Can Tadej Pogacar get even better? Will Jonas Vingegaard roar back? – 14 burning questions ahead of 2025 cycling season
Updated 28/02/2025 at 08:56 GMT
Will Tadej Pogacar scale fresh heights in 2025 or can Jonas Vingegaard bring his old rival down a peg or two? Who will emerge on top after the separation between Lotte Kopecky and Demi Vollering? And what can we expect from a first World Championships on the African continent? We ponder the answers to some of the burning questions ahead of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Opening Weekend.
'A rider for the history books!' - Watch Pogacar's best wins in dazzling 2024
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Tadej Pogacar reckons he can get even better in 2025 while Jonas Vingegaard has already returned to winning ways. Surely, something has to give – especially in a year Primoz Roglic is going for the Giro-Tour double.
And it’s not just Pogacar and Vingegaard on the tip of everyone’s tongues. Tom Pidcock has a point to prove after breaking his contract with Ineos Grenadiers while Demi Vollering will hope to get one over her former team-mate Lotte Kopecky after swapping SD Worx for FDJ-Suez.
Plus there are the issues of Roglic's yellow hoodoo, the Wolfpack without their alpha papa, and the post-Cavendish sprint vacuum, not to forget the small matter of the first ever World Championships held on the African continent…
Ahead of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - live on TNT Sports and discovery+ on Saturday - we look ahead to what's in store for 2025.
- How to watch Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on TNT Sports and discovery+
- McEwen backs Van Aert to better Pidcock at 'exciting' Omloop
Can Vingegaard and Van Aert get back to their best?
After a clean sweep of Grand Tours with three different riders in 2023, Visma-Lease a Bike were meant to take things to the next level in 2024. Central to that plan was a tilt at the Giro for Wout van Aert and a third triumph for Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour. It’s fair to say things didn’t work out.
Serious crashes in the spring for both riders put paid to those plans, with Van Aert unable to make his Giro bow and Vingegaard somewhat subdued at the Tour. Frustrated in France, Van Aert did win three stages in the Vuelta and enjoyed stints in green and polka dots – until another bad crash ended his race, and season, early.
How Visma’s leading duo battle back from these setbacks could be key in how both the Classics and Grand Tours pan out in 2025. Visma are without a Monument since Van Aert’s solitary Milano-Sanremo triumph in 2020. This needs to change – as much for the beleaguered Belgian as for his teetering team.
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'The most emotion we've ever seen' - Breakaway panel on Vingegaard's tears and powers of recovery
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With Pogacar in such a prolonged vein of indomitable form, it will be interesting to see if Vingegaard follows suit and has a pop at the Giro. Winning the maglia rosa would add to his palmares and take the pressure off ahead of the Tour. Alternatively, he backs himself to draw level with his rival’s three Tour wins – then the two face off in the Vuelta.
Can we expect much from Evenepoel this season?
Ask that question a few months ago and the answer would have been a whopping big resounding "yes". But then a postman went and opened his van door as Evenepoel cycled past, breaking the Belgian’s rib, shoulder blade and right hand in the process.
A two-week period of immobilisation followed. Evenepoel is only just back on his bike and is not expected to return to competitive racing until mid-April. Consequently, Pogacar’s push for a third Liege-Bastogne-Liege just got that little bit easier. The incident has also ended the 24-year-old's hopes of riding the Giro.
Evenepoel should have recovered in time for the Tour de France, but the dooring will make it hard for him to build upon the third place of his debut last July. While his body may benefit from yet another enforced break, it means that Evenepoel will start the season on the backfoot.
The Vuelta organisers, however, will be rubbing their hands together with glee.
Will Pogacar maintain his ridiculous levels?
Shortly before picking up the Velo d’Or as the season’s standalone stand-out best rider, Tadej Pogacar told reporters that he hoped 2025 "will be even better". It’s quite hard to see how this would be possible short of the Slovenian matching his Triple Crown, defending his two Monuments and adding Milano-Sanremo for good measure.
