The 2025 road racing season is gathering momentum, and the year’s storylines have begun in Australia, the Middle East, and now Europe. And yet, many of the big names in the men's peloton have yet to turn a pedal in anger.
However, perhaps more intriguingly than when the big names will make their debut, is when they will meet one another.
Let’s get one thing out of the way before we begin: yes, the top GC riders are mostly avoiding each other between now and, probably, the Tour de France. That said, there are a few showdowns to look forward to, starting this week at the Volta ao Algarve. As for the Classics, it’s a rather different story, and there’s plenty to get excited about.
So let’s dig into who’s racing when and against whom between now and the end of March when the programming becomes a bit more obvious, all with the necessary disclaimer that things could very well change. We'll start with the GC contenders, or you can skip straight to the Classics specialists.
Also be sure to check out Joe Lindsey’s TV coverage guide to see where and how to catch the racing, here at Escape Collective.
The GC 'Big Four'
It's worth noting before we get into it that all of the 'Big Four' have the Tour de France on their programme, while Primož Roglič is also targeting a second Giro d'Italia title. And of course, Pogačar has a whole host of other bookings besides stage races this spring, as we'll get into later.
- Pogačar is returning to the UAE Tour – his team’s home race – for the first time since 2022, where he’ll be sure to add to his four stage wins and two overall titles at the seven-day event. His main competition there is coming from outside the top GC favourites, with Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Einer Rubio (Movistar), Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R), and reigning champ Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto).
- The second-tier Volta ao Algarve has clearly proven attractive to a number of Pogačar's top rivals, with Jonas Vingegaard and Roglič partaking in the first ‘Big Three/Four’ showdown, though João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) will be sure to present a sturdy challenge at his home race.
- Running concurrently to Algarve is the Ruta del Sol, where Movistar is sending a stellar team to support Enric Mas, with Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) also racing the climber-friendly Andalucian stage race.
- The top riders will then go back to avoiding each other for a few weeks as Pogačar heads north to play on the cobbles with his pals on the other side of the fence, leaving his teammate Almeida to occupy Vingegaard and reigning champ Matteo Jorgenson at Paris-Nice. The Visma-Lease a Bike duo will also have 2024 stage winners Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), and Aleksandr Vlasov (XGS-Astana) to contend with, among many others. Last year’s third-place finisher and leader for three stages Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is yet to appear on the startlist, but he will already be in France for the Faun-Drôme and Ardèche classics, so it’s a safe bet.
- Intriguingly, none of the Big Four are due to race Tirreno-Adriatico for the first time since 2020 – though of course that could change – which means we might get to see a proper race-long duel between the Yates twins in advance of the Giro d’Italia, where both are expected to be (co-)leaders – Adam for UAE and Simon for his new team Visma-Lease a Bike. It will also be a huge opportunity for last year’s podium finishers Juan Ayuso (also UAE) and Jai Hindley who will lead Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe in place of Roglič. Additionally, though Ben O’Connor’s programme is yet to see the light of day, an appearance at the Italian WorldTour race would make a lot of sense for the new Jayco AlUla leader a year after scoring a top-five finish.
- The Volta a Catalunya looks like being one of the most competitive races of the spring with several of the top-ranked GC riders in attendance: Vingegaard, Roglič, Adam and Simon Yates, Rodríguez, Ayuso, Enric Mas (Movistar), 2022 runner-up Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), and Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), the last two of whom are among those working towards the Giro.
- Speaking of which, the Giro’s GC startlist has been gradually taking shape in recent months, Roglič at the top of the pile with Adam and Simon Yates, along with Landa, Bilbao, Hindley, Ayuso, Carapaz and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ). It's one of many Italian debuts for the French favourite who is doing Strade Bianche and Tirreno for the first time in his career, while new teammate Guillaume Martin is sticking to smaller French races until Itzulia Basque Country.
