Tadej Pogačar showed his strength to claiming a second Tour of Flanders title with a powerful solo victory on Sunday.
After illuminating the race with a slew of attacks, the Slovenian made his decisive move on the penultimate climb, the Oude Kwaremont, with 19 kilometres to go.
Danish rider Mads Pedersen sprinted to second place from a small chasing group ahead of Mathieu van der Poel. The defending champion was involved in a mid-race crash, forcing him to fight back to the front group. “I was lucky to not have more damage,” Van der Poel said post-race.
Mathieu van der Poel is back on the bike after a HUGE crash! 💥#RVVpic.twitter.com/1zipiXDOjs
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) April 6, 2025
The much-anticipated duel between Van der Poel and Tour de France winner Pogačar came to fruition. The Dutchman tracked Pogačar’s brutal first attack on the Oude Kwaremont, 60 kilometres from the finish, which whittled down the group of contenders.
Van der Poel made his own move minutes later on the Paterberg. However, Pogačar followed and pushed the pace again over the Koppenberg; initially, only Van der Poel and Pedersen could follow. Using the race’s sixteen, steep hellingen climbsto his advantage, he put in more punishing digs over the Taaienberg and the Oude Kruisberg, where the Dane dropped back.
Behind, challengers Wout van Aert and Jasper Stuyven chased hard with Pedersen to create a five-man lead group.
Despite the back and forth of his breakaway bids, UAE Team Emirates leader Pogačar would not be denied an eighth Monument win. On the Oude Kwaremont, he accelerated again at the foot of the cobbled climb and his rivals had no response.
The 26-year-old broke away and extended his lead to 30 seconds over the race’s final hill, the Paterberg, as a resurgent Van Aert did much of the chasing.
Though the four pursuers had more manpower, they lacked cohesion and Pogačar had strength in reserve. He extended his lead riding into the wind to the finish line in Oudenaarde, where he could savour the winning moment.
“The goal was to win, but in the end, it is hard to realise it. We did it and I cannot be more proud of the team and how we raced today, even though we had some bad luck,” Pogačar said after the finish. “In the end, all was good. I am just so happy to win this race in this [rainbow] jersey.”
Pogačar’s UAE Emirates team-mates were caught up in falls late in the race, damaging their pre-race plan. “We lost Jhony [Narváez], Tim [Wellens] and Florian [Vermeersch],” Pogačar said. “But Florian somehow was chasing back all the race more or less, and made it just in time to lead out on the Kwaremont. Chapeau to him. We never gave ...
