For a long time it looked as if Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) could finally silence his critics and claim the first victory of his season, the 50th of his career. With a clever move, his team had quickly created a supposedly clear situation and with a show of strength ensured that only he, his two team-mates Matteo Jorgenson and Tiesj Benoot and Powless as the only rider were able to form a leading group that was hardly in danger 50 kilometres before the finish.
But instead of capitalising on their numerical superiority, the Visma trio rode to the finish straight without really hurting Powless or attacking. The yellow team relied entirely on van Aert's sprinting qualities - and were disappointed. Powless, not exactly known for his finishing speed, outsprinted the Belgian and celebrated his first victory in a major spring classic. However, the 28-year-old American had already proven that he can win important races. In 2021, he secured the Clasica San Sebastian.
Powless: "Thought I was racing for second place"
"I can't believe it," Powless said repeatedly at the finish. "I felt strong, but I didn't think I had a chance of winning in this group. I thought I was riding for second place." The decisive factor for success was the approach to the finish. "I never thought I would beat Wout in a sprint like that. But I came out of the bend at a good speed and was maybe four or five kilometres per hour faster than him. And then I was able to maintain that speed all the way to the finish. It wasn't too far from the last corner to the finish line."
Loser van Aert clearly took responsibility for the outcome of the race. "I'm extremely disappointed and feel responsible for this result and for this. It's quite simple. I really wanted this victory, including the sprint at the end," said the 30-year-old. "The plan was for Matteo to control the race and push me into the final with Neilson. I was too stubborn and was afraid that it would lead to a situation where I wouldn't be able to ride for the win. That was wrong, we should have approached it as a team and not just relied on the sprint."
Politt has to give up after a fall
While Visma had to settle for second, third and fourth place and was probably pretty satisfied with that, one of the top favourites for victory, Mads Pedersen (Lidl - Trek), led the second group to the finish in fifth place. The Dane was too far back in the peloton at the decisive moment when Visma launched his attack. Afterwards, he tried to close the gap several times, but as a lone fighter with whom nobody wanted to ride, he was in a lost position.
John Degenkolb (Team Picnic PostNL) was the best German at the dress rehearsal for the Tour of Flanders on Sunday in 30th place, followed by Nils Politt (UAE Emirates - XRG). was involved in a crash with Laurence Pithie (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) and had to retire.
Dwars door Vlaanderen 2025: Results
Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre ME: Roeselare - Waregem
Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre ME 2025: Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre ME, Roeselare - Waregem
| Rnk. | Riders | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | EF Education - EasyPost | 03:57:14 |
| 2 | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | +00:00:00 |
| 3 | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | +00:00:00 |
| 4 | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | +00:00:05 |
| 5 | Lidl - Trek | +00:00:45 |
| 6 | Alpecin - Deceuninck | +00:00:45 |
How Dwars door Vlaanderen 2025 went
Even before the start of the 184-kilometre classic between Roeselare and Waregem, Pedersen received the first bad news. His team-mate Alex Kirsch was one of the four pros of the day who were unable to start the race. It wasn't long before Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe and XDS - Astana were also hit with bad news. Danny van Poppel and Alberto Bettiol had to abandon before the race had really got going. Tim Wellens (UAE Emirates - XRG), one of the favourites, also had to abandon during the race.
This only happened after just under 60 kilometres, when eight riders formed a first breakaway group. Among them: Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché - Wanty), Fabio Christen (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) and Lewis Askey (Groupama - FDJ).
Visma drives into the leading group in a threesome
The peloton kept the gap to the breakaway rather small. And when van Aert and Pedersen picked up the pace for the first time between Knotkteberg-Trieu and Hotondberg, the gap was quickly closed again. This was also the first time that the peloton broke into two parts. In addition, the two Danes Bjerg and national champion Rasmus Pedersen (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) from the leading group escaped being caught with a counter attack.
Josh Tarling (INEOS Grendiers), Neilson Powless (EF Education - EasyPost) and Fabio Van den Bossche (Alpecin - Deceuninck) then set off in pursuit of the leading duo, but were only able to close the gap after several minutes 71 kilometres before the finish. Meanwhile, Visma | Lease a Bike had already reduced the more than one-minute lead at the back of the peloton with an energetic performance.
The effort of the yellow riders was so great that Benoot, van Aert and Jorgenson broke away from the peloton and were at the front of the leading group in no time at all on the Ten Houte climb. But when the chasing group's lead had already dropped to 15 seconds, the co-operation at the back also came to a halt. Pedersen and Ineos - Tarling had not been able to hold on to the lead - had done the work, but demanded support, which they received only sparingly.
Visma too defensive in the final
And so they entered the second passage of Knokteberg and Hotond with a gap of just over 20 seconds. There, the Visma trio left all the other breakaways behind apart from Powless. Pedersen continued to fight alone at the back, but found no rivals. With 50 kilometres to go, the gap had grown to half a minute for the first time because there was simply no unity at the back.
And so the lead of the leading quartet grew slowly but surely. With 20 kilometres to go, it was one minute. A few kilometres later, the large chasing group also broke away. Six men around Stefan Küng (Groupama - FDJ) and Pedersen broke away from the rest, but still didn't manage to close the gap to the leaders.
Meanwhile, Benoot, Jorgenson, van Aert and Powless went into the final together. Visma refrained from putting his rival in trouble before the finale with alternating attacks. The group rode in unison onto the finishing straight, where the sprint was launched for van Aert. However, Powless overtook him from behind and crossed the finish line as the winner. Pedersen won the sprint in the second group and finished fifth.