Is this realistic? Well, it’s not impossible. Pogacar will be favourite to win a fourth Tour in July, and then is likely to push for a maiden Vuelta victory. Given the hilly nature of the World Championships in Rwanda, he will surely be in the conversation for another rainbow jersey – and he’s head-and-shoulders above everyone else in Liege and Lombardia.
So far in his career, he has improved on every performance in La Classicissima, where he came third last year… so you do the maths. Still, a fully fit Vingegaard will surely make things tougher for Pogacar in 2025 than in 2024.
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‘All-round wizard’ Pogacar claims rainbow jersey to complete triple crown of victories
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Perhaps the question that should be asked is this: how happy will cycling fans be if Pogacar improves on his last season? In 2024, it was something of a novelty to see the swashbuckling Slovenian in his pomp; but it may start to get a bit same-old, same-old if this uncontested reign at the top continues unabated.
How will the public and riders receive a Tour entirely on French soil?
A Tour taking place wholly within France’s borders is something of a throwback, although such is the thirst and need to tick off so many hinterlands that even without visiting neighbouring countries, there will be a fair amount of travelling between stages.
In fact, there will be just as many transfer kilometres as kilometres ridden in the 112th edition of the Tour, which nevertheless evades vast swathes of western and north-eastern France. Waiting until the 12th stage for the first proper summit finish is also a bit of a gamble, although perhaps one worth taking given Pogacar’s climbing pedigree.
Still, the route looks quite intriguing, with Mur de Bretagne, Mont Ventoux, the Col de la Loze and an uphill time trial to Peyragudes all featuring before a return to the Champs-Elysees.
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Cycling - Tour de France 2025 presentation - The Tour de France full route
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Who will stake their claim as the #1 sprinter?
No single sprinter dominated in the Grand Tours last year, with the likes of Jasper Philipsen, Biniam Girmay, Jonathan Milan, Kaden Groves, Wout van Aert and Tim Merlier all winning three stages each – and none spreading themselves across two Tours.
With Sir Mark Cavendish sailing off into the sunset, there’s a power vacuum to fill – at least symbolically – and no obvious candidate ready to step up. Rewind 12 months, and it looked like Philipsen was that man, off the back of his four wins at the Tour. But the Belgian relinquished his green jersey to Girmay in 2024 after his Alpecin train struggled to impose itself in the first half of the Tour.
Olav Kooij picked up a maiden Giro stage win but will find his opportunities limited at Visma-Lease a Bike, while Fabio Jakobsen is struggling to find his form of old at Team dsm-firmenich PostNL.
While Caleb Ewan and Sam Bennett’s struggles continue, Dylan Groenewegen won a stage on the Tour, ditto Pavel Bittner at the Vuelta, while Phil Bauhaus has repeatedly been knocking at the door.
Who will emerge strongest from the Vollering-Kopecky split?
Since sealing her move to FDJ-Suez, Demi Vollering has hardly shied away from opening up about the disintegration of her relationship with her former SD Worx team-mate Lotte Kopecky. The two-time Belgian world champion "tried to avoid me", according to the Dutch star, who also admitted that "the communication was only one-sided" during the tense final months of last season.
Now on opposing teams for the first time in four years, it is going to be fascinating to see who comes out on top as the rivalry between Vollering and Kopecky enters an intriguing new phase. Things already promise to get spicy, with the latter branding the former’s comments as "completely unnecessary".
Vollering may top the billing at the new-look FDJ but she will be a co-leader alongside French duo Juliette Labous (who joins from Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Evita Muzic, while Swiss star Elise Chabbey makes the switch from Canyon-SRAM.
The conflict of interest may have been removed from the SD Worx dynamic but Kopecky will undoubtedly be in a weaker position without her former team-mate, as well as Marlen Reusser and Niamh Fisher-Black. It remains to be seen what kind of impact the returning Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen can have as she comes out of retirement.
Will we see another first-time winner of the TDFF?
