E3 Saxo Classic 2025

March 28, 2025 When E3 comes around each year, it feels like things get serious. Rosters are stacked with lineups that will look very similar what they will for the Ronde van Vlaanderen and the Taaienberg, Paterberg, and Oude Kwaremont get their dress rehearsal before the big day. There are some cobbles early in the race but the real obstacles start coming with the Kanarieberg 111KM from the finish and they just keep coming until the Tiegemberg caps off the climbing about 20KM out from the line in Harelbeke. It was a cold start with riders bundled up with gloves, buffs, and gilets. A three man break got up the road including Dries De Bondt of Decathlon AG2R, Rory Townsend of Q36.5, and Julius van den Berg of Picnic-PostNL but that was not the only early action. A crash that took down a number of riders happened one third of the way up the peloton which split as a result. With 148KM to go, the original three man break had 40 seconds on the first chase group of around 50 riders but the majority of the peloton were nearly 3 minutes behind including pre-race favorites Wout van Aert of Visma-Lease a Bike and Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Deceuninck. Groupama-FDJ were driving hard in the front peloton and were getting some help from Visma-Lease a Bike who had Matteo Jorgenson there. Alpecin-Deceuninck and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were chasing behind and bringing the gap down. With 137KM to go, the original break of three were caught and the main chase had the gap down to 90 seconds. By the start of La Houppe with 118KM to go, the gap was down to 35 seconds. The catch was made on the Kanarieberg and counter attacks went immediately. EF-Education EasyPost and Visma-Lease a Bike were aggressive but it all stayed together until Aimé De Gendt of Cofidis attacked over the top of the Côte du Trieu. He was joined by Casper Pedersen of Soudal Quickstep. The peloton eased a bit which allowed the break to get 35 seconds by the start of the Kortekeer with 86KM to go. Ineos lit it up over the top with Ben Turner and kept the pressure on through the twists and turns to the base of the Taaienberg, but it was Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek that attacked. Mathieu van der Poel was right on his wheel with Filippo Ganna of Ineos riding his way on over the top to make three at the front. The trio caught De Gendt and Casper Pedersen to make five at the front. A group of six chasers formed including Jorgenson, Tim Wellens of UAE-XRG, Stefan Küng of Groupama-FDJ, Josh Tarling of Ineos, Jasper Stuyven of Lidl-Trek, and Matteo Trentin of Tudor Pro Cycling. Gaps between groups slowly inched out. When the leaders got to the start of the Eikenberg at 63.5KM to go, they had 47 seconds to the first chase group of six and almost 90 seconds to the main peloton. The race continued to gradually stretch and by the time the leaders went over the Paterberg with 43KM to go, their lead was 1 minute 17 seconds to the chase and 2 minutes 30 seconds to the peloton who looked to be out of the game at this point. Rain started to gently fall between the Paterberg and the Oude Kwaremont. Van der Poel led into the Kwaremont and ramped up the speed, first dropping De Gendt, then Casper Pedersen and Ganna. Halfway up, Mads Pedersen started to lose contact and van der Poel put on more pressure. After the descent towards Ronse, van der Poel had 15 seconds on Mads Pedersen and 25 seconds on Ganna. De Gendt and Casper Pedersen were between Ganna and a group of four including Jorgenson at 2 minutes; Trentin and Tarling were dropped from the group at this point. Mathieu van der Poel stuck a dagger in the hopes of Pedersen on the Karnemelkbeekstraat. The gaps grew over the top and ballooned thereafter. Van der Poel crossed the line first in Harelbeke for the second year in a row. Mads Pedersen took second, 1 minute 5 seconds back with Ganna taking third, a further 1 minute adrift. Casper Pedersen won the sprint for fourth, with Stuyven, Küng, De Gendt, Wellens, and Jorgeson finishing behind in that order.