Tour of Flanders 2025 contenders - Can anyone beat Tadej Pogačar?

What else is there to say other than Tadej Pogačar is the overwhelming favourite to win the Tour of Flanders in 2025?

It's almost an inevitability for a rider who has won every race he has started over the past year except for Milan-San Remo and the GP de Québec. Granted, that may be hyperbole because it only takes stage race general classifications into account, but Pogačar races to win, and quite often succeeds.

Pogačar has started the Tour of Flanders twice, in 2022 and 2023. The first year, he unwisely got into a cat-and-mouse battle while away with Mathieu van der Poel and the two were caught by chasers Dylan van Baarle and Valentin Madouas and Pogačar missed the podium.

In 2023, Pogačar didn't leave anything to chance. First, he attacked on the Koppenberg with 44km to go, pulling Van der Poel and Wout van Aert away. The trio chased down the breakaway, Van der Poel put Van Aert into the hurt locker on the Taaienberg and then paid for it when Pogačar attacked over the Oude Kwaremont, where he left Van der Poel behind and sailed in for a solo victory.

It's fascinating to compare the two scenarios and contemplate what the world champion's strategy will be this year. Given that Pogačar was unable to distance Van der Poel on the Cipressa or Poggio during Milan-San Remo this year, and the fact that Van der Poel is the far better sprinter, it seems like a long-range attack is the better option.

The fact that UAE Team Emirates XRG are sending three riders who finished 3rd-5th in last year's edition - Nils Politt, Mikkel Bjerg and António Morgado - shows he has strong support for any scenario.

Will Pogačar take a second Tour of Flanders victory on Sunday? Cyclingnews has a list of seven riders to watch for if he isn't successful.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck)

With three Tour of Flanders victories already on his palmares and three wins (Le Samyn, Milan-San Remo and E3 Saxo Classic) already under his belt in the first four weeks of his season, Mathieu van der Poel is probably the only rider with the form and history to take on Pogačar.

As he showed in Milan-San Remo, he can turn himself inside out enough to hang onto Pogačar's uphill attacks. If Pogačar can't ditch Van der Poel on the Paterberg, the odds are very much in the Dutch rider's favour.

However, the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg are cobbled and far steeper than the Poggio. On one hand, those climbs should favour a bigger rider who can push a huge number of watts over a lighter rider, as the denominator in W/kg isn't quite as important as the numerator when it comes to Belgium's bergs - but Pogačar seems to defy physics.

All Van der Poel has to do is what he did in Milan-San Remo - hold on for dear life and bring the race down to a sprint - and it could be win number four in De Ronde for VDP. However, there are several other favourites who could get in the way of him and Pogačar.

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)

We're pushing former world champion Mads Pedersen into the next position on the Tour of Flanders contenders list after his commanding performance in Gent-Wevelgem. Pedersen took that race into hand early on, and despite racing into a block headwind, he still held off a peloton stacked with sprinters and their teams desperate to bring him back.

In 2023, Pedersen went into a breakaway with more than 100km still to race. He was still away when the Pogačar-Van der Poel steam train was coming up fast from behind. Pedersen tried to preempt the catch but his attack into the Oude Kwaremont turned out to be a boomerang breakaway. He still sprinted to third but lacked the kind of power needed to follow his two star rivals.

Last year, Pedersen attacked again in the same section of climbs just past the halfway point, again making it into the breakaway. But Van der Poel bridged across and blew the group apart on the Koppenberg, leaving Pedersen going backwards to an eventual 22nd place.

Pedersen seems on a different level in 2025, and while he downplayed his Gent-Wevelgem achievement in the absence of them and Wout van Aert, a little more patience - like waiting until the Koppenberg (44.6km to go) or the Taaienberg 8km later - might be just what he needs to land on the top step.

Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Given Wout van Aert's lack of results after a winter spent partly recovering from a knee injury from a crash in the Vuelta a España had his Belgian supporters concerned for the Tour of Flanders, but a second place to Neilson Powless in Dwars door Vlaanderen have improved his outlook.

However, the team's defeat came at the hands of a rider who hadn't won a cobbled Spring Classic before and who was outnumbered by Visma-Lease a Bike three to one. He admitted that he rode selfishly and should have not left it to a sprint after he cramped up and couldn't hold off the American.

Despite being one of the biggest names in cycling in Belgium and the country's number one man for the cobbled Spring Classics, Van Aert has only finished on the podium once in the Tour of Flanders - when he came second to Van der Poel in the postponed October edition in 2020.

Given his history and lack of a victory to buoy his spirits, Van Aert is more of an outside hopeful to win next to Pogačar and Van der Poel, but the display the team put on in Dwars door Vlaanderen - although unsuccessful - was impressive.

Together with Matteo Jorgenson and strong support riders like Tiesj Benoot, Edoardo Affini and Dylan van Baarle, Van Aert is more likely to bring along a teammate in an attack than his rivals.

Jorgenson is a strong foil for the team, too - a winner in Dwars door Vlaanderen in 2024 and ninth in the 2023 Tour of Flanders after working for Van Aert, he's an outside favourite when up against the likes of Pogačar and Van der Poel. Cycling is not always predictable. Who knows? Van Aert might be bringing in fine altitude-honed form or Jorgenson might make just the right move and Visma-Lease a Bike might save their whole Classics season on Sunday.

Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost)

Neilson Powless' name was hardly on the pundits' list of riders to mention - given the American missed the Spring Classics last season due to injury and had only a fourth place in Trofeo Laigueglia this year - before his victory in Dwars door Vlaanderen.

That triumph over no fewer than three Classics specialists from Visma-Lease a Bike - Van Aert, Jorgenson and Benoot - significantly raised his chances for the Tour of Flanders.

Powless finished fifth in the 2023 Tour of Flanders, sprinting to the line just behind Van Aert a minute adrift from Pogačar. With his spirits soaring after taking what was nearly an impossible victory, he'll be believing in miracles on Sunday - and we'll have a little faith after that display, too.

Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers)

When you think about the Tour of Flanders, Filippo Ganna isn't the first name or body type to come to mind. However, the Italian has developed an affinity for the Spring Classics since 2023, when he finished second in Milan-San Remo and sixth in Paris-Roubaix.

With the Olympics now behind him and track racing not a major focus, Ganna is free to add races like the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix back into his schedule, and he's shown superb form - especially on climbs - so far this season.

Ganna very nearly won Tirreno-Adriatico, surviving until the penultimate stage and the climb to Frontignano, then moved himself from third to second behind Juan Ayuso with an intermediate sprint time bonus.

Ganna's ride in Milan-San Remo where he clawed his way back to Pogačar and Van der Poel repeatedly before coming second, and in the cobbles of the E3 Saxo Classic where he came third to Van der Poel and Pedersen, the Italian has to be considered among the favourites for the Tour of Flanders.

Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla)

There is a chance that a group could come together and close down any attackers in the flat 13km run-in to the finish. The closest a bunch has come in recent years was in 2020 when Alexander Kristoff won the bunch sprint for third at eight seconds from Van der Poel and Van Aert. He was 17 seconds behind in third when Alberto Bettiol won in 2019.

The Tour of Flanders is not a sprinter's race but Michael Matthews is the most likely fast guy to make it to the finish in contention. He was third last year from an 11-rider group behind Pogačar but was later relegated for irregular sprinting.

Matthews was fourth in Milan-San Remo behind Van der Poel, Filippo Ganna and Pogačar, so he's on good form and he has a history with the race, with another top-10 in 2019.