When Tadej Pogačar arrived into Liège on Sunday, alone again, to claim his third Liège–Bastogne–Liège title, so marked the end of the 2025 Spring Classics campaign. Pogačar finished on the podium of all seven Classics he started this season but unlike the Slovenian not everyone will be happy with the way things played out over the Tuscan gravel, Flandrian bergs, Roubaix cobbles and Ardennes climbs. Before the WorldTour calendar moves on to a period of stage racing, we take a look back at the winners and losers of the spring.
Alpecin-Deceuninck 10 / 10
Even when up against the problem of Tadej Pogačar, it was another near-perfect cobbled campaign for Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutchman won Milan-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix and E3 Saxo Classic, only coming up short to Pogačar at the Tour of Flanders. Add to that Jasper Philipsen’s win at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and podiums at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Scheldeprijs, and Alpecin-Deceuninck strengthened their status as the peloton’s leading classics team.
Read more: Is Mathieu van der Poel this century's greatest Classics rider?
Mathieu van der Poel at Paris-Roubaix 2025 (Image: Zac Williams)
Arkéa - B&B Hotels 4 / 10
The struggling French team’s spring was overshadowed by concerns about the future and the threat of relegation out of the World Tour, but there was one standout ride at La Flèche Wallonne, when Kévin Vauquelin sprinted for second-place, best of the rest behind Pogačar.
Bahrain Victorious 3 / 10
With star man Matej Mohorič a shadow of his usual consistent self, Bahrain-Victorious endured a trying spring. Fred Wright stepped up to make the top ten at both Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix, while Lenny Martinez and Pello Bilbao managed top fives at Flèche Wallonne and Strade Bianche respectively, but this team has highest expectations.
Cofidis 6 / 10
The quick sprint finish of Milan Fretin proved a fruitful source of success for Cofidis, bringing them victory at Ronde van Limburg and top fives in multiple other semi-Classics. New big name signing Dylan Teuns might have misfired, but adventurous racing from the likes of Alex Aranburu, Aimé De Gendt and Piet Allegaert saw them deliver top tens in several of the WorldTour Classics.
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale 3 / 10
Injured star puncheur Benoît Cosnefroy was sorely missed this spring by the French squad. In his absence, the only real result of note was 7th place by Stefan Bissegger at Paris-Roubaix.
EF Education-EasyPost 7 / 10
The team’s 2025 spring will be best remembered for the extraordinary underdog victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen when Nelson Powless somehow single-handedly got the better of three Visma-Lease a Bike riders to take victory. Ben Healy also had an excellent Ardennes campaign, placing third at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, fourth at Strade Bianche and fifth at Flèche Wallonne.
Neilson Powless after winning Dwars door Vlaanderen 2025 (Image: Zac Williams)
Groupama-FDJ 5 / 10
Stefan Küng was consistent as ever, but couldn't match the astronomical pace of the cobbled superstars, finishing no lower than ninth at the Tour of Flanders, E3 Sao Classic and Dwars door Vlaanderen, but no higher than sixth. Likewise, Romain Grégoire had a couple of seventh places in the Ardennes, and Lewis Askey was consistent in the Belgian semi-Classics without threatening the podium, while Valentin Madouas lacked form all spring.
Ineos Grenadiers 7 / 10
There were few chances to win the major Classics for anyone who wasn’t Tadej Pogačar or Mathieu van der Poel this spring so chapeau to Filippo Ganna for pushing them so close at Milan-Sanremo, as well as placing third at E3 Saxo Classic. He was the standout performer in a newly aggressive Ineos roster.
Filippo Ganna at the E3 Saxo Classic (Image: Zac Williams)
Intermarché-Wanty 6 / 10
Impressive results came from throughout the squad, with Jonas Rutsch placing sixth at Paris-Roubaix, Louis Barré sixth at Amstel Gold, Arne Marit fourth at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, and Laurenz Rex achieved two top tens at each of Classic Brugge-De Panne, Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix. But for Intermarché-Wanty to really make an impression this spring, they needed talisman Biniam Girmay to be in form, but the best result the Eritrean managed was seventh at Gent-Wevelgem.
Lidl-Trek 9 / 10
Only one team managed to challenge the juggernauts of Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel with any success — Lidl-Trek. Mads Pedersen did about as well as was possible against such tough opponents, making the podium at each of the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and E3 Saxo Classic while winning Gent-Wevelgem, then Mattias Skjelmose pulled off a major upset to triumph at Amstel Gold. The team's overall strength in depth was made apparent by podium finishes in sprints at Gent-Wevelgem and Classics Brugge-De Panne from Jonathan Milan, and at Liège–Bastogne–Liège with Giulio Ciccone.
