{"id":223947,"date":"2025-10-25T03:26:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T03:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/223947\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T03:26:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T03:26:15","slug":"the-best-and-worst-moments-of-the-2025-cycling-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/223947\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best and Worst Moments of the 2025 Cycling Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated October 24, 2025 01:42PM<\/p>\n

What were the five best moments of the 2025 pro cycling road season?<\/p>\n

A smash-mouth slugfest into San Remo, a wild grand tour coup, and a rogue outsider stealing rainbows all feature in our list.<\/p>\n

With the men\u2019s and women\u2019s pro road seasons in the books, it\u2019s time to hit rewind and recap the best bits of a year that saw Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> run riot, Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot prove timeless, and pro cycling write history in Rwanda.<\/p>\n

But road racing isn\u2019t all unicorns and fairy dust \u2013 there were bad parts too.<\/p>\n

So here we have our 5 best and 2 worst moments of the 2025 pro cycling season.<\/p>\n

Our 5 favorite moments of the 2025 season
\n1) Poga\u010dar vs. Van der Poel vs. Ganna in smash-mouth San Remo
\n\"\"The final 40km of Milan-San Remo was smash-mouth racing. (Photo: Luca Bettini \u2013 Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

If you ever get bored of watching Watopia while you\u2019re suffering through your indoor trainer intervals, tune in to the final hour of Milan-San Remo instead.<\/p>\n

The slugfest between Tadej Poga\u010dar, Mathieu van der Poel, and Filippo Ganna over the Cipressa and Poggio was 30km of punk rock racing fit for a Mad Max movie.<\/p>\n

Pogi attacked so many times we lost count. MVDP pulled some of his finest trademark pain-faces and clung to the wheel. Ganna transcended his barn door brawn and clung on over the climbs.<\/p>\n

This was one of the rare times this season where Poga\u010dar wasn\u2019t guaranteed victory, and one that saw three of the rock stars of pro cycling lock in to some good ol\u2019 bloody-minded suffering.<\/p>\n

With a thrilling sprint to cap it all off, it was a finale that made the five hours of \u201cnothing\u201d that came before well worth sitting through.<\/p>\n

This was one of the best editions of La Classicissima in years, and possibly the single best day of men\u2019s racing of 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2) Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot beats back sickness, bounces out of crash, crushes Paris-Roubaix
\n\"\"Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot didn\u2019t hang around in her Paris-Roubaix debut. (Photo: Billy Ceusters\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot already won almost everything possible in pro cycling, but nobody \u2013 not even PFP herself \u2013 was expecting her to win her debut Paris-Roubaix.<\/p>\n

But the 33-year-old did just that, and she did it in sensational fashion.<\/p>\n

Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot shrugged off a pre-race infection. She chased back from a crash ahead of the crux Mons-en-P\u00e9v\u00e8le cobblestone sector. She launched a \u201cf*ck around and find out\u201d attack 18km out that went all the way to the Velodrome.<\/p>\n

Like all editions of Paris Roubaix Femmes, this was a pulsating, corn-popping watch.<\/p>\n

But it was one flavored with so much delicious buttery context.<\/p>\n

PFP only returned to the road this winter after a long hiatus, and failed to convince anyone her dream to win the Tour de France<\/a> was possible with an iffy first race back in the UAE.<\/p>\n

Then, after finding her form in the spring classics, she decided at the final hour to add Roubaix to the program. A Roubaix cobblestone and a yellow jersey followed.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s some way to make a heaven out of \u201cHell.\u201d<\/p>\n

3) Yates and Van Aert snatch Giro d\u2019Italia victory from feuding rivals
\n\"Carapaz,Stage 20 of the Giro d\u2019Italia saw a tactical masterpiece and a racing meltdown. (Photo: LUCA BETTINI\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Did Simon Yates win the Giro d\u2019Italia or did Isaac del Toro lose it? It\u2019s one of the debates that will rage through Reddit threads and pub chats for years to come.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s an argument made possible by a jaw-dropping day of strategic masterpieces and racing meltdowns.<\/p>\n

Heading into stage 20, Visma-Lease a Bike needed something special to overturn Adam Yates\u2019 1:21 GC deficit. The infernal climb of the Colle dell Finestre \u2013 the same climb Chris Froome used to pull a stunning coup in 2018 \u2013 was the perfect place to make it happen.<\/p>\n

The Killer Bees hatched a tactical plan that\u2019s as old as Eddy Merckx, and pulled it off.<\/p>\n

Wout van Aert made the early break. Yates attacked Del Toro and Richard Carapaz on the steeps of the Finestre gravel, and they linked up at the top.<\/p>\n

It was so simple, but it was sport directing perfection.<\/p>\n

However meanwhile, the stage descended into \u201cwatch through your fingers\u201d TV as Del Toro and Carapaz bickered their way out of a pink jersey.<\/a> Every second they refused to work together proved to Yates\u2019 and Van Aert\u2019s advantage.<\/p>\n

