The winter break is finally over, and cycling is back. After
months of waiting, the peloton has returned to action, and already the racing
has provided plenty of talking points. It’s great to be back!
The 2025 season has begun with a mix of WorldTour and
smaller races, with riders testing their form and getting back up to speed
while others are still waiting for their chance to get going. The sport never
truly stops, but there’s something special about the start of the road season,
when expectations are high, and every victory feels like a sign of what’s to
come.
The early races have already given us some standout
performances.
Jhonatan Narvaez claimed victory at the Tour Down Under, marking
an impressive start to his year. The Ecuadorian rider, riding in his debut race
with UAE, showed his strength in the opening WorldTour race and he was rewarded
with the victory. Meanwhile, Tom Pidcock
took the overall title at the AlUla
Tour, securing a strong start to his season and to his career with Q36.5 Pro
Cycling Team. It seemed like we were talking about Pidcock’s transfer from
INEOS for months, and its good to see that the move is already bringing out the
best of him.
Beyond the racing, the UCI has introduced key rule changes
for 2025, which could have a significant impact on the sport. One of the
biggest changes is the introduction of yellow cards, which will serve as an
official warning system before harsher penalties are handed out. This aims to
address concerns over inconsistencies in punishments, allowing for clearer
decision-making. Another important change is that WorldTour and ProTour riders
are no longer allowed to compete in the under-23 World Championships, ensuring
that the category remains focused on true development riders. Additionally,
women’s race distances have been extended, further aligning them with the men’s
calendar and pushing towards greater parity in professional cycling.
Despite all this action, many of the biggest names in
cycling have yet to start their campaigns.
Mathieu van der Poel has been busy
winning his seventh Cyclocross World Championship, while
Wout van Aert also
completed his cyclocross season before switching his focus to the road. In the
coming weeks, we will finally see the sport’s biggest stars return to
competition.
When do the big names start racing?
Not all riders have revealed their full schedules yet, but
here’s what we know so far about when some of the sport’s biggest stars will
make their 2025 debuts.
Pogacar’s 2024 season was one of the greatest in cycling
history. He won the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and the World Championships,
securing a place among the sport’s all-time greats.
The question on everyone’s lips has been the one his fellow
riders must be dreading: surely he can’t get any better?
Can Tadej Pogacar hit the heights of 2024 once again?
Well, we’ll soon find out. Pogacar is gearing up for another
ambitious season, with his first race of the year coming at the UAE Tour. A
race he has dominated in previous years such as in 2021 and 2022, it will serve
as an early test before he moves on to the spring classics campaign.
Unlike to last year, Pogacar is taking on more races in the spring, including a title defence at Strade Bianche, Milano–Sanremo (his main target
for the spring), E3 Saxo Classic, and the Tour of Flanders. So, his spring
schedule looks more similar to his plan from back in 2023, where he won in
Flanders, and not in 2024 where he had a quieter spring ahead of his Giro-Tour
double.
Evenepoel’s 2025 season will see him take on the Tour de
France for the second time, after winning the white jersey and coming third on
debut last year. But, that shouldn’t be in Evenepoel’s mind just yet, as he is
in a race against time to reach full fitness after the double Olympic champion
suffered a training crash with a delivery van in late 2024.
His season will hopefully begin at Brabantse Pijl in April, a race
that suits his punchy riding style and will help him build towards the Ardennes
Classics, where he will again aim for Liège-Bastogne-Liege, a race he has
already won twice.
Pogacar will also be at the Ardennes Classics, meaning it is
around two months before we see the first meeting between the triple crown
winner and the double Olympic champion in 2025.
The two-time Tour de France champion has opted for a
Tour-Vuelta double in 2025, meaning his preparation will be built around
reaching peak form in July. His season will begin at the Volta ao Algarve and
then he will head to Paris-Nice, a race he was beaten in by Pogacar in 2023.
Later in the year, he will take on the Critérium du Dauphiné, a key warm-up
race for the Tour.
His biggest objective remains reclaiming the Tour de France
title. After losing out to Pogacar last year, Vingegaard will be eager to
secure his third yellow jersey this year and not let Pogacar get his fourth.
More importantly, Vingegaard will hope to have a crash-less
spring, as his entire 2024 campaign was nearly derailed by his horror crash in
the Basque Country last year.
Mathieu van der Poel
Fresh from his record equalling Cyclocross World
Championship victory, Van der Poel will soon turn his attention to the road. He
has not yet confirmed whether he will start at Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico,
but his focus is clear: the spring classics. He will be defending his Tour of
Flanders title and will look to complete a hat trick of Paris-Roubaix titles.
Can anyone stop him this year?
His dominance on the cobbles last season made him nearly
unbeatable. The question for 2025 is whether anyone can stop him, a certain
Tadej Pogacar in Flanders may have something to say about that.
Roglic’s move to BORA-hansgrohe was one of the biggest
transfer stories of last season, and now he is ready to begin his second year
with his new team. His first race with his new team will be the Volta ao
Algarve on February 19, followed by the Volta a Catalunya in
March.
His main focus will be on the Giro d’Italia and Tour de
France double, an ambitious challenge that will test whether he still has what
it takes to compete for Grand Tour victories at 35 years old.
Wout van Aert
Van Aert’s season will begin at Clasica Jaen before he also heads to Portugal for the Volta ao Algarve. He will also race at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the
traditional Belgian season-opener. He has confirmed that he will once again hope
to finally win either the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, but the biggest
news of his 2025 campaign is his decision to ride the Giro d’Italia for the
first time.
Will this finally be the year Van Aert secures
his first
monument since 2020?What can we expect in the coming weeks?
With several major names yet to race, February and March
will be crucial in shaping the rest of the season. The cogs are turning, and
the pedals are beginning to spin on the new season, and we can’t wait until the
big guns dust off the cobwebs for another year of supreme action.
The addition of Pogacar at the Tour of Flanders could be
huge, will we see him and Van der Poel pick up where they left off in 2023? Can
Van Aert get in the mix? And then there’s Remco Evenepoel, how long will it
take before we see the best of him? And lets not forget Jonas Vingegaard, who
as usual will go about things more quietly than others with the dream of yellow
defining his every move.