Hat-trick in hell! Mathieu van der Poel sees off Tadej Pogacar's challenge to complete historic Paris-Roubaix threepeat

Mathieu van der Poel has made it an incredible hat-trick on the iconic cobbles of Paris-Roubaix, defying a massive effort from debutant Tadej Pogacar to seal the solo win in the velodrome for the third straight year in 2025.

Eight riders attacked early to form the days breakaway: Kim Heiduk (INEOS Grenadiers), Oier Lazkano (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe), Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Mobility), Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché - Wanty), Max Walker (EF Education - EasyPost), Jasper De Buyst (Lotto), Rory Townsend (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Abram Stockman (Unibet Tietema Rockets).

By the time the cobbled sectors started at around 160km to go, the breakaway had more than two and a half minutes advantage, but the chaos was already starting behind, with the INEOS Grenadiers and Filippo Ganna notably suffering some mechanical difficulty as Wout van Aert, Jasper Philipsen and Jasper Stuyven all crashed. All the big names involved did eventually manage to get themselves back into the main peloton, but how much energy had been wasted in the chase?

Then, with 103km still to go, Tadej Pogacar showed himself at the front for the first time in the race, putting the pressure on over the Haveluy à Wallers sector. Because of these accelerations, the breakaway were just 20 seconds clear as they reached the Arenberg. By the end of the sector, though, Van der Poel and Pogacar had taken the front of the race, albeit they weren't alone. One of those notably not at the front though, was Wout van Aert, with only the Belgian's teenage teammate Matthew Brennan remaining at the front for Team Visma | Lease a Bike into the final 90km.

As Van der Poel and Pogacar continued to put the pressure on at the front, heading onto the four star Hornaing à Wandignies sector of cobbles, only Mads Pedersen, Stefan Bissegger and Jasper Philipsen were still in contact. In preparation, Pogacar had notably had his hand up, asking for the team car. When it finally arrived, the Slovenian was gifted a number of gels to keep him fuelled, but as they rounded a lazy corner, the UAE team car and Pogacar's bike almost crashed into each other for what would have been a real disaster.

Although that disaster had been averted for Pogacar, the world champion was continually making some uncharacteristically uncomfortable faces on the bike. Was that lack of experience on the cobbles causing problems? Immediately casting these doubts aside, Pogacar attacked again on the Tilloy à Sars-et-Rosières at over 70km to go, with only Van der Poel and Pedersen able to match. Disastrously for the Dane, he then suffered a front wheel puncture, putting himself out of contention and leaving just the two superstars clear at the head of the race.

Van der Poel locked himself to Pogacar's back wheel though, and as Philipsen dropped Bissegger behind, the world champion was suddenly outnumbered by Alpecin-Deceuninck at the front. Pedersen hadn't totally given up behind, leading the chase of the trio, but with 50km to go, the leaders had around 1:18 of an advantage.

On the 5* Mons-en-Pévèle, Van der Poel launched a brutal acceleration, but rather than putting Pogacar in difficulty, it ultimately dropped Philipsen, leaving just those two familiar faces to battle it out for the win once again. As Pogacar then looked to put the pressure on Van der Poel though, the world champion got a corner completely wrong, and suddenly Van der Poel had clear road up ahead! The world champion was relatively quickly back up and on his bike, but was struggling to close the gap to Van der Poel.

For some at the roadside however, this clearly was not the desired result and as mentioned, one 'fan' - and we use that term very loosely - took matters into the their own hands by throwing what looked like a Team Visma | Lease a Bike bidon straight into the Dutch superstar's face.

As shown already this year at Strade Bianche, a crash for Pogacar mid-race doesn't necessarily mean race over. Against this rampant Van der Poel though, the gap was stable at around 30 seconds. When the world champion then needed a bike change at just over 20km to go, another 20 seconds were gained in the race leader's favour and even the great Pogacar was seemingly now out of the running.

In the fight for the 3rd spot on the podium meanwhile, the trio of Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert and Florian Vermeersch had caught and passed Jasper Philipsen. On the iconic Carrefour de l'Arbre, there a momentary strike of fear for Van der Poel and his fans as he suffered a mechanical. After a quick bike change though, the Dutchman exited the sector still around one minute clear of Pogacar despite the drama.

From there, victory was all but secured for Van der Poel, and despite the fight for 3rd actually bringing back some time on Pogacar, the Slovenian's 2nd was also wrapped up.