Mathieu van der Poel won the highly dramatic duel of cycling giants against Tadej Pogacar and triumphed for the second time at Milan-Sanremo. The winner at the women’s race also came from the Netherlands with Lorena Wiebes.
The ex-world champion from the Netherlands prevailed in the 116th edition of the longest classic on Saturday (22.03.2025) after 289 kilometers in sprint on Via Roma in front of the Italian Filippo Ganna and the Slovenian world champion Pogacar. Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), to which the title at the “Primavera” was still missing, had attacked the poggio increase several times shortly before the finish, but was unable to shake off his rival van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
In the final on the level, the 30-year-old was the faster and won as already in 2023. The two-time time trial world champion Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) was able to catch up with the duo on the last departure and pushed between the two top stars. As in the past year, Pogacar remained third. Last year’s winner Jasper Philipsen (Belgium) had no chance on Wednesday after his severe fall at the one -day race.
No German at the front
The German drivers around ex-winner John Degenkolb also played no role in the first highlight in the 2025 cycling year.
For Van der Poel it was the seventh success in one of the five cycling monuments after three victories on the tour of the Flanders and two successes at Paris-Roubaix. In contrast to Pogacar, he has not yet triumphed at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Lombardy tour.
Wiebes wins women in the sprint
At the first start of the women since 2005, the decision was also made in the sprint. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) made a decisive decision after 156 kilometers from a smaller group and won the title in front of her compatriot Marianne Vos (Visma Lease A Bike) and the Swiss Noeme Rüegg (Ef Education-Oatly).
The group around Wiebes had only placed Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ), which had briefly settled in the last departure, and thus prevented the Italian’s home win.