Paris-Roubaix 2025: Mathieu van der Poel Wins Third Straight Crown After A Dramatic Race

Mathieu van der Poel won his third consecutive Paris-Roubaix title Sunday (13 April). The Dutch star edged past his great rival Tadej Pogacar on the gruelling course.

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The win made Van der Poel only the third cyclist to win three straight Paris-Roubaix titles after France’s Octave Lapize (1909-11) and Italy’s Francesco Moser (1978-80).

“It means a lot, it’s such a hard race and I was really suffering,” said Van der Poel.

The pair broke clear together with around 45km remaining of the 259.2km one-day classic to set up an enthralling finale.

However, Pogacar, who was making a debut in the race, crashed on a tight right-hand bend with 38km to go and could not regain contact with his powerful Dutch opponent, before the Slovenian required a bike change.

Van der Poel also had to change his bike with 15.6km to go, but was way ahead to cross the line alone in the Roubaix velodrome. He won by 78 seconds after just over five and a half hours in the saddle.

“It’s too bad that Tadej made this mistake in the corner but then I just had to go for it. It was still quite far to the finish line and it was really hard.”

Pogačar was followed by Mads Pedersen who was almost a minute further to round off the podium.

Meanwhile, Olympic mountain bike champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot won the women’s race becoming the Frenchwoman to win the Paris-Roubaix title.

She broke clear with about 15km of the 148.5km route remaining, and crossed the line in a time of three hours 40 minutes seven seconds. She finished 58 seconds ahead of Italy’s Letizia Borghesi, with Lorena Wiebes of the Netherlands taking the third spot.