The GC gaps swung by 5 minutes in the course of 50km, and the pink jersey traded shoulders within sight of the final podium in Rome.<\/p>\n

4) A breakaway victory, a Poga\u010dar spill, and the Tour de France stage that had it all
\n\"TheAbrahamsen\u2019s victory was only one talking point from a thunderous stage of the Tour de France. (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Stage 11 of the Tour de France was a brain-frying sensory overload.<\/p>\n

So much happened in this three-and-a-quarter-hour thrill ride through Toulouse that only time in a darkened room would allow the brain to compute it all.<\/p>\n

Fan favorite and stage winner Jonas Abrahamsen joined Mauro Schmid in the group that attacked from the flag drop, and they wouldn\u2019t be separated until they \u2013 and a rogue protestor \u2013 sprinted for the finish line 157km later.<\/p>\n

Behind, Tadej Poga\u010dar crashed<\/a>, the GC group sat up, and the incident-provoking Tobias Halland Johanssen was later hounded by online threats.<\/p>\n

And as if all there weren\u2019t already enough talking points, Mathieu van der Poel spent much of the stage thinking he was off the front, and Abrahamsen shouldn\u2019t even have been at the Tour after he broke his collarbone in mid-June.<\/p>\n

This was the stage that had it all.<\/p>\n

There was jeopardy, intrigue, and action at both the front and the back, for almost every kilometer.<\/p>\n

Days like these don\u2019t come around often at the Tour de France, but treasure them when they do. They make the 200km \u201cbreakaway and a sprint\u201d stages worth sitting [or snoozing] through.<\/p>\n

5) Vallieres rips up the pre-race previews to become world champion
\n\"\"Nobody was betting on Vallieres before road worlds except for the rider herself. CHRISTINE POUJOULAT\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Magdeleine Vallieres bet on herself at the Rwanda road world championships, and she came out of it in rainbows.<\/p>\n

The Canadian super-outsider self-funded her trip to Kigali, gambled on going for the early break, and balanced brains and brawn to double her one-victory palmar\u00e8s in serious style at the 2025 road worlds.<\/a><\/p>\n

But Vallieres\u2019 shock win was only the exclamation point at the end of a race of pure thrills.<\/p>\n

The savage course caused huge attrition. The favorites caught \u201cGroup 2 Syndrome.\u201d Time trial terminator Elise Chabbey launched a huge chase but ran out of road.<\/p>\n

It all climaxed in three underdogs writing a fairytale ending on the podium of a historic first African worlds.<\/p>\n

And to cap it all, Niamh Fisher-Black finally confirmed her potential with a silver medal, and at the other end of the career arc, the 41-year-old superveteran Mavi Garc\u00eda bagged bronze.<\/p>\n

The year-long dominators didn\u2019t win, but this was a championship more than worthy of rainbow jersey status.<\/p>\n

The 2 worst moments of the 2025 cycling season
\n1) The \u2018weight debate\u2019 derails Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift
\n\"TheVollering and Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot were both scrutinized for their weights at the Tour Femmes. (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Tour de France Femmes will be remembered as much for the so-called \u201cweight debate\u201d that it provoked as it will be for PFP\u2019s onslaught on the Alps.<\/p>\n

The consternation about rider health<\/a> that emerged from the transformation of Pauline-\u201ctoo thin\u201d-Pr\u00e9vot overshadowed the race and distracted from the athletic endeavour.<\/p>\n

And while issues like RED-S and the dangerous pursuit of leanness deserve attention and respect, many of the discussions this summer were gendered, hyperbolic, and \u2013 in some cases \u2013 pure clickbait.<\/p>\n

Pro cycling will forever be entwined with the pressures of a weight-governed sport.<\/p>\n

But the perils of chasing a target weight require ongoing attention and education, not short-lived incendiary accusation. And while the racing is on, let the racers race, and celebrate the achievements.<\/p>\n

2) Chaos and crisis at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a
\n\"PoliticsSport and politics intertwined at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a (Photo: MIGUEL RIOPA\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The 2025 Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a has so many asterisks and caveats against it that requires its own appendix.<\/p>\n

Shortened stages, canceled finals, and mid-stage disruptions tore into race for the red jersey and sapped the energy from the tour.<\/p>\n

Increasingly voracious pro-Palestine protests<\/a> dominated La Vuelta more than any WorldTour super team, and made the athletes a sideshow.<\/p>\n

Freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest are more important now than ever. But it\u2019s just a shame that in this case, they totally crippled a grand tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated October 24, 2025 01:42PM What were the five best moments of the 2025 pro cycling road season?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,45284,101,95483,66373,95484,95485,51799,45288,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-223947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-parent_category-road","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tag-analysis","12":"tag-tag-giro-ditalia","13":"tag-tag-milan-san-remo","14":"tag-tag-paris-roubaix-femmes","15":"tag-tag-pauline-ferrand-prevot","16":"tag-type-article","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}