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The nine best moments of the Spring Classics 2025
Another Spring Classics campaign is in the books. It was filled with ups, downs and cobbles as well as plenty of drama, surprises and a few rather… let’s just say not unexpected results.
Before we head full speed into Grand Tour season, it’s only right to take a quick look back at the best moments from this year’s Spring Classics season.
9. Remco Evenepoel wins on his comeback
A crash in the winter derailed Remco Evenepoel’s 2025 season before it began. His injuries included rib, shoulder blade and hand fractures and his gold bike was snapped in half.
After a long recovery, his first race back was Brabantse Pijl and he looked to be starting where he left off, finding himself in a lead trio alongside Wout van Aert and Joe Blackmore. Evenepoel’s pressure on the Hertstraat with 16km to go put paid to Blackmore’s chances and it would come down to a sprint with Van Aert for victory – not a great sign for his chances.
Evenepoel had to launch first to stand a chance and Van Aert couldn’t match his power, with the Olympic champion easily winning his first race back. Their embrace after the line was lovely to see.
8. A breakaway stays away
Let’s face it, the drama of a breakaway win is one of the best sights in cycling and the women’s Omloop Nieuwsblad served up a treat. Arkéa-B&B’s Lotte Claes and Aurela Nerlo of Winspace Orange Seal were part of the day’s early break after attacking within the first 10km. The group of five was eventually whittled down to just two after the Muur van Geraardsbergen with the duo still having a surprising advantage of over six minutes to the main favourites.
Demi Vollering and Puck Pieterse went clear from the peloton over the Muur to kick off their bid to chase the break down but couldn’t claw back those in front, and had to settle for the last place available on the podium. With victory all but assured to go to either Claes or Nerlo, the potential for either to claim the biggest win of their careers was tantalising.
Nerlo tried to launch an attack at the 1km to go mark and managed to get a slight gap but Claes got herself into the slipstream and back onto her wheel. With Nerlo’s matches burned, Claes came around in the final 200m to claim the victory.
Claes, 31, said after the finish, ‘It’s really unbelievable. It’s only my second pro year. Before that, I combined it with working in a hospital as a nurse. So I hope it’s a step towards a bright future.’
7. Welcome back Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
Multi-discipline legend Pauline Ferrand-Prévot returned to road racing this year with big goals after hanging up her mountain bike after winning Olympic gold. She immediately impressed with podiums at big Classics including Strade Bianche and the Tour of Flanders and signed up last minute to ride her first ever Paris-Roubaix Femmes. She’s no stranger to uneven surfaces but after picking up an illness the week of the race, she resigned herself to working for Marianne Vos.
A crash on the Orchies cobbles seemed to be the end of her time in the favourites group but she fought her way back before jumping away on practically the only hint of a hill in the whole race. She caught lone leader Emma Norsgaard and then rode clear on Camphin-en-Pévèle.
Despite a huge effort from Lotte Kopecky to bring her back, Ferrand-Prévot was gone and arrived at the velodrome with over a minute to spare to soak in her achievement.
6. Kim Le Court becomes first African Monument winner
Women’s cycling always delivers. At a time when it feels like men’s racing is increasingly a one-horse race, at least you can rely on the women’s peloton to keep things entertaining. And so it was at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
With Demi Vollering and Puck Pieterse putting the pressure on on La Redoute, a four-woman group including EF’s Cédrine Kerbaol and AG Insurance-Soudal’s Kim Le Court emerged to contest the win. After going on the attack earlier on and with low hopes in a sprint Kerbaol went on the offensive once more and almost made it stick, but the four came back together for the run-in to the line.
Le Court, resplendent in her Mauritius national champion kit (very similar to the rainbow jersey, but UCI approved), kicked off the sprint first, and all the three behind could do was watch her raise her arms in celebration. Le Court became the first African woman to win a Classic and the first African to win a Monument.
Now that’s monumental.
5. Milan-San Remo: Absolute ciclismo
Milan-San Remo was a weekend for the ages. We got to see the return of a women’s edition and a perfect show of teamwork from Lotte Kopecky as she reeled back Elisa Longo Borghini and delivered Lorena Wiebes for an easy sprint win.
