surrounded by Clément Russo and Johan Jacobs. The latter even took advantage of a brief pause to anticipate the Trouée d’Arenberg, which he tackled a few seconds ahead of the favorites. However, slightly behind at the start of this iconic sector, Stefan Küng was forced to make a huge effort to close the gaps, while the favorites were already in action a few seconds ahead of him.
“It was a perfect race until Arenberg,” commented Frédéric Guesdon. “Then things got complicated as Clément punctured, and Stefan found himself a step behind”. “The feeling was good, unfortunately, I did half of Arenberg on foot,” explained Clément. “My race ended there. I’m a bit disappointed because I felt I could have supported Stefan much further.” A few seconds behind the first group after Arenberg, the Swiss rider was unable to bridge across immediately as it didn’t ease off in front of him, with lots of accelerations.
In the next sector, that of “Pont Gibus,” the Swiss rider pushed hard to come back, but as he just made it across, the race exploded for good. “He came back, but that’s when the strong breakaway of five riders went,” Frédéric said. Stefan Küng therefore found himself in a chasing group and tried to lead the pursuit, but the advantage of Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogacar, Jasper Philipsen, Mads Pedersen, and Stefan Bissegger gradually grew, and reached one minute with 75 kilometres to go. The Swiss rider later benefited from the support of Pedersen, who was caught after a puncture, but was unable to go on with his attempt. “He suffered a puncture in Orchies,” said Frédéric. “He changed bikes, but found himself in another group behind, and the race was kind of over for us at that point. It never eased off at the front. When you have an incident in this race, especially in the final, it’s difficult to get the desired result.”
As Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar took off at the front to fight for victory, Stefan Küng found himself three minutes further back, battling for a decent result. “We caught him with what was left of the peloton, then he gave me the green light to attack for a top-10 or top-15,” Johan Jacobs added.
The latter was unable to get away in the final sectors, while his fellow countryman ended this unfortunate day with a crash, which definitively ruled him out from the top-10 fight.
“It certainly wasn’t for the win anymore, but it’s still annoying,” said Frédéric. “He found himself way back and had nothing left to play for.” On the velodrome, Johan Jacobs eventually finished in a group battling for thirteenth place, but he had to settle for twenty-first. “It took me ten minutes to come back to life,” Johan said after the line. “I was completely dead. The race was very hard, from start to finish. There’s not much else to say.”
Stefan Küng, who suffered a facial injury, received stitches after the race. A sad conclusion to a successful campaign until now. “We were here to get a result, especially since we had three consecutive top-5 finishes in Roubaix,” concluded Frédéric. “It’s a race that everyone in the team likes; we were all deeply committed, so it’s obviously frustrating to finish this way. Unfortunately, we know that these circumstances are of cycling, and it wasn’t meant to be for us this year. We’ll be back next year.”
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Here’s the Paris-Roubaix from Yves Lampaert’s Team Soudal Quick-Step:
The 122nd episode of Paris-Roubaix took place Sunday, marking the end of the cobbled Classics this season. A total of 259.2 kilometers, 55.3 of which were on the famous pavé, were on the menu of the French Monument, which once again was a fast one, sticking to the trend of recent years.
It wasn’t a lucky day for our team, who had to continue without Ayco Bastiaens and Bert Van Lerberghe, after the two Belgians were involved in separate crashes before the first cobblestone segment of the day, Troivilles. The other Soudal Quick-Step boys tried to do their best in these conditions, and the likes of Tim Merlier and Yves Lampaert remained excellently positioned in the peloton until the famous Arenberg Forest, where the race exploded.
Soudal Quick-Step at the teams presentation ceremony the day before the race. Sirotti photo
A couple of powerful accelerations split the bunch, leaving only a handful of riders at the front of the race with 100 kilometers to go. From there, another selection took place, before eventually Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) rode away and soloed to victory. Our first rider on the velodrome was former Belgian Champion Yves Lampaert, who concluded Paris-Roubaix in the top 30 at the end of the race which witnessed an average speed of 46.9km/h.
And here's the Paris-Roubaix report from Team Picnic-PostNL:
The “Hell of the North” awaited the peloton on Sunday with its 30 cobbled sectors and hard-racing throughout the day. Team Picnic PostNL lined-up looking to position finishers Pavel Bittner and Sean Flynn, keeping them safe before the race opened up. Doing just that, the team had both Flynn and Bittner alongside Niklas Märkl and Julius van den Berg in a reduced peloton of around 40 riders once over the first few cobbled sectors. However, that’s when things turned sour for the team. A crash saw Van den Berg and Flynn both hit the deck, with the former abandoning the race, before an untimely puncture saw Bittner lose contact from the peloton. Märkl himself then crashed too, and from there it was a battle to the finish for Bittner, Flynn and Timo Roosen – with the young Czech rider leading the team home in the velodrome.
The 2025 Paris-Roubaix gets started. ASO photo
Bittner said: “Today was a really epic and special day at Roubaix like always. I think everyone has their stories from today. I think the biggest headline for us was bad luck with crashes. I hope the guys all recover well. I really tried to race in honour of John, if you can say that, but I also had some struggles today. I tried to fight to the line and raced to the velodrome. It’s not a result that I’m particularly proud of, but I’m proud that we kept on going today; and hope one day that I can do a nice result. I’m already looking forward to next year; it’s a love-hate thing!”
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