After Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) ended a historic trilogy of Spring Classics duels at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday with the Dutchman coming out on top for a hat-trick, they likely won't race each other again until the Tour de France.
The pair dictated the racing at the first three Monuments of the year, Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, becoming the first pair of riders to podium all three in the same season in the process, but Van der Poel and Pogačar's calendars will now take different paths to cycling's biggest race.
Victorious in San Remo and Roubaix, Van der Poel will take a break after another very successful Classics campaign, opting not to do the Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège as he did last season. He's racked up four wins already so far in 2025, taking both the Ename Samyn Classic and E3 Saxo Classic titles alongside his Monument successes.
"I’m not riding the Amstel Gold Race, no. This was my last race of the spring. That’s how we planned it," said Van der Poel in his Roubaix winner's press conference, after summarising his whole spring campaign.
"The illness I had last week was not ideal of course," he said, referring to his pre-Tour of Flanders build-up. "I felt that I was getting better and that my legs felt better too. I am therefore very happy that I can conclude this classics campaign with a victory in Roubaix."
Van der Poel's next goals and appearances are unknown as of yet, with a mixture of Tour de France preparation racing and some time competing on his mountain bike – a discipline he wants to win the world title in this season – both possible between now and the Grand Départ in Lille on July 5.
"I hope to do a stage race again before the Tour this year. Hopefully, I will go to the Tour at the highest level," Van der Poel told NOS.nl, with the Tour de Suisse, Baloise Belgium Tour or Critérium du Dauphiné all possibilities.
"[Amstel] is also not on his programme. There will be some mountain biking, but first a holiday. That is well deserved," said Alpecin-Deceuninck boss and co-owner Philip Roodhooft to Indeleiderstrui.
While Van der Poel is taking his well-earned break after 12 race days, Pogačar has three more one-day appointments before the end of April, with the Ardennes Classics trio of Amstel, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège now in his sights.
He's won all three races before and Liège – the most prestigious and the fourth Monument Classic of the season – twice, in 2021 and 2024. Last year Van der Poel was third behind the world champion and Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL) but Pogačar will still have a whole host of worthy competitors.
"Don't be greedy. Enjoy what we have. We will also have other races," said Pogačar of the rivalry.
In Roubaix, he lost out to Van der Poel in Roubaix after misjudging his speed heading into a corner and crashing after the pair had gone clear. He chased but only lost time to his rival by the time they reached the iconic velodrome.
"He will go to other races and so will I. We'll find other competitors there and we can look forward to that as well."
At Amstel on Sunday, Pogačar will get to race the returning Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) for the first time since they finished in the two top spots at Lombardia nearly six months ago now.
Evenepoel has been out with several fractures ever since being doored by a Belgian postal vehicle when he was starting his full training programme over the winter. He'll make his first start at Friday's Brabantse Pijl in the build-up towards Liège, where he is also a two-time champion.
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) will also be racing at Amstel Gold on Sunday, while Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) should also be in the mix to challenge Pogačar after finishing second behind the superior Pogačar at Strade Bianche in March.
Pidcock skipped out on the cobbled Classics so should be in top form to try and defend his title in the Netherlands on Easter Sunday, before looking to better his second-place finish at Liège from 2023, where only Evenepoel was better than him.
While Pogačar has again more than proved his prowess as a cobbled Classics star, withstanding the test of the hellish Paris-Roubaix pavé and again conquering the bergs of Flanders, the hilly Classics is where he is at his best. Without Van der Poel present, can anyone stop him from returning to full dominance?
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