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Brabantse Pijl 2025 preview: Route, favourites, how to watch and start list
Classics season continues with Brabantse Pijl (or La Flèche Brabançonne) taking place on Friday 18th April 2025. They’re the last races on the calendar for both women and men before Ardennes Week kicks off with the Amstel Gold Race.
Belgian rider Edwig Van Hooydonck has won the men’s race the most, with four victories between 1987 and 1995. There has been no repeat winner in nine editions of the women’s race, with big names such as Marianne Vos, Demi Vollering and Elisa Longo Borghini all victorious here.
In 2024, Benoît Cosnefroy beat Belgian duo Dylan Teuns and Tim Wellens for victory, while in the women’s race Longo Borghini prevailed by breaking away ahead of Vollering and Alexandra Manly.
For 2025, it marks the return of Remco Evenepoel to racing after an offseason crash left him with a lengthy list of injuries, looking to keep him off the top step will be the likes of Wout van Aert, Tom Pidcock and Neilson Powless.
Brabantse Pijl 2025 key information
Date: Friday 18th April 2025
Start: Women’s: Lennik, Belgium; Men’s: Beersel, Belgium
Finish: Overijse, Belgium
Distance: Women’s – 138.5km; Men’s – 175.4km
TV coverage: TNT Sports, Max, FloBikes, Sporza
2024 winners: Women’s: Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek); Men’s: Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale)
Brabantse Pijl 2025 routes
Women’s race
The women’s race kicks off the day with 20 ascents to cover. After 79km the women take on three laps of a finishing circuit comprising Overijse (1.3km, 4.1%), the two cobbled climbs of Hertstraat (700m, 5%) and Moskesstraat (500m, 9.2%), and Holstheide (1km, 5.4%).
It’s a sharp rise to the finish where they entered on Overijse. Both this climb and the Moskesstraat were used at the 2021 UCI Road World Championships.
Men’s race
The road immediately heads upwards for the men, the first of 22 climbs in Alsemberg coming just 6km from the start in Beersel and followed by the Bruineput, the only two the women don’t cover. An undulating 35km follows before the next set of punchy climbs.
After 116km of racing, they enter a circuit the same circuit as the women, also doing three laps.
Brabantse Pijl 2025 favourites
Longo Borghini suffered a concussion at the Tour of Flanders while racing for new team UAE Team ADQ but will be back here to defend her title. Last year’s second place Vollering will not feature, but Alex Manly will be looking for another podium.
FDJ-Suez are instead taking Elise Chabbey, who has been on good form in the Classics, much like Marianne Vos who won the first women’s Brabantse Pijl in 2016. UAE Team ADQ’s Silvia Persico won here in 2022, and she’ll likely lead the team if Longo Borgini is missing.
Also in the running is Movistar’s young star Cat Ferguson, who escaped a spectator-related crash at Paris-Roubaix injury-free. SD Worx will have the talents of Anna van der Breggen and Mischa Bredewold, Liv-AlUla-Jayco have the strong duo of Letizia Paternoster and Ruby Roseman-Gannon.
In the men’s race, Remco Evenepoel makes his anticipated return to racing. Alongside him Neilson Powless, Wout van Aert, Tom Pidcock and Biniam Girmay lead the big names to watch.
UAE Team Emirates XRG are bringing a squad including Tim Wellens and Florian Vermeersch, who finished fifth at Paris-Roubaix. Meanwhile Alpecin are pinning their hopes on young Tibor Del Grosso after a strong sixth place at Dwars door Vlaanderen and a couple of near misses at Volta a Catalunya thanks to Matthew Brennan
Cyclist’s ratings: Women’s race
- ★★★★★: Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ)
- ★★★★: Elise Chabbey (FDJ-Suez), Letizia Paternoster (Liv-AlUla-Jayco)
- ★★★: Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly), Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime)
- ★★: Cat Ferguson (Movistar), Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime), Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek), Alex Manly (AG Insurance-Soudal)
- ★: Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck), Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), Ingvild Gåskjenn (Uno-X Mobility), Marte Berg Edseth (Uno-X Mobility)
Cyclist’s ratings: Men’s race
- ★★★★★: Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling)
- ★★★★: Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike), Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
- ★★★: Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech)
- ★★: Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility)
- ★: Dylan Teuns (Cofidis), Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies)
Brabantse Pijl 2025: How to watch
The 2025 Brabantse Pijl races are available to watch in the UK and Ireland on TNT Sports, VRT and RTL in Belgium, FloBikes in the USA and Canada, L’Equipe in France, TV2 in Denmark, SuperSport in Africa plus Staylive for the men’s race and a replay of the women’s race elsewhere (check which countries here).
If the race isn’t being broadcast in your country or you are travelling abroad, a VPN will allow you to hide your device’s location to access content that is normally geo-blocked. One such VPN provider is ExpressVPN, which is well reviewed, helps users to find free to watch cycling, and costs start from around £5 per month.
- Read more: How to watch cycling for less in the UK
- Read more: Which countries can watch cycling for free in 2025?
Brabantse Pijl 2025: UK TV times
All times BST and subject to change by the broadcasters.
Women’s race
TNT Sports online: 11:30-14:00
Men’s race
TNT Sports online: 14:15-16:50
TNT Sports 1: 14:30-16:30
Brabantse Pijl 2025 start lists
Data powered by FirstCycling.com
Data powered by FirstCycling.com
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