ANALYSIS: What do Pogacar, Kopecky, Sagan and Deignan have in common after the 2025 Tour of Flanders?
Cycling
There are days in cycling history that feel predestined, where the stars align, the champions rise, and history is written. Sunday at the 2025 Tour of Flanders was one such day, as two reigning World Champions conquered Flanders’ cobbles and climbs: Tadej Pogacar and Lotte Kopecky.
It’s a rare feat for the men’s and women’s rainbow jerseys to triumph at the same Monument, rarer still for it to happen in the same race, on the same day. But that’s exactly what happened in Oudenaarde, and remarkably, it’s not the first time.
According to Cycling Statistics, if you rewind to 2016, the script was strikingly similar. Slovak superstar Peter Sagan, in his first season wearing the rainbow jersey, powered to victory in the men’s edition of De Ronde. Hours earlier, Great Britain’s Lizzie Deignan (then Armitstead), reigning women’s World Champion, had claimed her own win. It was a banner day for cycling, and for the rainbow stripes.
Fast forward nine years, and Flanders delivered another unforgettable double yesterday. Tadej Pogacar, wearing the rainbow jersey for UAE Team Emirates–XRG, produced one of the most impressive rides of his career, dismantling rivals including Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert to win his second Tour of Flanders.
In the women’s race, the home crowd had reason to roar as Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky, also racing in the World Champion’s colours, stormed to victory. Already a national icon, Kopecky added a record third Flanders title to her palmarès in emphatic fashion, this time with the added pressure and prestige of defending the rainbow stripes on home roads.
For both Pogacar and Kopecky, these victories were not just about their incredible talent, though that was clearly on full display. They were about rising to the expectations that come with the rainbow jersey and delivering on the biggest of stages, and defeating other legendary riders.
📊🏆Two reigning 🌈World Champions winning a Monument on the same day:
— Cycling Statistics 📊 (@StatsOnCycling) April 6, 2025
✅2016 🇧🇪Ronde van Vlaanderen
🚹ME: 🇸🇰Peter Sagan
🚺WE: 🇬🇧Elizabeth Deignan
✅2025 🇧🇪Ronde van Vlaanderen
🚹ME: 🇸🇮Tadej Pogacar
🚺WE: 🇧🇪Lotte Kopecky
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- It was still an incredible debute and winning this race is very much possible for Pogi if gives it a few more years experience. I was wondering if he didn't get good intel from the car and seemed to be trying to attack round the corner or at least apply pressure which it was just not the right place. Maybe the bikes played a part in why he didn't realise himself but I do feel given his stature and being the first ever Paris Roubaix for Poggi, if he needed more support from those around him in knowing the corners that you simply can't take like normal. I remember a gravel lane I took too hard once and it was a gentle turn but if you try to take hard it will throw you. Seems it was pretty common knowledge now for the others in the event but I didn't know and it ended up bloody and bruised all because I wasn't aware of this corner where the normal rules don't apply. I'd suspect similar myself.HoopoeChai14-04-2025
- That's how the finish line camera works
KerisVroom14-04-2025 - What a great Paris Roubaix! Having the best competition always elevates the race.awp14-04-2025
- I love Andrie’s fierce loyalty and dedication to his sonmij14-04-2025
- obviously loads to say about mathieu and tadej, who are now pretty clearly the towering giants of this generation. but i also kept thinking about how, over such a short period of time, Alpecin has become just a staggeringly dominant classics team, and it’s not just the one man show of mvdp. watching jasper phillipsen turn himself inside out to take pressure off mathieu, even for a short while, at a critical stage of the race shows the tremendous unity of this team. winning BOTH milano san remo AND roubaix THREE YEARS IN A ROW?! Damn…OCexile14-04-2025
- Special effects on the spokes?Mistermaumau13-04-2025
- It was definitely exciting but not the greatest race in my opinion. Mechanicals had a lot to do with the result and the race was basically decided by a crash. It was a weird start with not that much drive and fight to form the breakaway and team tactics and moves were pretty weak or non-existent at all.heinz13-04-2025
- So, in the end Martin got real time on the line and actually drop a place in the GC. the spirit of the 3km rule is to save riders that are afected by crashes or mechanicals when these events are not their fault. Some cases where the rider is to "blame" are, for pragmatical reasons, i guess, also covered by the rule. But when you are on the attack in a rolling terrain and you crash, alone, it doesn't make much sense to apply the rule, even if you are in the last km. It's completely different from the situation where there's a big crash in the bunch in the last kms and you get stuck behind fallen riders, for example.heinz13-04-2025
- Those motorbike riders were pretty good at taking that corner, probably fooled him into thinking it couldn’t be so difficult, notice how in comparison, MVDP looks like his bike had ABS. Tadej was close to staying on the bike but he kept hold of his front brake trying to come to a complete standstill, had he eased the pressure to let the wheel roll on a little he’d not have gone over.Mistermaumau13-04-2025
- Always classy towards his rivalsMistermaumau13-04-2025