Van der Poel shows his skills in Le Samyn with an incredible sprint and claims victory in his first road race of the year

Mathieu van der Poel has won Le Samyn. The returning star of Alpecin-Deceuninck was the strongest in the bunch sprint. This Dutch rider was the best after dominating the entire race, ahead of Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies).

The one-day race had a fantastic start list, including Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) and Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step). Of course, the highlight was Mathieu van der Poel's last-minute participation. The former world champion announced a day in advance that he would be starting in Wallonia, which increased interest in the race.

The beginning of the race was hectic: after many attacks, it took an hour before eight riders broke away. Among them were Stijn Daemen (VolkerWessels Cycling Team), Hidde van Veenendaal (BEAT Cycling), Guillaume Visser (Diftar Continental), Joren Bloem (Unibet Tietema Rockets), Sebastian Grindley (Lidl-Trek), Silas Köch (Lotto Kern-Haus), Gotzon Martín (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Loïc Vliegen (Wagner Bazin WB). They had a four-minute lead, but the peloton slowly closed the gap halfway through the race.

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Van der Poel is the first to make a move

Next, the race entered the local lap, full of cobblestone sections and short climbs. It was quiet there for a while, but the race was reignited 65 kilometers from the finish. And who else but Mathieu van der Poel made the first move? He was quickly caught again, which caused a nervous situation with a series of breakaways. Later, the leader of Alpecin-Deceuninck tried to attack again, but a teammate managed to get away.

A leading group with Samuel Gaze gained a gap. He was joined by Taco Van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty), Martin Svrcek (Soudal Quick-Step), Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies), Noah Vandenbranden (Team Flanders-Baloise), Cedric Beullens (Lotto), Lewis Bower (Groupama-FDJ), Killian Théot (Van Rysel Roubaix) and Axel Huens (Unibet Tietema Rockets). Together, they ensured that the sprint teams had to work hard to keep up with the leaders, which made for a furious pace.

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High pace: will the race end in a sprint or not?

The pace was high, and the breakaway riders were given no room to maneuver. They were caught on the final lap. Just as people started thinking about a sprint, De Lie had a flat tire. The Walloon Bull had to chase hard, and he finally managed to catch up with about 15 kilometers to go. They had to wait until the final, where some tricky cobblestone sections lay in wait. The peloton rushed to the next obstacle, which also caused several crashes.

On the Côte des Nonettes, the powerful Timo Kielich continued at full speed, but on the bumpy and crooked Rue de Belle Vue, team leader Van der Poel sat back. This meant that a large group had to wait for the sprint. Van der Poel was the first to launch his sprint, keeping Magnier easily behind him.

Results Le Samyn 2025

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