On the top of Vollering’s to-do list at FDJ-Suez will be winning back the yellow jersey she conceded to Kasia Niewiadoma by just four seconds in August despite her rousing display on Alpe d’Huez.
A combination of team tensions and a tailbone fracture ultimately came between Vollering and a second successive Tour de France Femmes win, with Poland’s Niewiadoma the third different rider to win the rebooted race after Annemiek van Vleuten got the ball rolling in 2021.
With Alpecin’s Pauliena Rooijakkers only a further six seconds back in third place, and Evita Muzic impressing in fourth, neither Vollering nor Niewiadoma are guaranteed a second win. But given FDJ’s strength in depth and Vollering’s desire to bounce back, it’s quite likely that the TDFF will welcome its first repeat winner at Les Portes de Soleil on August 3.
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Vollering wins final stage but Niewiadoma saves yellow in epic finish
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Who will emerge as the best signing of the winter?
XDS Astana have not been afraid of splashing the cash while Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have swooped for Oier Lazkano, Jan Tratnik and Maxim Van Gils. But Visma-Lease a Bike seem to have been astute in enticing the experienced duo of Victor Campenaerts and Simon Yates.
Kasper Asgreen seems like a natural fit for EF Education-EasyPost while Pablo Castrillo should settle at Movistar quicker than he would have at Ineos Grenadiers, who will make do with Bob Jungels instead. It’s too soon to say whether Tom Pidcock will rue his move to Q36.5 - three early season wins, plus the AlUla Tour GC suggest not - but Ethan Hayter should find joy at Soudal Quick-Step where it was perhaps lacking chez Ineos.
There’s a lot of talk about Julian Alaphilippe to Tudor Pro Cycling, but the memory of Niki Tepstra and Peter Sagan at TotalEnergies remains fresh in the mind. More promising is Marc Hirschi’s move from UAE to Tudor; Jhonatan Narvaez probably won’t win as often for UAE as the out-going Swiss livewire.
Elisa Longo Borghini may help UAE Team ADQ finally to have the same kind of impact in the women’s peloton as the men’s team, and while Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig to Canyon-Sram seems a marriage made in heaven, the incomings at FDJ-Suez – particularly that of Demi Vollering – look to be the most impactful.
But perhaps the most exciting of all the moves is Vuelta runner-up and Worlds silver medallist Ben O’Connor’s return to Jayco-AlUla. The 29-year-old rode for the Jayco development squad alongside the likes of Jai Hindley and Lucas Hamilton back in 2016 and has finally joined the GreenEdge family just as he enters his peak years.
Can Roglic end his Tour de France hoodoo?
If he does, he will firstly have to finish only his second Tour in five attempts. And should he get to Paris, it’s unlikely that he’ll be above Pogacar and Vingegaard on any hypothetical podium.
This year, however, there’s a twist. Roglic announced before Christmas that he will follow in the footsteps of his countryman Pogacar by riding the Giro and Tour in 2025. The plan is simply: prioritising the Giro in May will take the pressure off Roglic in July and transform the Tour into mere "bonus" territory.
Wrapped up in the decision is perhaps an acceptance that the 35-year-old’s chances of finally donning yellow in Paris are over – or, at the very least, such a target should not be the primary focus of an entire season. And should this new approach not work out – whether through injury, illness or old-fashioned bad luck – then there’ll always be the Vuelta. Again.
Can Tudor Pro Cycling mix with the big boys?
Larry Warbasse and Marco Haller have joined other new signings Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi as the Swiss team looks to build on their successful 2024.
With Matteo Trentin, Alberto Dainese and Michael Storer already on the books, Tudor Pro Cycling should continue to make their presence known. But a lot will depend on how Alaphilippe and Hirschi settle.
How will the Wolfpack fare without their alpha male?
This is not a reference to the departed Alaphilippe but instead to Patrick Lefevere, who has stepped down as CEO of Soudal Quick-Step after more than two decades at the helm.