The men’s race meanwhile was an absolute thriller thanks to the exploits of Tadej Pogačar. This is the one-day race that keeps getting away, and this year he went big, attacking early on the Cipressa. He got rid of most of the peloton but couldn’t shake of Mathieu van der Poel. Again and again he tried; the Poggio came and went. Filippo Ganna impressively fought his way back to the two in front just in time for the sprint and Pogačar finished third on the Via Roma as Van der Poel took his second Milan-San Remo.
4. Beating the odds
Sometimes the odds are stacked against you. Sometimes you can huff, puff and blow them down. Mattias Skjelmose was the unlikeliest of victors when coming to the Amstel Gold Race finish with Pogačar and Evenepoel. Nevertheless, you’ve got to be in it to win it.
In an enthralling finale the trio sprinted side-by-side-by-side in such a close finish that Skjelmose needed confirmation before he celebrated, repeating the phrase ‘I think I won…’ in disbelief. Eventually he was confirmed as the winner and broke out into an emotional celebration, dedicating his biggest win so far to his late grandfather.
3. A rainbow on the cobbles
Will he? Won’t he? Those were the questions on everyone’s lips after a run of teasing by Pogačar over potentially making his debut at Paris-Roubaix. But after his near-miss at Milan-San Remo and off-season Roubaix recon, it was on.
One of the most gruelling, beautiful and brutal races, Paris-Roubaix sends riders over the harshest of jutting cobblestones, bodies covered in mud and punctures ending races before they’ve even had a chance to begin. Many predicted that Pogačar would be too lightweight to be able to stick with it at the front of the race but it was he who got the proper racing underway at the Arenberg.
He found himself with the two teammates who had pulled off a 1-2 the past two years in Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen. He managed to drop Philipsen but Pogačar’s own race would be decided by a rare misstep. He came into a corner too hot, went slowly over his handlebars and needed a bike change. He would never be able to close the gap to Van der Poel, who rode into the velodrome solo to claim his third straight victory.
It wasn’t the win but second on his first attempt was a mighty effort. We’ll undoubtably see him back at the start line with unfinished business.
2. The Classics of Puck Pieterse
Puck Pieterse stepped into the spotlight on the road with her stage victory at the Tour de France Femmes in 2024. But this year she has commanded it. Coming off the back of a brilliant off-road season in which she became MTB XCO world champion and Dutch cyclocross champion, Pieterse finished just off the podium at Omloop Nieuwsblad and Omloop van het Hageland, came close to victory at Trofeo Oro in Euro and rode to another fourth place at the Tour of Flanders.
She levelled up in Ardennes Week. Beginning with the Amstel Gold Race, Pieterse finished in third behind Mischa Bredewold and Ellen van Dijk. With no finish outside of the top ten so far, it felt as though a win was coming. Then came La Flèche Wallonne.
Pieterse had already shown an ability to be one of the very few (more often than not, the only one) to be able to follow Demi Vollering on a climb.
On the final ascent of the Mur de Huy, Pieterse was once again the only rider to keep with Vollering but went one step further, stamping on the pedals at the perfect time to overtake her compatriot. As the road gradually flattened in the last 200m, there was a clear winner. Pieterse crossed the line for her first Classics win and collapsed on the ground.
Capping off the week at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Pieterse once again found herself in a position to fight for the win. While this one would end up as a second place behind Le Court, it ties a bow on what has been a memorable Classics campaign that has seen her star shine even brighter.
1. The spirit of Ian Stannard possesses Neilson Powless
This has been a Classics season to forget for Visma-Lease a Bike, who uncharacteristically did not manage a single win, but it didn’t always seem like it would end that way.
On the Knokteberg at Dwars door Vlaanderen, Neilson Powless found himself in a leading group with only Visma-Lease a Bike riders. He was massively outnumbered by Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson and Tiesj Benoot for the last 56km but stayed strong as they approached the finish.
It harked back to the time Ian Stannard took on three Etixx-QuickStep riders at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2015 and won. A decade later Powless was in the same three versus one boat. He couldn’t… could he?
He absolutely could. In almost unfathomable scenes, Powless defeated the killer bees in a sprint that reverberated around the cycling world. Van Aert, Jorgenson and Benoot were stunned at the finish. They should’ve attacked him more, but should’ve, could’ve, would’ve.
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