Revenge for Tadej Pogacar! World champ incredibly turns the tables on Mathieu van der Poel to take solo victory at Tour of Flanders 2025

The incredible Tadej Pogacar has put down another ride for the ages, soloing to a stunning victory at the 2025 Tour of Flanders after an enthralling day of racing and dramatically cracking his arch-rival Mathieu van der Poel on the final ascent of the Oude Kwaremont.

After an eight man group that included Victor Vercouille (Flanders-Baloise), Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana Team), Elmar Reinders (Jayco AlUla), Rory Townsend (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Marco Haller (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Connor Swift (INEOS Grenadiers), Timo Roosen ( Picnic-PostNL) and Sean Flynn ( Picnic-PostNL) forced their way into the day’s early breakaway, they managed at one point to get their advantage up over the four minute mark.

That wasn’t to say things were calm in the bunch behind though. And although there were no attacks the first time up the Oude Kwaremont, the stress levels had been notably increased. With that rise in tension came crashes sadly, as Mathieu van der Poel himself went down at around 125km to go in an incident that also saw Jhonatan Narvaez and John Degenkolb, among others, hit the deck.

By the time the race reached 100km to go, just 6 riders remained in the lead group, but a 4-man counter including Tiesj Benoot, Vito Braet, Stefan Kung and Davide Ballerini were in between the break and peloton. Soon after, that select group was joined by another counter that included Filippo Ganna, Quinten Hermans, Daan Hoole and Matteo Trentin. With 91km to go, the counter-attack joined up with the break, forming a 13-man lead group, clear of the UAE Team Emirates - XRG led peloton by over a minute.

With powerhouses such as Ganna and Kung in the lead group, the peloton had every right to be concerned. Despite UAE working incredibly hard on the front of the bunch, the gap wasn't really dropping. In fact, it was actually going out every so slightly, with 1:15 separating the two groups at 65km to go. The sense of an imminent Tadej Pogacar attack was growing though, and with 56km to go, that move came! It seemed the Slovenian wasn't going full gas though, as a select group that included fellow favourites Mathieu van der Poel, Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson all managed to lock onto Pogacar's back wheel..

As things calmed down again ever so slightly after Pogacar realised he hadn't fully snapped the elastic, Neilson Powless, Jasper Stuyven and a couple of others managed to get back in contact with the world champion's group.

Then came the mythical Koppenberg. The break held an advantage of only around 30 seconds at the foot of the climb, but as Pogacar and Van der Poel accelerated again, that advantage was quickly diminished. Notably though, there was still nothing to separate the two big pre-race favourites. With 42km to go, Van der Poel and Pogacar made contact with the front of the race, with Pedersen, Van Aert, Jorgenson and co joining shortly after.

Before the Steenbeekdries, Pogacar put the hammer down again but once more, Van der Poel was quick to react. On the Taaienberg, another Pogacar attack was laid down and this time only Van der Poel and Pedersen were able to match as the Rainbow Jersey continued to wear down all his rivals. In the five-man chase group though, Visma trio Jorgenson, Benoot and Van Aert were joined by Kung and Stuyven.

Almost as soon as the next climb began with the Oude Kruisberg just inside the final 30km, Pogacar's latest attack saw Pedersen put into difficulty, leaving just the UAE leader and his Alpecin-Deceuninck counterpart Van der Poel clear at the head of the race. Heading into the final 20km however, Pogacar and Van der Poel had been joined again by Van Aert, Pedersen and Stuyven, whilst Jorgenson, Benoot and Kung were still chasing hard behind.

Ahead of the final ascent of the Kwaremont, Wout van Aert attacked the lead group, reaching the foot of the climb with a small gap at the head of the race. The Belgian's move didn't last long though as Pogacar began to wind things up again behind. Immediately on the cobbles, the world champion began to distance Van der Poel too, creating clear separation for the first time in the entire race. The gap wasn't yet race-winning by the top though, with only around 12 seconds between the Rainbow Jersey and the four-man chase group heading into the finale.

By the time Pogacar began the final climb of the day on the Paterberg, he'd extended his advantage to 24 seconds. By 10km to go, that had extended again to over the 30 second mark. The chase wasn't rolling through as if they were hunting down the lone leader either, with Pogacar looking more and more likely as the winner. Into the final 3km, Pogacar was certain of his win, around 50 seconds clear, giving the world champion yet another illustrious victory to add to his palmares.