Tadej Pogacar loves his battles with Mathieu van der Poel and expects more at Paris-Roubaix: “I think we have a great generation of cyclists at the moment"
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar delivered one of the most remarkable performances of his already storied career at the 2025 Tour of Flanders, breaking clear of his rivals on the Oude Kwaremont and soloing to victory ahead of a stacked field including Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, and Mads Pedersen.
Speaking in the post-race press conference, the Slovenian was visibly moved by the magnitude of the achievement.
“Really big. It’s hard to describe how much this victory means to me. The whole week has been great. And then to race on the Oude Kwaremont and all those other climbs with so many people, that’s really something incredible!”
Despite the dominant result, Pogacar admitted the race was far from straightforward, with repeated attempts needed to shake off his fiercest competitors.
“The others were so strong during my first attack and also on the climbs afterwards. I really found it difficult to figure out how to win the race. I had to try on every climb, to make the race as hard as possible. I tried to give it my all on the last time up the Oude Kwaremont and that worked!
"Did I already go all out on the second time up the Oude Kwaremont? Yes, absolutely. That's why I wasn't sure whether I was capable of riding away on the last time. But when I was riding on top of the Kwaremont, I saw that no one was following anymore.”
He added, “Wout and Mads were also losing touch a bit. But Mathieu was super strong. I really wasn't sure that I could beat him, because I felt that I could lose my strength at any moment. But I didn't give up. I knew what I had to do and I tried to finish it as quickly as possible."
For Pogacar, this victory was made even more special by the strength of the current peloton.
“I think we have a great generation of cyclists at the moment. The peloton itself, the top riders, all the riders. I really enjoy racing against them. They are all great champions and good guys. Sunday was just as fantastic because of them, because of the fans and because of my own team. It was just a perfect day.”
When asked about an early-race exchange with Van der Poel, Pogacar recalled: “I don’t remember exactly, actually. We just wanted to race and stay with a small group. So we preferred to ride towards the leading group, but we also knew that this was difficult. And we wanted to keep ourselves out of trouble in the peloton. That way we couldn’t run into dangerous counter attacks. That’s why we wanted to ride on, so that the competition couldn’t attack us in another way.”
The race wasn’t without its chaos, particularly with crashes affecting several key riders. But Pogacar was quick to praise the unity and strength of his UAE Team Emirates–XRG squad.
“In these types of races it never goes perfectly. Just look at Mathieu, who crashed. I am really happy with how my team rode today. To be part of UAE EMIRATES XRG is like a dream come true. I enjoy riding with them so much. On Sunday they also gave more than 100% for the plan we had made. Unfortunately we lost Jhonatan Narváez and Tim Wellens in a crash and Florian Vermeersch had to chase almost the entire race to get back into the peloton."
“But in the end our plan worked because everyone worked so hard. Mikkel Bjerg was phenomenal, I don’t think people realise how strong he was. António Morgado was also impressive. He will really grow into a great champion, if he isn’t already. Nils Politt and Florian also did their job perfectly. They really gave it their all. That’s why I can’t thank them enough! We wanted to make the race hard, so that I could make the difference on the last time up Oude Kwaremont. I don’t think I need to explain to anyone that this worked out well.”
Reflecting on the peloton’s reaction to a mid-race crash, Pogacar said: “Everyone was fighting for positions at the time. But you could see that no one wanted to take the initiative after that crash, so that they would destroy someone else’s race. That wasn’t really necessary. But I would have liked the peloton to wait a bit longer, because Tim and Florian had been pushed back even further. But hey, that’s racing.”
Looking ahead to his debut at Paris–Roubaix next weekend, Pogacar was excited, and realistic.
“Of course, haha! But that race is completely different from the Tour of Flanders. Of course, this victory has given me some more confidence. I know I have good legs and am in good shape. So I am looking forward to it. We have a super strong team again with two guys who were already second in Paris-Roubaix. It is my first time, but because we have a good team we can make it a great race. I am really looking forward to it!”
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