"Either Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico" - Mathieu van der Poel reveals early plans for 2025 season

First start, first win. Mathieu van der Poel's 2024/25 cyclocross debut must have shut down the mouths of all doubters - had there even been any. It looks like this cyclocross winter may well be a closed case and so it's time to have a look on what might be on store for the Alpecin-Deceuninck star on road, where more fearsome challengers await.

"It will be a bit the same as other years," Van der Poel told NOS about his plans for spring. "Normally I won’t start with Milan-Sanremo, but I will do a race like Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico before that."

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However, starting at the Paris-Nice doesn't seem very likely, even if not impossible. The Dutch rider never competed at the Race to the Sun, usually picking its Italian counterpart as Tirreno-Adriatico tends to line up better with the big Italian one-day races of the spring.

Regardless it's a different approach compared to 2024, when Van der Poel completely skipped the early-season stage races and only started in seven one-day races, winning three of them. Most importantly the prestigious cobbled double - Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders.

Afterwards, it's obvious Van der Poel will be back to chase a second Milano-Sanremo title. There he's almost certain to once again run into hungry Tadej Pogacar who will want to have revenge for 2024. When it seemed like he might finally drop everyone over Poggio, the Dutch in rainbow jersey flied to Pogacar's back wheel and neutralised any action, selflessly working for teammate Jasper Philipsen who would go on to win his first monument in San Remo.

Then we can expect Van der Poel chain some more cobbled classics, in particular the E3 Saxo Classic and at least one of Gent-Wevelgem or Dwars door Vlaanderen ahead of the approaching Monuments. Last year, Van der Poel made it look like a walk in a park when he triumphed at both Flanders and Roubaix with overwhelming dominance, but things shouldn't be as easy in 2025. Van der Poel can't count on having most of his competition crash at a previous race and top of that, 2023 Flanders winner Pogacar wants to add another title from the Belgian Monument.

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