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The “Paris-Roubaix Weekend” put a brutal exclamation point on a wild, breathless month of monument mayhem and cobblestone brawls.
Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar opened hostilities when they threw haymakers over the Cipressa and Poggio of Milan-San Remo.
The two titans were still slugging it out four weekends later when they threw down on the cobblestone pain of the Haveluy, Arenberg, and Mons-en Pévèle of the “Hell of the North.”
Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert, and Filippo Ganna were the supporting cast in a northern classics box set that should top the charts even longer than “Game of Thrones.”
And that’s before we even dive into a wild month of inaugural races and comeback queens in the women’s peloton.
SD Worx-Protime ruled supreme from San Remo Women through a thriller set of classics – until Pauline Ferrand-Prévot came along to usurp the “super team” at the Roubaix Femmes, that is.
But with Sunday’s men’s Roubaix still vivid in the memory, let’s break down who topped the class after a new “big 5” emerged in the male classics peloton:
Mathieu van der Poel: Cobblestone king, monument master
MSR: 1st
E3: 1st
Flanders: 3rd
Roubaix: 1st
Mathieu van der Poel put it beyond all doubt this last month.
He’s the cobblestone rider of the era, the next in line behind Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara.
And who knows, maybe only a bout of sickness ahead of Tour of Flanders prevented MVDP from following Tommeke and Spartacus in completing “the cobblestone double-double” of consecutive sweeps of De Ronde and Roubaix.
But it’s not all about the pavé.
MVDP showed at Milan-San Remo he’s maybe the only rider who can pull the brakes on the relentless Pogi Express.
Must read: MVDP is the only rider who can stop Pogačar from completing cycling
To have MVDP and Pogačar racing together is a treat. This year, they were the only riders capable of beating each other in the northern classics.
But it’s Van der Poel who surely tops the class. Two monument victories put into perspective the Dutchman’s dazzling spring.
Next year, it could be Pogačar’s turn to be star pupil.
Bring on the rematch.
Next up: Tour de France, starting July 5.
Tadej Pogačar: Audacity, panache, poised for a monument sweep?
Strade Bianche: 1st
MSR: 3rd
Flanders: 1st
Roubaix: 2nd
“Only” two wins perhaps doesn’t do justice to Tadej Pogačar’s wild romp through the spring.
From the white stones of Strade through the grey pavé of Roubaix, the 26-year-old took a blowtorch to every race he started. And it had plenty of fuel to burn nearly everybody, too.
That said, Pogačar rolls toward next week’s hilly classics without the wins he wanted at Milan-San Remo and “The Hell of the North.” Van der Poel wasn’t letting Pogi have it his own way.
But – a good thing for us on “Couch Peloton” – Pogačar left the Roubaix velodrome Sunday knowing that victory on the Via Roma and on the ancient French track are within his reach.
Must read: Why EuroHoody didn’t want Pogačar to win Roubaix this year
Pogi will be back for another munch on the cobbles, guaranteed. He’ll want another piece of “La Primavera,” too.
And you can bet that Van der Poel will be there, getting in the way of Pogačar’s monument sweep.
Next up: Amstel Gold Race and the Ardennes classics, starting April 20.
Mads Pedersen: Unsung superstar, one hoof short of the GOATS
MSR: 7th
E3: 2nd
Gent-Wevelgem: 1st
Dwars door Vlaanderen: 5th
Flanders: 2nd
Roubaix: 3rd
You gotta feel for Mads Pedersen.
In another universe where Pogačar and Van der Poel didn’t exist, the Dane would have steamrollered everybody in the past month and stolen a plinth in cycling’s “Hall of Fame.”
But in a similar way to 2024, Pedersen was forced to play “best of the rest.”
From San Remo through Roubaix, he was near faultless in his bloody-minded pursuit of monument immortality. But there was no clipping the hooves of modern cycling’s two GOATS.
Must read: Pedersen settles for Roubaix podium after spring swinging with the GOATs: ‘This year wasn’t for me’
The cycling world owes Pedersen a marquee victory to stand alongside his 2019 world title. Sadly for him, it might be that same world that’s devoid of Pogi and MVDP.
Next up: Giro d’Italia, starting May 9.
Wout van Aert: A disaster, a comeback, and momentum under the wheels
E3: 15th
Dwars door Vlaanderen: 2nd
Flanders: 4th
Roubaix: 4th
Cameras captured Sunday after Roubaix the moment the son of Wout van Aert asked his dad “why he finished fourth again.”
WVA was brutally on-point with his answer.
“Others were faster buddy.”
And with that stark assessment, Van Aert’s monument quest rolls into another year.
Fourth and fourth at De Ronde and Roubaix were the best WVA and his horrifically scarred knee could achieve behind Pogačar, Pedersen, and MVDP, and he knew it.
Must read: Another Paris-Roubaix heartbreak for WVA: ‘There are 3 better than me’
But after what happened to the under-pressure Belgian at Dwars door Vlaanderen – a tactical meltdown that will be made into memes for some time yet – twice fourth is good as a win for WVA.
Van Aert’s confidence was shot after his Dwars disaster. His monument resurgence should leave him riding toward the Giro d’Italia with respectability intact and momentum at his back.
Next up: Brabantse Pijl and Amstel Gold Race (April 18 and 20), Giro d’Italia (May 9)
Filippo Ganna: Italian stallion finds road legs on escape from the track
MSR: 2nd
E3: 3rd
Flanders: 8th
Roubaix: 13th
The one thing missing Sunday from a spectacular Paris-Roubaix?
Seeing Filippo Ganna wield his huge carthorse raw power deep in the final of the classic that suits him best.
But despite a puncture robbing the world of the Pippo show, Ganna was a significant playmaker in this pure thriller of a spring. He couldn’t be dropped by Pogačar and Van der Poel at San Remo, and he defied his 80kg frame in the hellingen of the E3 Saxo Classic.
Ganna might leave Paris-Roubaix wondering which way to focus in the future.
His standout spring came after he committed to a 2025 on the road after he piled his powers into the track last year for the Paris Olympics.
If Ganna makes another similar leap into 2026, a huge one-day win might effectively make the road vs. track decision for him.
Next up: Tour de France, starting July 5.
Some honorable mentions: Americans, rookies, nearly-men
First up, shoutouts to U.S. flyers Matteo Jorgenson and Neilson Powless.
Jorgenson ended his spring disappointed after missing his chances at E3 Saxo Classic and Dwars door Vlaanderen, but with the boost of another solid classics campaign in his increasingly impressive career.
At other end of the spectrum, Powless will be beaming ear-to-ear.
He foiled Jorgenson, Van Aert and the “Killer Bees” for a headline victory at the DDV that more than makes up for an illness-blighted performance the rest of the past month.
Next, doff your cap to perennial nearly-men Jasper Stuyven, Stefan Küng, and Fred Wright.
If you squinted and looked closely at the pack chasing Pogačar and Van der Poel at any point in this northern classics, you’d likely have seen one of those three.
Lastly, remember the names Colby Simmons and Matthew Brennan.
Colby “brother of Quinn” has only two WorldTour races on his palmarès, but the Coloradan made them count – Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix is some resume.
And 19-year-old Brennan?
Maybe there’s some Brit bias here, but that guy showed Sunday he could win Paris-Roubaix one day.