Read more: Mads Pedersen joins the long-range club with Gent-Wevelgem win
Mads Pedersen enjoyed a successful spring Classics campaign (Image: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
Movistar 2 / 10
With Oier Lazkano having left, this is not a squad built for the Classics, reflected by their paucity of results throughout the spring. Iván García Cortina’s ninth place at the Tour of Flanders was the highlight.
Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe 1 / 10
Much was anticipated from a new look squad that boasted Max Van Gils, Jan Tratnik, Oier Lazkano and Laurence Pithie, all brought in with the expectation of making Red Bull a force in the Classics. Yet none of these recruits showed the form that encouraged the team to sign them in the first place, the best results being in the lower realms of the top ten at Strade Bianche, Gent-Wevelgem and Classic Brugge-De Panne from Roger Adrià, Jordi Meeus and Sam Welsford.
Oier Lazkano and his Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe team endured a tough spring Classics campaign (Image: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
Soudal–Quick-Step 8 / 10
The former kings of the cobblestones might have lost interest in the Classics, but nevertheless continue to excel on home roads courtesy of having the quickest sprinter in the world, Tim Merlier, who won Scheldeprijs and placed second at Gent-Wevelgem. In the Ardennes, Remco Evenepoel made a stunningly quick return to racing following a long injury layoff to win Brabantse Pijl and place third at Amstel Gold, but wasn’t fit enough to compete at Liège–Bastogne–Liège.
Read more: ‘The hardest battle of my life’ - Remco Evenepoel returns to racing
Jayco-AlUla 5 /10
Ever dependable, Michael Matthews once again delivered Jayco-AlUla their best results in the major classics, placing fourth at Milan-Sanremo and fifth at Amstel Gold. But there wasn’t much support from the rest of the squad, with ninth for Dylan Groenewegen at Classic Brugge-De Panne and tenth for Mauro Schmid at Flèche Wallonne the best they could manage.
Picnic-PostNL 5 / 10
Even though star man Fabio Jakobsen continued to deal with long-lasting fitness problems, the sprints were where Picnic-PostNL excelled this spring. The clear highlight was victory for Nils Eekhoff at Nokere Koerse, but Pavel Bittner also delivered a couple of top tens at Scheldeprijs and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.
Visma-Lease a Bike 4 / 10
Not only does Visma-Lease a Bike’s five-year drought without a Monument victory continue, they’ve also comprehensively lost their status as the world’s best Classics team as former stars like Christophe Laporte and Dylan van Baarle rode like shadows of their former selves. Some riders came close, with Olav Kooij sprinting for second at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and Ben Tulett just missing out to Isaac del Toro at Milano-Torino, while Wout van Aert was left with a familiar sense of frustration with a string of near misses during April, but this ended up being the first spring campaign since 2015 that the team failed to win a single Classic — even managing to throw away a seemingly unlosable position of 3 v 1 at the finale of Dwars door Vlaanderen.
Team Visma-Lease a Bike's Wout van Aert, Tiesj Benoot, Matteo Jorgensen lost to Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) at Dwars door Vlaanderen (Image: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
UAE Team Emirates-XRG 10 / 10
It’s Tadej Pogačar’s world, and we’re all living in it. His 2025 spring was even more impressive than last years, adding victories at the Tour of Flanders and Flèche Wallonne to successful title defences of Strade Bianche and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and even the ‘failures’ to win Milan-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix and Amstel Gold were part of an extraordinary seven-race streak of podium finishers.
He hardly needed a team to support him, but UAE Team Emirates-XRG still did so with flying colours, the likes of Tim Wellens (third at Strade Bianche) and Florian Vermeersch (fifth at Paris-Roubaix) sealing high placings for themselves while working for the Slovenian, while Juan Sebastián Molano (Classic Brugge-De Panne) and Isaac Del Toro (Milano-Torino) picked up wins in races the world champion was absent.
Read more: The race for second place: It is time for a new approach to try and beat Tadej Pogačar
Tadej Pogačar winning his third Liège-Bastogne-Liège title on Sunday (Image: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
XDS Astana 6 / 10
Though there weren’t any classics victories, results like fourth at Liège–Bastogne–Liège for Simone Velasco, top 12s for Mike Teunissen at the Tour of Flanders, Milan-Sanremo and E3 Saxo Classic, top tens for Max Kanter in the Classic Brugge-De Panne and Scheldeprijs sprints, and sixth and tenth respectively at Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders helped XDS Astana accumulate many all-important World Tour points they’re chasing to avoid relegation.
