Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) became only the third rider in history after Octave Lapize and Francesco Moser to take three consecutive wins in Paris-Roubaix when he finished 1:18 ahead of world champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) taking third ahead of Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease as Bike) and Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
The Dutchman’s success was anything but the cakewalk that those margins might suggest. From the moment the race reached the first of 30 sections of cobbles, van de Poel was locked in battle with Pogačar, their duel eventually becoming a gripping head-to-head as the pair dropped the other favourites.
The pair took regular turns in trying to drop each other until, on cobbled section nine with 38km remaining, Pogačar overshot a right-hand bend and tumbled into the advertising hoardings beyond it. He was quickly back under way but never managed to close the gap on his biggest Classics rival, a subsequent stop for a bike change all but finishing his hopes of catching van der Poel.
The Dutchman’s victorious progress wasn’t without his hitches, though. Not long after going clear, he was hit in the face with a waterbottle tossed at him by a fan, although that act of rank stupidity only caused him to wobble rather than crash. On the Carrefour de l’Arbre section of cobbles, the defending champion punctured, but was quickly aboard a new bike and continued towards victory.
‘I was really suffering, too bad Tadej made this mistake on a corner,’ the Dutchman said in his post-race interview. ‘But then I just had to go for it and it was still quite far from the finish. It was really hard especially with the last two sectors with the headwind. I was really struggling but I’m happy to make it to the finish line.’
Asked about Pogačar’s crash, Van der Poel said: ‘The speed was super high and I think he misjudged the turn a bit. I was just quick enough to save it, and I don’t know what happened afterwards. I had quite a big gap but I had to go for it. That’s part of racing.’
How it unfolded
A group of eight went clear after 20km of high-speed racing. Oier Lazkano (Red Bull-Hansgrohe), Kim Heiduk (Ineos Grenadiers), Jasper De Buyst (Lotto), Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Mobility), Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty), Abram Stockman (Unibet Tietema), Rory Townsend (Q36.5) and Max Walker (EF Education-EasyPost) made it into the breakaway, although another 20km passed before the peloton gave up the chase and their lead began to stretch, reaching a maximum of three-and-a-half minutes.
As has been the case in recent editions, Van der Poel’s Alpecin-Deceuninck team set the pace in the bunch, which increased significantly approaching the first of the 30 sections of cobbles at Troisvilles. There was a series of crashes coming into this section, the most significant involving Van Aert and Matej Mohorič. In Troisvilles itself, Lidl-Trek’s Jasper Stuyven went down in a multi-rider pile-up, and moments later Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) slid off on a left-hander, underlining the treacherousness of the surface even before the cobbles.
Once on the pavé, Filippo Ganna (ineos Grenadiers) was among the first to puncture, which left the Italian chasing in a group with Philipsen for 35km. Although there were plenty of punctures and crashes in the sectors that followed, it wasn’t until the four-star section at Haveluy that the big hitters began to strike out. Mads Pedersen made a first acceleration, Pogačar made a second and Van der Poel added his weight. Coming out of the section, Pogačar surged again, the flurry of attacks reducing this group to less than 20 riders.
These attacks brought the eight-man break within sight on the approach to the Arenberg Forest, by which time the peloton had re-formed. Pogačar went quickly to the front, Van der Poel then took his place, his pace so strong that he rode through the break. Coming out of the infamous section, Van der Poel, Pogačar, Pedersen, Philipsen, Ganna and, riding out of his teenage skin, Britain’s Matthew Brennan were part of a 15-strong lead group.
Van der Poel kept attacking on the road sections, his thrust after section 16 with 87km remaining bringing five riders out of the pack, Pogačar, Pedersen, Philipsen and Stefan Bissegger making the cut with him.
On section 15, Pogačar attacked despite appearing to have been suffering physically a few moments earlier. Pedersen led the pursuit of the world champion until the Dane suffered the most untimely of front wheel punctures. As the Slovenian flew on, Van der Poel was the only one able to bridge the fast-opening gap. However, the defending champion refused to collaborate with his rival until Philipsen had joined them, while Bissegger, like Pedersen, was the victim of a puncture.
The trio stayed together until the last few hundred metres of the five-star Mons-en-Pévèle section. Pogačar pressed hard, but got no gap, then Van der Poel responded but only succeeded in dropping his teammate Philipsen.
On section nine, Pogačar accelerated hard again but couldn’t shake Van der Poel. Then, on a sharp right-hander, the world champion went through the bend and fell into the advertising banners, while the Dutchman drew on his cyclo-cross skills to skip inside his tumbling rival, who was further delayed by a dropped chain. The pursuit began with 38km remaining.
For several kilometres, there were just 15 seconds or so between the two Classics superstars. Van der Poel managed to avoid mishap when hit in the face by the bottle thrown at him, going slightly off line but staying upright. Then, with 21km left, Pogačar’s hopes of catching his rival took another blow when he stopped to switch to a spare bike, which left the Dutchman almost a minute clear.
On Carrefour de l’Arbre, the duel seemed like it might take another significant twist when Van der Poel punctured. However, with his team car right on his wheel, the Dutchman kept his cool as he stopped for a spare bike before resuming his relentless pace, his lead still a minute coming out of that key section, the last tough one of the race. After that, victory and a place in history was not too far away.
2025 Paris-Roubaix, 259.2km
1 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 5:31:27
2 Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, at 1:18
3 Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, at 2:11
4 Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma | Lease a Bike
5 Florian Vermeersch (Bel) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, at s.t
6 Jonas Rutsch (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty, at 3:46
7 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
8 Markus Hoelgaard (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, at s.t.
9 Fred Wright (GB) Bahrain Victorious, at 4:35
10 Laurenz Rex (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty, at 4:36