- Before the Giro, though, and after an Itzulia headlined by Almeida, Rodríguez, Vlasov, Mas and Skjelmose, a crowd of the GC contenders are signed up for Ardennes Week, all three events (Amstel Gold, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège) being targeted by Mas, Skjelmose, Buitrago, Ilan van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep), Van Eetvelt, and of course Pogačar, Evenepoel, and Tom Pidcock.
Classics specialists
Compared to the fairly distinct 'Big Four', the selection criteria here are a little harder to summarise. The first three listed are obvious, but from there on, it's based on past form, past wins, or storied promise. The below is by no means exhaustive – we absolutely expect, or will at least not be surprised, when someone outside of this group takes one of the big gongs of the spring (e.g. 2024 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner Jan Tratnik, now at Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe.)
While the earlier GC table shows season debuts, none of the following are the rider’s first race of the season. Many are starting imminently at the UAE Tour (Jasper Philipsen), Clasica Jaén (Wout van Aert), Tirreno-Adriatico (Mathieu van der Poel), or, like this weekend’s Tour de la Provence winner Mads Pedersen, have already made a successful 2025 debut.
Soon after Gent-Wevelgem come the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, but they've been left off partly due to incomplete rider schedules, but also because ... well, it's fairly clear who will be racing what in April, pending intervening injuries.
- One major takeaway from this selection, is that each of these key events has a very competitive startlist with an often intriguing list of favourites – not surprising. And there are of course numerous underdogs and other potential contenders. For instance, Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) will both be carefully marked at Milan-San Remo.
- Speaking of which, Van der Poel and Philipsen will both get to race as de facto team leaders at most of their Spring Classics appearances, except for Milan-San Remo where the former world champion and 2023 winner has promised to support Philipsen in his defence of the Monument title.
- Perhaps the Belgian will then return the favour at Paris-Roubaix, a week after Van der Poel gets a free run at his Flanders defence. It’s a programme that worked out last year with the pair scooping the lion’s share of Spring Classics, and this year Kaden Groves may get his chance too – for instance at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne where neither of the big Alpecin-Deceuninck names are due to race.
- Another team that has something of a selection conundrum – or a blessing, depending on how you look at it – is Visma-Lease a Bike. You might be surprised to see Van Aert’s name missing from the Milan-San Remo column, especially as he’s a past winner, but it appears that the Dutch team is putting its eggs in the Olav Kooij basket as Van Aert goes all in to take on Van der Poel and Pogačar during Holy Week (Flanders and Paris-Roubaix). There is also the omnipresent Christophe Laporte who has perhaps one of the busiest spring schedules out there.
- Just beyond the reaches of this table is Dwars Door Vlaanderen, scene of Van Aert's season-denting crash that hollowed out the drama going into Flanders and Roubaix. The Belgian is down to race it again this year and face down his demons – though not literally, as the dangerous stretch of road to blame has been removed from the course.
- At the other end of the spectrum is Soudal-QuickStep which bid farewell to a couple of big names over the winter in Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) and Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost), leaving Tim Merlier and Yves Lampaert as the team’s leaders for the Classics. Young Frenchman Paul Magnier – who’s already taken a notable win this season on stage 1 of the Étoile de Bessèges, and second at the lumpy Figueira Classic in Portugal – is also in the picture, but the team is taking care not to load him up with too much too soon; he’ll be at Milan-San Remo, but will avoid Flanders and Roubaix this year.
- One team that has been making huge strides in recent seasons is Lidl-Trek, and last Classics season – their first since Lidl came onboard with all their additional budget – was something of a breakthrough. Sure, they’ve all been around a while, but the combined efforts of Pedersen, Jasper Stuyven, Jonathan Milan, and Toms Skujiņš saw them electrify and succeed across a range of terrain. Going into the 2025 Classics season, Lidl-Trek is up there with the very best.
This time next week, the UAE Tour, Volta ao Algarve and Ruta del Sol will be over, and the dust blown from a winter of GC rumination. Then a week after that is 'Opening Weekend' of the Classics season. Spring is just around the corner, and the big names are coming out to play.
Did we do a good job with this story?
