WORLD cyclocross champion Mathieu van der Poel won the first monument of the season Milan-Sanremo in one of the most thrilling finishes to a big race in recent memory. And after comfortably winning E3 Saxo Classic on Friday (below) he is certainly the man in form. We were sadly denied the potential of Tom Pidcock being in the mix at Sanremo after he was involved and held up in the crash at the foot of the Cipressa and Van der Poel went on to outfox and beat Filippo Ganna and Tadej Pogacar in the sprint. On Friday at E3 the Dutchman went solo with 39km remaining in a repeat from twelve months ago when he soloed to victory from 47km out.
Pidcock, of course, finished second in Strade Bianche to Tadej Pogacar (more of whom later) and impressed in his opening road races of 2025 for his new team.
Wout van Aert restarted his road season at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday after several weeks of altitude training in Tenerife and some low key results in February and early March. He clearly has that training in his legs as he finished near the front (15th overall) in the peloton sprint some 2 minutes 42 seconds after Van der Poel crossed the line. Much like with the cyclocross season, Van Aert is playing catch up although those weeks training in Tenerife will pay dividends in the long run but the next clash with Van der Poel at Flanders is only eight days away. Van Aert races again in Wednesday's Dwars door Vlaanderen hoping to regain his sharpness.
As it stands cyclocross' 'big three' will not all meet this spring unless one of the three has a change of plan but there is a fourth rider we should give an honorary mention to considering he has won the Slovenian national 'cross title (2018-19). For this reason we will include Tadej Pogacar (above centre) in our 'big four' and this is where the four plan to race during April (as of today)…
Wed 2nd April - Dwars door Vlaanderen: Van Aert (2nd).
Sun 6th April - Ronde van Vlaanderen: Van Aert (4th), Van der Poel (3rd) and Pogacar (1st)
Wed 9th April - Scheldeprijs: -
Sun 13th April - Paris-Roubaix: Van Aert (4th), Van der Poel (1st) and Pogacar (2nd)
Fri 18th April - De Brabantse Pijl: Pidcock and Van Aert
Sun 20th April - Amstel Gold: Pidcock, Van Aert and Pogacar
Wed 23rd April - Fleche Wallonne: Pidcock and Pogacar
Sun 27th April - Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Pidcock and Pogacar *
* Join us in Sheffield (UK) on Sunday 27th April for our own homage to Liege, the 4th annual Sheffield-Buxton-Sheffield. Full details: CLICK HERE