A Classics man at heart, Lefevere was at his most successful during the Tom Boonen years when his team were metaphorically crunching on cobbles for breakfast. The development of Remco Evenepoel as a GC force has arguably shown up Lefevere’s limitations as a manager and tactician, with many criticising – quite rightly – the dinosaur tendencies of a man very much from the old school.
With a cobblestone Monument eluding the team since 2021 and Evenepoel now a GC rider to be reckoned with, the time is perhaps right for Lefevere to take a step back. It will be interesting to see whether his departure leads to a new era of success or the kind of power vacuum left behind by David Brailsford at Ineos.
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Soudal Quick-Step CEO Patrick Lefevere poses upon arrival at the "Flandrien" award ceremony for the best Belgian cyclist of the 2024 cycling season, organised by newspaper "Het Nieuwsblad", in Middelkerke, on November 5, 2024.
Image credit: Getty Images
How many wins for Pidcock at Q36.5?
Joining a second-tier team that will not be invited to any Grand Tour in 2025 is a huge gamble for the British all-rounder – but perhaps it will force Pidcock to deliver on his early promise and really excel in the Classics. Certainly, three early stage wins and the AlUla Tour title hint at a promising spring.
There will be huge pressure on Pidcock and his new team-mates, however, to put in enough performances of the calibre that will lead to wildcard invites to the major races in 2026. There’s only so long you can dine out on one zippy descent of the Galibier, after all.
Still, Pidcock needed a change, and the timing (plus his salary expectations) ruled out most of his possible suitors. Dropping a level and escaping the media glare and toxic atmosphere at Ineos cannot be a bad thing for a rider who is still only 25.
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‘Big dreams’ - Pidcock on the ‘ups and downs’ of his 2024 season, targets Tour de France success
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Will a high-altitude African Worlds be a success?
Taking place in Kigali, Rwanda, over 1,500m above sea level, the 2025 World Championships will be the first ever held on the African continent. With future editions scheduled for Montreal (2026) and Abu Dhabi (2028), Kigali 2025 enforces the UCI’s desire to globalise what had long been a Eurocentric sport.
But there has already been a kickback, with Denmark announcing that they will not send any U23 or junior teams "based on financial considerations". Denmark’s decision has been met with scorn by many who feel the Danish federation has not taken into account the costs and logistical hurdles experienced by African cyclists wishing to compete in Europe.
Such controversies aside, most fans are already relishing a road race taking part in the "Land of a Thousand Hills". With the best part of 6,000m of vertical ascent featuring in the men’s route, and hordes of spectators guaranteed to be lining the roads, we should see a show unlike any before; horizons can be broadened, stereotypes broken down, eyes opened, new generations inspired.
Kigali 2025 should be a true festival of cycling and promises something never seen before – even if, ultimately, the same male rider will probably end up defending his rainbow bands after attacking 100km from the finish…
Who’ll have the best kit in the peloton in 2025?
Many new kits have yet to be released but the artists formerly known as Team dsm-firmenich PostNL have not only introduced a new lead sponsor, but they’ve also upgraded drastically on their togs.
Team Picnic PostNL will sport a classy dark blue with dual orange vertical stripes, so they’ll look the part and should stand out from afar. With the supermarket delivery chain on board, the contents of their musettes should be an improvement, too.
The introduction of Lapierre bikes completes the total overhaul. The only baffling thing about the new order is that the team’s social media manager thinks the kit is purple...
Talking of actual purple, Jayco-AlUla have gone all-in with their stylish new togs from MAAP, while Cofidis added a discreet but effective purple band to their shoulders. Along with the yellow sleeves on top of their traditional red, the French team now boast an ensemble that’s both classy and eye-catching. Lidl-Trek, Arkea B&B Hotels and Decathlon have all made welcome tweaks, while Bahrain-Victorious have opted to change nothing.
The title of the worst-dressed team is an altogether harder one to bestow, with UAE Team Emirates and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe currently leading the way with equally soulless sartorial efforts. Although Soudal Quick-Step have made a resounding "Hold my beer" with their messy excuse for a jersey that won't have Remco rushing back to race...
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