The second monument of the season is almost here. This Sunday, April 6, the Tour of Flanders 2025 takes place, and it will be one of its most anticipated editions in recent years. The main reason is that fans will enjoy a new chapter of the rivalry between Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel.
At the last Milano - Sanremo, the Dutchman proved that Pogacar is not invincible. With an epic performance, Van der Poel took the first monument of 2025. This caused the injured Slovenian to want to hit him back harder, confirming his presence in this Tour of Flanders and also with his debut at Paris-Roubaix.
However, first up is Flanders (also known as Ronde van Vlaanderen). Although Mathieu van der Poel will be his main rival, Tadej Pogacar must take into account that at the start (at least provisionally) there will be other big names...
1. Mathieu van der Poel
The most logical and already mentioned. Mathieu van der Poel is in such good form that it is risky to even consider Tadej Pogacar favorite ahead of the Dutchman. The Alpecin-Deceuninck star has won 3 of the 4 races he has contested in 2025: Le Samyn, the aforementioned Milano-Sanremo and the E3 Saxo Classic. The king of the monuments will come to the race to defend the title won in 2024, and also add the fourth of his career (counting also those of 2020 and 2022).
2. Mads Pedersen
The incredible Lidl-Trek rider is in one of the best moments of his career. At Milano-Sanremo he was 7th after suffering quite a bit throughout the day, but then he was the only rider to trouble Mathieu van der Poel in the E3 Saxo Classic with his two attacks (even though he was 2nd more than 1 minute behind the Dutchman). He then dominated Gent - Wevelgem with a solo victory to confirm that he will arrive at the Tour of Flanders with a good chance of hurting both Van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar. Also, let's not forget that he has already been on the podium 2 times: 2nd in 2018 and 3rd in 2023. Will the third time be the charm?
3. Wout van Aert
In terms of form, he may not be the best candidate to hurt Pogacar. However, it would also be very risky to say that Wout van Aert is racing a monument not to win it. The Belgian wants to turn his so far irregular season around. Therefore, what better stage than a Tour of Flanders that he missed in 2024 due to injury. In addition, his main asset will lie in the strong squad that Visma will bring, with great teammates for the Belgian as Matteo Jorgenson, Dylan van Baarle or Tiejs Benoot.
4. Filippo Ganna
Probably the biggest unknown is the Italian INEOS Grenadiers. La Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Ciro Scognamiglio previewed a last-minute change for Ganna, stating that he will race the Tour of Flanders for the third time in his career. He already participated in the 2018 (DNF) and 2019 (98th) editions, but at that time he was much less of a classics specialist than he is now. What's more, like Pedersen, Filippo Ganna is surely in the prime of his professional career. In Milano - Sanremo he was the only one to hold the pace of Pogacar and Van der Poel in Cipressa, and he ended up also arriving after the Poggio. In fact, he was 2nd at the finish ahead of the Slovenian. He then closed a creditable 3rd position in the E3 Saxo Classic. There is no doubt that the Filippo Ganna who faces this 2025 Tour of Flanders will do so with the sole objective of taking a top result.
5. Matteo Jorgenson
Other riders could have made the Top 5, but for the same main reason as Wout van Aert, the American from Visma cannot be counted out. Jorgenson has become a great specialist in the spring classics. With the Dutch outfit taking a strong team to the Tour of Flanders, Tadej Pogacar and his UAE will also have to keep a close eye on the 25-year-old, who finished 9th in his monument debut in 2023. After defending his title at Paris-Nice, Matteo Jorgenson is still looking for his first big win of the year in a one-day race.
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- As Wout said on Srava today "Things don't always go your way... but a flat white and peanut butter brownie can make up for a lot" Puts it in perspective!VgnRider04-04-2025
- Watch out Urska, I think he’s taken a liking to MVDP ;-)Mistermaumau04-04-2025
- Totally!Mistermaumau04-04-2025
- It will be interesting to see how he goes on the cobbles, so far he's looking very strong.awp04-04-2025
- if there is an actual weakness in wout even when completely healthy, it’s that he’s in his head too often. this has been pointed out many times by much more acute observers of cycling than ME, certainly. it may be that he’s been like this since he was a little kid. we are who we are. or that he was shaped by having faced van der poel SOOO many times. mvdp has zero second thoughts. he wastes no time at all on doubt. that has, in the past, led him to do some pretty insane things and make mistakes that wout would never have committed. but it also makes him a killer. you can see wout’s split seconds of doubt and hesitation everywhere in their head to head battles. those hesitations spill over into other races at times like dwars, when doubt creeps in. i believe that currently he is still coming back from physical problems due to injuries, but even when he’s full strength the mental game is an area of potential concern, AND potential improvement.OCexile03-04-2025
- Not only the public, just about every analyst and commentator had been piling it on. Under the circumstances I’d even say he’s showing real character. Not sure likeable Tadej would manage as well during a longer rough patch.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Took a while but we finally have a more nuanced analysis.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- If I remember right, it was those same hungry journalists selling us a different story less than a year ago about the bleak future of Dutch (men’s) cycling with no possible successor for MVDP ;-)Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Good, hopefully Jonas goes also so we get a nice duelvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- right? i think it’s hungry journalists that fuel this, and i understand the jam they can be in trying to create stories, but you’d hate to think ANYONE is failing to appreciate how RARE someone like van der poel is (or how LUCKY we are to have both mvdp and pog racing at the same time). a little perspective is a good thing…OCexile03-04-2025